Thousands protested on Friday in countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia against what they saw as Islamophobic remarks by two members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party made last week.
Nupur Sharma, a now former spokeswoman for the Bharatiya Janata, made comments on a TV show about the age of the Prophet Muhammad’s younger wife when they got married. She has been suspended from the caption and is being investigated by the police.
Afterwards, Naveen Jindal, another member of Prime Minister Modi’s party, made remarks about Muhammad in a social network described as derogatory. He was kicked out of the acronym. Although a minority, Muslims constitute the second largest religious group in the country – 14.2%, behind Hindus (79%), according to the last census in 2011.
After prayers on Friday, a holy day for Muslims, about 100,000 gathered in Bangladesh, according to police. “We came together to protest the insults of Indian government officials to our prophet,” Amanullah Aman, who was protesting in the capital Dhaka, told AFP. “We ask for the death penalty for them.”
In Pakistan, the demonstration was led by the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, which mobilized around 5,000 in the city of Lahore, close to the Indian border. “The prophet of Islam is like our red line; we will not remain silent,” said Professor Irfan Rizvi, who participated in the mobilization.
And, of course, there were protests in India. In the city of Allahabad, police used tear gas against crowds. Across the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the city is located, at least 109 people have been detained, a local official said.
In disputed Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, authorities have cut off internet access, restricted prayers in mosques and imposed a daytime curfew.
In the Indonesian archipelago, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, about 50 people gathered in front of the Indian embassy in the capital Jakarta to protest.
The controversy had already created a diplomatic imbroglio for New Delhi. At least 20 nations, such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, Libya and Bahrain, had summoned the Indian ambassadors to their countries to demand clarification on the matter.
The Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which comprises 57 member countries, issued a statement saying that the current defamation cases are part of a growing wave of hatred and systematic practices against Muslims in India.
The organization mentions, for example, the ban on the use of the hijab, the Islamic veil that covers the hair and neck, in schools in some Indian states and asks the UN Human Rights Council to take the necessary measures to put pressure on India regarding practices adopted against this part of the population.
Since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party came to power in 2014, India’s Muslims have been under constant attack. Much of the hatred is promoted by groups or individuals close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
