India Ranks 161st in Terms of Journalistic Freedom- RSF

 

On Wednesday, May 3, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published the 21st edition of its World Press Freedom Index, and it was unfavourable for India. India has lost 11 places from 2022, when it was ranked 150, to 161st in terms of journalistic freedom. The index ranked 180 countries. Reporters Without Borders (RWB; Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is a worldwide non-profit organisation that has as its stated goal defending the right to freedom of information. According to its advocacy, everyone must have access to news and information, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognises the right to receive and share information without regard to national boundaries, and other international human rights treaties.The embarrassing score of India, according to critics, demonstrates rising hostility and pressure on journalists in India. India is now one of the 31 nations that RSF considers to have “very serious” journalistic conditions. According to the report from Reporters Without Borders, a group that assesses the conditions for journalism worldwide, press freedom in India has gone from “problematic” to “very bad,”.“The situation has gone from ‘problematic’ to ‘very bad’ in three other countries: Tajikistan (down 1 at 153rd), India (down 11 at 161st) and Turkey (down 16 at 165th),” said the report released on Wednesday, celebrated globally as World Press Freedom Day.

Methodology of RSF

RSF has consultative status with the International Organisation of the Francophonie, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and UNESCO. Journalistic freedom in India 180 nations are included in the index, which rates conditions for journalists. From 0 (worst) to 100 (best), the five “contextual indicators” on which countries are assessed by RSF now replace the seven categories that it used to rate nations until 2021. With a total of 117 questions and sub-questions, these are the following contextual indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural background, and safety.Following the compilation of the indicators, the countries are divided into five categories: good situation (85–100 points), satisfactory situation (75–85), problematic situation (65–75), difficult situation (45–65), and very serious situation (below 45). India has scored in the last category. According to the report from RSF, press freedom in India has gone from “problematic” to “very bad,”. Therefore, India ranks 161st in terms of journalistic freedom.Read here, Pro-Khalistan Activist Amritpal Singh declared fugitive- What is happening in “India’s Bread Basket” Punjab?

The Remarks of RSF on India

In its opening remarks about why India has been classified this way, RSF states, “The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in “the world’s largest democracy”, ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right.The RSF draws attention to a number of grave issues with India’s media environment, one of which is ownership concentration:“…the abundance of media outlets conceals tendencies toward the concentration of ownership, with only a handful of sprawling media companies at the national level, including the Times Group, HT Media Ltd, The Hindu Group and Network18. Four dailies share three quarters of the readership in Hindi, the country’s leading language. The concentration is even more marked at the regional level for local language publications such as Kolkata’s Bengali-language Anandabazar Patrika, the Mumbai-based daily Lokmat, published in Marathi, and Malayala Manorama, distributed in southern India. This concentration of ownership in the print media can also be observed in the TV sector with major TV networks such as NDTV. The state-owned All India Radio (AIR) network owns all news radio stations.”The fact that these businesses and the Modi administration have overtly mutually beneficial partnerships only makes matters worse, it continues: “The prime example is undoubtedly the Reliance Industries group led by Mukesh Ambani, now a personal friend of Modi’s, who owns more than 70 media outlets that are followed by at least 800 million Indians. Similarly, the takeover of the NDTV channel at the end of 2022 by tycoon Gautam Adani, who is also very close to Narendra Modi, signalled the end of pluralism in the mainstream media.”Anxiety in the newsroom has increased since controversial businessman Gautam Adani declared his plan to take over the channel in a hostile bid last August, and journalists like Ravish Kumar have left their positions as a result. NDTV had employed 48-year-old Ravish for 26 years. He was senior executive editor of the news organisation at the time of his resignation. He was noted for its scathing and critical coverage of public policies and opinions of the current government. These reasons explain why India ranks 161st in terms of journalistic freedom.

Lack of Diversity in Indian Newsrooms and Harassment of Journalists

RSF claims that there is a dearth of diversity in Indian newsrooms. “For the most part, only Hindu men from upper castes hold senior positions in journalism or are media executives ­– a bias that is reflected in media content. For example, fewer than 15% of the participants in major evening talk shows are women.”According to RSF, there are many legal methods that those in power harass journalists, including by accusing them of criminal defamation and sedition. “Indian law is protective in theory but charges of defamation, sedition, contempt of court and endangering national security are increasingly used against journalists critical of the government, who are branded as “anti-national”,” the reportnotes.

