- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AT a time when the Gulf nations have been strongly condemning India over controversial remarks made by a leader of prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) allegedly against the Prophet Muhammad, questions are also being raised as to why the same set of nations are silent over China’s alleged violation of rights of its minority Uyghur Muslims.
Activists and experts have hit back against the Muslim nations over their silence on China and have asked whether they are doing it because they perceive India as a “soft state”.
Brahma Chellaney, a strategic expert, was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India, “Some Muslim states that have been mute on China’s assault on Islam, including incarcerating over a million Muslims and confiscating Korans, have played up the anti-Muslim remarks of two Indians now expelled from the ruling party. Is it because they perceive India as a soft state?”
Some Muslim states that have been mute on China’s assault on Islam, including incarcerating over a million Muslims and confiscating Korans, have played up the anti-Muslim remarks of two Indians now expelled from the ruling party. Is it because they perceive India as a soft state?
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) June 6, 2022
Activist and lawyer Kasturi Shankar said something similar on Twitter.
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“Nations that claim to stand for the sentiments of the world’s two billion Muslims do nothing for Muslims in Afghanistan, Syria, China or Burma. We can do nothing against ISIS or China or Taliban, so let’s pick on a lone woman in a TV debate instead,” she said.
Nations that claim to stand for the sentiments of the world’s two billion muslims do nothing for muslims in Afghanistan, Syria China or Burma. We can do nothing against ISIS or China or Taliban, so let’s pick on a lone woman in a tv debate instead.
— Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) June 5, 2022
I condemn hate speech of any kind. I condemn hate speech by anyone. What piques me is the selective outrage and double standards. The world needs to put humanity before religion.
NupurSharma was way out of line . I cannot imagine the party had any other option but to expel her.— Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) June 5, 2022
That said, I dont hear any of these countries condemn the manchester massacre, charlie hebdo or islamic terrorist acts. Those who issue statements on behalf of all the muslims of the world should logically take responsibility for all the crimes by any and all muslims too, right ?
— Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) June 5, 2022
Balbir Punj, a former member of India’s Rajya Sabha and a member of the BJP, tweeted, “World knows how China treats its minorities- specifically Muslims & Tibetan Buddhists. China violates all human rights, international conventions while dealing with Islam & Muslims in Xinjiang. None in the world even squeaks about it. Why? Why? (sic)”
A point to ponder :
World knows how China treats its minorities- specifically Muslims & Tibetan Buddhists.
China violates all human rights , international conventions while dealing with Islam & Muslims in Xinjiang
None in the world even squeaks about it .
Why ? Why ?
— Balbir Punj (@balbirpunj) June 6, 2022
Divya Kumar Soti, a security affairs analyst and columnist, also raised the issue of the Uyghur Muslims and restrictions that the Chinese rulers impose on the Muslims in that country.
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“China sent millions of Uighur Muslims to reeducation camps, banned hijab and beard, restricted namaz and Ramzan. Did any Arab country ever dare summon a Chinese ambassador?” she asked.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and Kuwait, besides many other Muslim states, condemned the controversial remarks by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and former Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal, and called for “respect for beliefs and religions”.
In many of those countries, the Indian ambassadors were also summoned and handed over protest notes. The BJP found no other way but to suspend Sharma and expel Jindal as the row snowballed into a major crisis both at home and abroad.
What could be the reason for the Arab countries’ ire against India over the controversial remarks made by a saffron leader when they choose to look the other way when it comes to China’s treatment of the Muslims?
In March this year, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi was present as a ‘special guest’ in the 48th Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Pakistan. This happened when over a million Uyghur Muslims suffered in concentration camps in China.
Wang said on the occasion that China shared common values with the Islamic world and thanked the Muslim world for its strong support at the United Nations and also promised $400 billion as investment in different projects in the Muslim nations under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Countries in the Gulf like Bahrain have in the past expressed their keenness to make the most of the BRI project and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Islamic world weighs the economic story when it comes to their silence on the Uyghurs.
The OIC has been maintaining a silence on the Uyghurs for many years now. It has even supported their prosecution in Xinjiang, particularly during the rule of president Xi Jinping.
Some of them even become partners in crime at times. The likes of Pakistan, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Tukey, Qatar and some others have been detained by these Muslim countries silently and pushed them back into China.
Since both the Muslim world and China are non-democratic, they have little concern for factors such as human rights, rule of law , etc., while backing each other. China has extended economic and other cooperation to these countries without taking into consideration any social or political concern and in lieu, the Islamic nations have bought its narrative of Islam. The presence of the Chinese foreign minister at the OIC event shows how deep the camaraderie runs between the Chinese and the OIC and the parochial stand of the Muslim nations.
Former Indian vice president Hamid Ansari told veteran Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai while reflecting on the topic that the ire of the Gulf nations towards India over Sharma’s remarks is indicative of something political and it should be dealt with politically. Ansari said the same countries have in the recent past welcomed India and Modi. So why then this strong backlash? Is there a strong undercurrent in the Muslim world against the BJP’s Hindu right-wing agenda?
So why do the same OIC countries that target India over a ruling party spokesperson’s deplorable comment keep silent when Uyghur Muslims in China are the long suffering victims of the Chinese govt? Hamid Ansari offers a revealing insight. 👇 https://t.co/pSdf3G9k3X
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) June 7, 2022
Autocratic states generally do not appreciate democracies and feel their concern for issues such as human rights as interfering. Their own records against religious minorities and immigrants are questionable. So what ground are they hitting out at India? Even though India is a medium power and does not interfere in others’ matters in a way a powerful democracy like the US does, yet the reactions from the Arab world might indicate their natural distaste for a democracy.
Could the Modi government’s policy on Kashmir and befriending Israel, which remained a common enemy of the Arab nations for decades, be another reason for the Gulf’s vehement reaction? Even though a number of Arab countries have started reconciling with Israel over Palestine, yet the Jewish nation’s role in the complicated regional politics remains controversial. And India’s growing rapport with Israel might not be appreciated by certain countries in the Muslim world.
