Kabul protest condemns violence on Indian Muslims

KABUL (Pajhwok): Protesters in capital Kabul on Wednesday condemned violence against Muslims in India and asked the United Nations to intervene.

Protests and violence in India began after the Indian government introduced a new citizenship law in December. The new law allows citizenship for all ethnic and religious communities apart from Muslims, therefore Indian Muslims have been protesting against the law.

Abdul Naseer Reshtia, head of the Navi Saparkai (New Chapter) civil society organization, told a protest gathering in Kabul that violence against Muslims surged in New Delhi over the past few days but the Indian government was yet to any step to stop it.

“To condemn violence against Muslims in India, we decided today to stage a protest in front of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, but we were not allowed there. We don’t want to harm India and Afghanistan relationship, but we want them to stop the killing of innocent Muslims in India,” he said.

Samiullah Mohammadi, spokesperson for the New Chapter organization, read a resolution passed by the protest gathering, in which they asked human rights bodies, the UN, and the Afghan government to put pressure on India to end the ongoing communal violence.

The resolution dubbed individuals involved in torture and killing of Muslims as law breakers.

“We seriously want the Indian government to immediately stop persecution of Muslims, otherwise, it would destroy New Delhi relation with Islamabad,” he said.

Two days ago, a gathering of ulema in Kabul accused India of discriminatory policy against Indian Muslims and violation of the rights of Muslims based on Hindu extremism and racism.

Nh/ma