India Ranks Among the Worst Performers in South Asia

India ranks among the worst performers on the rating, even within South Asia as it ranks 161st in terms of press freedom. At 163, Bangladesh performs somewhat worse than Pakistan, while India comes in at 150th, several positions behind Pakistan. With a rating of 152, even Afghanistan, where the Taliban administration is well known for being hostile to independent journalists, has performed better. Sri Lanka is at 135 and Bhutan is at 90. The report also added that the last three slots were occupied by Asian countries.“The last three places are occupied solely by Asian countries: Vietnam (178th), which has almost completed its hunt of independent reporters and commentators; China (down 4 at 179th), the world’s biggest jailer of journalists and one of the biggest exporters of propaganda content; and, to no great surprise, North Korea (180th),”

The Indian Press Voices Concern Over RSF Report

The Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Club of India, and the Press Association released a joint statement voicing their concern over the country’s dip in the index.“The indices of press freedom have worsened in several countries, including India, according to the latest RSF report,” the joint statement said.“For developing democracies in the Global South where deep pockets of inequities exist, the media’s role cannot be understated. Likewise the constraints on press freedom due to hostile working conditions like contractorization have to also be challenged. Insecure working conditions can never contribute to a free press,” it added.

The Kerala Story: Molding Truth to Fit the Love-Jihad Lie

32,000 Hindu and Christan girls converted to Islam and transformed into ISIS terrorists – this is the plot line of a recently released movie, The Kerala Story. Focusing on the suffering of thousands of converted terrorists in Keralla, love jihad, and forced conversion, the film paints a grim picture of modern India.But there’s a twist – the majority of what the movie presents as concrete facts are plain lies.Be it the number of 32,000 converted ISIS terrorists or the looming threat of love jihad, the polarizing movie presents a twisted truth. In this article, we are debunking the reality of THE KERALA STORY and understanding how the movie only aims to provoke Indians against each other.

Fact-Check of the Kerala Story

The movie Kerala Story states multiple accusations and ‘facts.’ The most popular ones include the following:3200 women converted to IslamKerala to become an Islamic State in the next 20 yearsFatima (the forcefully converted ISIS terrorist) is still stuck in an Afghanistan jailBut how much of it is true? Let’s uncover the reality.

3200 Converted women

In 2012, Oommen Chandy, the then-chief minister of Kerala, informed the state legislature that over 2667 young women converted to Islam between 2006 to 2012. On the contrary, however, the CM never mentioned the term ‘forced conversion.Instead, dismissing the baseless love-jihad accusation, he stated:“We will not allow forcible conversions. Nor will we allow for spreading hate campaign against Muslims in the name of love jihad”

Kerala – An Islamic State?

The second claim was based on another former Chief Minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan’s (2006-2011) statement. However, when you look at the video, you can clearly see how they manipulated the English subtitles.During his speech, Mr. Achuthanandan criticized PFI, blaming them for “influencing the youth of other religions.” However, again there was no mention of ISIS. Also, it’s worth noting that i’s been over 13 years since the speech, and Kerala remains a safe and secular state.

4 Kerala Women Who Joined Islamic State

Between 2016 and 2018, four women left Kerala for the Islamic State of Khorasan Province –Nimisha (Fatima Isa), Merrin Jacob (Mariyam), Sonia Sebastian (Ayisha), and Rafela.Source: The WeekAmongst these four women, one was already Muslim, two converted from Christianity to Isma, and one from Hinduism to Islam. The Kerala story revolves around Fatima, who was allegedly trapped in love jihad. However, on further investigation, we found that Fatima’s husband, Eeza, himself converted to Islam from Christianity.

The Twisted Reality

The Kerala Story movie depicted a fake image of its three protagonists – innocent women trapped in a global conspiracy with no alter intentions. The entire audience sympathized with the helpless women.However, when you look at the real-life interview of the real converted terrorist women, you can hardly empathize with them. The discussion clearly shows how brainwashed and radicalized these women still are.Moreover, the 2016 NIA report shows that all the 20 terrorists mentioned in the report were deeply interconnected regarding radicalization. Seventeen of these came from the Kasargod district of Kerala.The 2016 India Today report highlighted a concerning truth that it’s not just singles who are traveling to IS-controlled territories. Instead, entire families with children have gone to join ISIS.According to Stat News Global, about 60 Indians (26 males, 13 women, and 21 children) shifted to Afghanistan in 2018.So there definitely is a problem where people are brainwashed to join ISIS. Internet and social media have opened new modes of communication to influence. A 2019 report states that ISIS uses the dark web and encrypted platforms to radicalize the youth and recruit terrorists.

