Imminent Threat Warning for Christians & Muslims in India
July 8, 2021
(WP) According to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Christians and Muslims living in India are facing "imminent existential threat;" and Open Doors USA is calling on the Biden administration and the international community to hold India's government accountable for the violence and discrimination against religious minorities.
"We urge the Biden administration to immediately convene an international fact-finding commission to investigate these acts of violence and other human rights violations against religious minorities in India," said Open Doors USA President & CEO, David Curry.
Commissioned by persecution watchdog organization Open Doors, the report features eight case studies of violence and discrimination against Christians or Muslims in India, which ranks #10 on Open Doors' 2021 World Watch List. Data shows vigilante mob lynchings and attacks, state harassment, attempts to drive Muslims and Christians from their land and their homes, and censorship are metamorphizing in new and disturbing ways, and – most disturbingly – these attacks are undergirded by support from unjust government officials who look the other way or refuse to acknowledge the atrocities.
Researchers found that various officials such as district administrators, lower court judges, police and local government bureaucrats are using loopholes and misusing procedural provisions to harass religious minority groups.
The report cites dozens of specific examples of bullying, harassment, violence and perversion of justice against Christians and Muslims, including:
Collusion of local law enforcement with lynch-mobs from the Hindu community
Use of legal means to threaten or arrest Christian and Muslim victims/survivors of Hindu mob attacks
Demands that evidence of attacks be provided by the victims/ survivors even when the attackers have filmed the entire sequence and/or uploaded it to social media
Refusal by police and law enforcement to arrest or deter mobs from physically intimidating and violating the property and persons of Christians and Muslims
Arson against places of worship for Christians; arson against the possessions – for instance books and religious texts – of Christians and Muslims
Intimidation and death threats against Christian and Muslim victims of Hindutva violence in order to prevent them from seeking justice
And many others…
Researchers conclude the report with recommendations for the international community, international financial organizations and social media corporations in ways to help combat the violence and discrimination, and aid victims.
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