generalspeaking

One Nation, Divided

In India, the country after Indonesia with the highest Muslim population in the world, a country that delights in billing itself as the largest democracy in the world where over 177-million Muslims live, and which exists next door to Pakistan, a Muslim country with no tolerance for Hindus or Sikhs, religious unrest is often violently manifested. Pakistan does its utmost to incite violence against India, mostly because of their rivalry over ownership of Kashmir, but also hegemony over Afghanistan.

When in 1947 India parted with a portion of its territory in a British-inspired gesture that would allow Muslims a country of their own in Pakistan, later to be partitioned again through a violent upheaval that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, carnage ensued when Hindus and Muslims fought and slaughtered one another and a mass migration of over ten million souls took place. Hindus and Sikhs leaving Pakistan for India, and Muslims leaving India for Pakistan.



Both countries have a legacy left them from the colonial rule of imperial Britain. They seem to have little else in common; their geography remains a constant irritant for both, but mostly Pakistan whose resentment and rage against India seems to know no bounds. Constant vicious Islamist militia attacks on India and on Indian presence in Kashmir keeps relations between the two on tinder-box tension. The occasional talks on achieving a peace agreement seem never to go anywhere.

It is ironic that India has a greater Muslim presence within its borders than Pakistan has. As virulently violent as Muslims through their tribal and sectarian disagreements are, fundamentalist Hindus can seem as inclined to nastiness as their Muslim neighbours. Hideous eruptions of historical rage one against the other often leads to communal violence, and yet another such series of events is now roiling part of India.

Security forces have been given orders to shoot rioters on sight as a result of the sectarian violence that has spread in northern India. A curfew has been imposed, enforced by the military, resulting from deadly clashes between Hindus and Muslims. Saturday saw the start of the violence after thousands of Hindu farmers met, calling for justice in the August 27 killing of three young village men.

Some of the farmers present at the meeting called for vengeance against the Muslims through speeches dripping with religious hatred. After the meeting clashes with Muslims erupted, with many of the assailants using guns, swords, stones or knives, according to senior police officer Arun Kumar.

A mob wielding metal rods and swords surrounded the tractor on which Anuvesh Baliyan, a 26-year-old farmer, was returning home from the meeting.

The mob surrounded the tractor and began beating the farmer and others who were with him. "We hid in a field for a full night until troops arrived the next day", he said from Muzaafarnagar hospital, being treated for sword wounds to his head and leg. The hospital, located about 125 kilometres north of New Delhi, had taken the precaution of separate rooms for Hindu and Muslim patients.

"The whole village was very tense, I wanted to send my family to a safer place", said 24-year-old Munavar as his wife, eight-month-old daughter and six-year-old niece lay on hospital beds wearing bloody clothing, gauze bandages over their heads. They had been beaten with metal rods and wooden sticks, caught between fighting factions when they attempted to flee their village for safety elsewhere.

Children injured in communal clashes lie at the district hospital at Muzaffarnagar. (AP Photo)

Gunfire and street battles in villages in Uttar Pradesh state have killed at least 31, leaving far more wounded or missing. Each side blames the other for initiating the deadly violence. And despite orders to shoot rioters on sight, the violence spread to neighbouring districts, and a state of alert declared for Uttar Pradesh.

At least nine persons, including a TV channel journalist, were killed and 34 injured on September 7 as fresh violence between members of two communities erupted in Muzaffarnagar, after which indefinite curfew was imposed and the army deployed to help maintain law and order. (IE Photo: Gajendra Yadav)

Labels: Aggression, India, Religion, Social-Cultural Deviations

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, September 11, 2013