Analyzing the Real Terrorism Problem in India

The International Center for the Study of Radicalization, King’s College reported that about 41,490 people from 80 countries are affiliated with IS. Furthermore, 74% of these terrorists are men.The Underseceratery General of the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism released another data of over 40,000 foreign terrorist fighter joining conflicts in Syria and Iraq across 110 countries.But how many of these recruits are from India?America’s Bureau of Counter Terrorism published a country report which highlighted the 160 people who were arrested related to IS in India. These 160 people include not only the terrorists who left India to join ISIS but also individuals who propagated ISIS’s agenda over the Internet.Of the 160 accused, only 40 cases were said to be from Kerala. This number, however, still does not tell the exact data of people who joined ISIS.The US Department of State reports revealed that about 66 Indian-origin terrorists were affiliated with ISIS till November 2020. Among these 66, there are only ten women, and only six are from Kerala.

The Problem with the Kerala Story

Dictating the story of three women being the reality of 32,000 women is one of the biggest lies the Kerala Story presents.The problem is – people are still being brainwashed and recruited into ISIS across the globe. Going back to the 2016 country report, we can see how many countries are affected by the problem. Following is the number of IS recruits per country:When these numbers are compared to India, a country with the third-largest Muslim population, the 66 recruits seem, though still concerning, small.The movie is defaming one of the best states of India based on lies.

The Proud Truth, the Kerala Story, Tries to Hide

The ORA report and, in many instances, international organizations consistently ask why Indians have fewer ISIS recruits. The movie, however, does not delve into this.Time and again, the Indian agency’s strict and quick repose has busted ISIS propaganda in the Country. For example, under Operation Pigeon, Indian agencies saved 350 vulnerable Malyali youths from being recruited through de-radicalization programs.Former diplomat Talmiz Ahmad also praises India’s syncretic culture and tradition behind the youths rejecting extremism. Indian constitution and culture celebrate unity in diversity. That’s why most Indians reject extreme ideologies.A report from 2015 even states that ISIS considers Indian recruits inferior to Arabs because Indian Muslims follow a more legal version of Islam.Many Indian Muslim clerics have also played a positive role in promoting harmony. In March 2009, Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa declaring India as Dar al-Aman (a country where militant jihad is prohibited). In 2015, over 70,000 Indian Muslim scholars issued a joint fatwa against ISIS, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups.

The Real Kerala Story

Kerala is a living example of India’s thriving unity in diversity, where people of all religious faith live together in harmony. Movies like The Kerala Story are trying to defame one of the most prosperous states of India, along with increasing polarity and radicalization within the country.Terrorist propaganda, conversions, and brainwashing of youth to become terrorists are global realities. But films like the Kerala Story undermine the pain and suffering of the actual victim by showcasing fake provocating stories.On the plus side, however, the lash back the movie has received shows that fake numbers and conspiracy theories can’t fool Indians.

The 1967 Arab-Israeli War revisited

I was ten years old after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War when Israel occupied the West Bank in June 1967. Then, I didn’t fully grasp what was happening to us. Arab radio stations transmitting from Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad had been galvanizing us into believing that Israel’s days were numbered and that Arab nationalism, which nearly replaced Islam as our de facto religion, would soon tear up the Zionist entity to smithereens.We virtually worshipped Gamal Abdul Nasser, the legendary Egyptian president, who became a god-like figure among most Arabs from Bahrain to Casablanca.It was far more abominable to curse the ultimate leader of Arab nationalism than to curse the Almighty. Under such circumstances, achieving victory over Israel,  the darling of the West, was tantamount to indulging in day-dreaming.I remember I once asked Professor Hamed Algar, Professor of Ottoman History at the University of California at Berkeley, for his opinion of Nasser.So you can imagine the gigantic shock and disappointment we suffered when all of our dreams were crushed when all these charismatic leaders proved to be mere contemptible little men who excelled in rhetoric and in repressing their peoples but failed utterly in the confrontation with Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

A Narrative Story pre-the 1967 Arab-Israeli War

The Israeli army murdered three of my four paternal uncles, Hussein (28), Mahmoud (25), and Yousuf (23). The three, all simple and impoverished shepherds, were grazing their flock of sheep and goats near the village of Al-Burj along the so-called armistice line, 22 kilometers south-west of the West Bank town of Hebron. Together with my three uncles, a number of other relatives, including a woman, were also shot dead. In fact, the Israelis not only nearly wiped out my entire family, but also seized our sheep herd, upon which our total livelihood depended to a large extent.This calamity condemned us to a life of misery and abject poverty for many years to come. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent didn’t run active services in our region at that time, so we were left to endure our fate alone. I remember my late father telling me that the Jordanian government gave us two goats free of charge, as compensation for the tragedy. My family viewed this as a kind of insult added to injury.Thus, my family had to live in a cave for 21 years. The misery, the suffering, the poverty and the harshness of daily living were conspicuous aspects of our life. Interestingly, to this day, the Israeli government has neither apologized for the crime nor compensated us for our stolen property.

