Indian officials step up arrests, demolish houses to stop unrest over anti-Islam remarks
By Fayaz Bukhari and Subrata Nag Choudhury
SRINAGAR/KOLKATA, India (Reuters) -Authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have demolished the properties of a number of individuals accused of involvement in riots final week triggered by derogatory remarks made by ruling occasion figures about Islam’s Prophet Mohammad, officers mentioned on Sunday.
In Indian Kashmir, police arrested a youth for posting a video threatening to behead the ruling occasion’s former spokeswoman who had made a few of the remarks, officers mentioned. The video, circulated on YouTube, has been withdrawn by authorities.
Muslims have taken to the streets throughout India in current weeks to protest towards the anti-Islamic feedback by two members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP).
Clashes have damaged out between Muslims and Hindus and in some circumstances between protesters and police in a number of areas. Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested greater than 300 individuals in reference to the unrest.
Some in India’s minority Muslim group see the feedback as the most recent occasion of stress and humiliation underneath BJP rule on points starting from freedom of worship to the sporting of hijab head scarves.
The BJP has suspended its spokeswoman Nupur Sharma and expelled one other chief, Naveen Kumar Jindal, for the feedback, which have additionally brought on a diplomatic row with a number of Muslim international locations.
Police have filed circumstances towards the 2 and the federal government has mentioned the feedback don’t replicate its views.
Muslim teams have demanded their arrest, whereas some hardline Hindu teams label them as courageous and nationalist politicians.
Over the weekend the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath, ordered officers to demolish any unlawful institutions and houses of individuals accused of involvement in riots there final week, the BJP’s state spokesperson mentioned.
The home of an alleged mastermind of the riots, whose daughter is a feminine Muslim rights activist, was demolished amid a heavy police presence on Sunday. Properties of two extra individuals accused of throwing stones after Friday prayers had been additionally demolished within the state.
Mrityunjay Kumar, Adityanath’s media adviser, tweeted a photograph of a bulldozer demolishing a constructing and mentioned “Unruly components bear in mind, each Friday is adopted by a Saturday.”
Opposition leaders mentioned Adityanath’s authorities was pursuing an unconstitutional methodology to silence protesters.
On Sunday, Jindal mentioned his household confronted steady threats and a few of his followers mentioned a crude bomb was defused close to his residence in capital New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to this point not commented on the communal unrest.
Within the japanese state of West Bengal, authorities enforced an emergency legislation prohibiting public gatherings within the industrial district of Howrah till June 16.
BJP’s West Bengal president on Sunday staged a sit-in protest and accused neighbouring Bangladesh, a primarily Muslim nation, of inciting violence within the state.
Final week international locations reminiscent of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Iran – that are key commerce companions of India – lodged diplomatic protests to demand an apology from Modi’s authorities for the feedback.
(Extra reporting by Jatindra Sprint in Bhubaneswar, Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow; Writing by Neha Arora, Rupam Jain; Modifying by Kim Coghill and Angus MacSwan)