The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Would zionist jews say “mea culpa”?

Imagine, just imagine,  how rabid and vitriolic Jews would be if they were in my shoes. None the less, these self-absorbed and self-worshiping Zionists still have the Chutzpah to accuse their victims of being ” terrorists and anti-Semites.” Isn’t this discourse tantamount to fornicating with truth and history? Well, in the final analysis, shamelessness has always been and will always be the main feature of being a Zionist Jew!I don’t know when these Jews will say mea culpa to their Palestinian and other victims. Perhaps when kosher pigs fly!!Well, I do realize that it is too premature, probably naïve, to even evoke such a question. After all, Israel is still murdering Palestinian children nearly on a daily basis.

Many stories to tell!

Of course, our tragedy didn’t stop at losing three men and a number of other relatives murdered and hundreds of sheep stolen by the Israeli government. Much more had been seized from us six years earlier, in 1948, including our farming land in al-Za’ak, in what is now Israel. We were not even allowed to retrieve our belongings, such as bed coverings, household utensils and probably some money that had been left prior to the expulsion at the hands of armed Jewish gangs.Anybody who might have tried would have been shot on the spot. I heard of several people who had ventured to reach their former homes just across the border, only to be shot dead after having dug their graves.The take-no-prisoners policy was consistent with the Israeli strategy of ‘cleansing the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants who constituted the vast majority of the population in mandatory Palestine.To implement this Nazi-like policy, various Israeli gangs, which came later to form the so-called Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), committed numerous wanton massacres against the Palestinians. Some of the most outrageous massacres included Deir Yassin, Dawaymeh, Tantura, Lud and Qastal, but there were many others. The atrocities, carried out knowingly and deliberately by the Jewish leadership, were aimed at terrorizing the Palestinians into leaving. The message was as clear as it was gruesome. “If you want to stay alive, you’ve got to leave.”Israeli propaganda during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War would tell the world later that the ‘Arab refugees’ left their homes willingly and were not forced into leaving by the Jude-Nazi gangs. I say Judeo-Nazi because when Jews think, behave and act like Nazis they become Nazis.Interestingly, the Zionists continue to shamelessly generate such big lies to deceive and mislead world public opinion. I strongly believe that Zionist Jews are God’s lying people.They lie as often as they breathe; dishonesty seems to be a built-in Zionist character. You can not be Zionist and honest at the same time.Zionist Jews would never admit that Israel and Jews ever did any wrongdoing or committed any crime.A Zionist would even tell God Almighty “you’re a liar.” Didn’t Jews carry signs in the US reading “Allah is on my ass”? ( I got this quote from Alfred Lilienthal’s famous book The Zionist Connection).Zionist Jews may not be the most murderous people under the sun. However, they are certainly the most dishonest and mendacious.Moreover, there is no doubt whatsoever that Zionist Jews are the most racist people under the sun. For these Jews, the life of a single Jew is far more important than the lives of a  million non-Jews. For them, non-Jewish life has no sanctity.

The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Jordanian era

Under Jordanian rule (1951-67), i.e. pre the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the most important concern for the Jordanian authorities was loyalty to King Hussein and his family. The King was nearly ‘a demi god’ and the entire country, including the media, the security forces and the people revolved around his figure. Hence, the claim often made that Jordan was a king with a country, rather than a country with a king, had a substantial degree of veracity.Connections to the King and his Mukhabarat (intelligence apparatus) and immediate coterie would automatically put one in a preferential position.Souting “Ya’ish Jalalat al Malik al-Muaazam” (Long Live The King), would give one an automatic certificate of good conduct. No wonder, it was a despotic regime based on sycophancy, favouritism, and nepotism.King Hussein never really made genuine efforts to push back recurrent Israeli incursions, forays and raids on Palestinian population centres in the West Bank pre the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, let alone liberate occupied Palestine. Indeed, the Commander-in-Chief of the Jordanian army in the late 1940s, when Israel was created, and up until March 1, 1956, was a British officer by the name of John Baggot Glubb who came to be known among Palestinians and Jordanians as Glubb Pasha, an honorary title. So, who in his right mind would have expected a British officer to fight the Jews on behalf of the Arabs?As far as Palestinians were concerned, the most immediate priority for the Jordanian regime i.e. King Hussein was to make sure that they and other Jordanians didn’t pose a threat to the survival, security and stability of the Hashemite monarchy. A Palestinian would get a six-month prison term if an empty bullet cartridge was found in his possession.And as the Israelis would do later, the Jordanians enlisted the ‘Makhatir’ (clan notables) to inform on every gesture of opposition to the Hashemite rule within their respective clans and areas. This in turn created a kind of police-state atmosphere all over the country.Free-minded Palestinians who insisted on voicing their conscience were persecuted and dumped into the notorious El-Jafr prison in eastern Jordan where they were often tortured savagely, even to death. I know of a person from my town (Dura) who was tortured to death for his affiliation with the Communist Party.Torture is still practiced in Jordan with the knowledge, blessing and encouragement of the United States and Britain. Some of the so-called ‘terror suspects’ held by the CIA were secretly flown to Jordan in order to be ‘softened up’ by Jordanian interrogators.

In the mid1950s, the Jordanian security forces on several occasions shot and killed demonstrators who were protesting the pro-Western policies of the government and the regime’s failure and inability to stop recurrent Israeli attacks. Some of these demonstrators were affiliated with or instigated by the Ba’ath party and the Communists who openly called for overthrowing the monarchy.As a counterbalance to the leftists, who were quite active, especially in the West Bank, King Hussein allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to operate relatively freely. So it was a kind of divide-and-rule policy.The leftists would accuse the Brotherhood of being British agents and the Brotherhood would retort by accentuating the atheism and enmity to Islam of the Communists and Ba’athists. Hussein’s relations with the Brotherhood remained relatively stable until the final years of his life when he introduced the one-man-one-vote law, aimed primarily at reducing to the minimum the number of parliament seats the well-organized Islamists could win.

Nonetheless, Jordan was (and still is) a weak and poor kingdom, economically, politically and especially militarily. The Israeli army routinely carried out cross-border incursions into the West Bank prior to 1967, murdering innocent villagers, and the Jordanian army was generally too weak and too unequipped to repulse the Israeli aggressors.

King Hussein must have calculated that maintaining a peaceable or even quasi-friendly modus vivendi with Israel was the best insurance policy for retaining his kingdom and the rule of his Hashemite dynasty. I think he was wrong in thinking this way. His non-hostility towards Israel didn’t prevent the Jewish state from pursuing its aggressive policies, which culminated in the occupation of the West Bank in 1967.King Hussein did make a lot of contacts with Israel even before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. For example, on September 24, 1963, the director-general of the Israeli prime minister’s office, Yaacov Herzog, met the King in the London clinic of the King’s Jewish physician, Dr. Emmanuel Herbert.Another meeting took place in Paris in 1965 and Israel was represented by Golda Meir, who was accompanied by Herzog.

Pakistan Establishment’s Move Against Imran Khan and PTI

The recent political developments in Pakistan, involving the Establishment’s crackdown on Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) have marked another watershed moment in the chequered political history of Pakistan. The Establishment in Pakistan is once again involved in breaking and making political parties. The developments are not unprecedented and follow a model. A charismatic political leader who commands legitimacy among the masses rises. The army or the Establishment becomes wary of the leader’s power. In order to protect their political power, they go after the leader, by breaking their political party and killing them.

Imran Khan’s Threat to the Establishment

Imran Khan and his party PTI pose a grave danger to the power of the Establishment. His supporters mostly come from the urban middle classes. Establishment and Imran Khan This specific class has been historically a supporter of the Establishment. Khan thus ate into the support of the Pakistani army. The army views it as a zero-sum game— Khan’s increasing support is their loss.Even though it was initially alleged that Khan came to power in 2018 because of the backing of the Establishment, he turned out to be dangerous for the Establishment. The differences came to the fore after the fall of Kabul. Khan refused the CIA’s requests to establish its bases in Pakistan for future operations in Afghanistan.Pakistani Army has historically leaned towards the US. Immediately after independence, the Pakistani Army became a part of various defence and security treaties with the US. Further, the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan also brought the Pakistani Army closer to the US. Similarly, post-2001 when the US launched its operations in Afghanistan, Pakistani Army’s support was crucial to the US.However, during the recent withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan, the Pakistani Army was sidelined. Prime Minister Imran Khan took all the important decisions. The Pakistani Army felt threatened. After a few months, the opposition ousted Imran Khan from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. There were various accusations of US involvement in Khan’s ouster because the US had at various times publicly expressed its displeasure of Khan’s policies. However, these accusations have not been proven.

Politically Motivated Corruption Charges Against Khan

After his ouster, the ruling government charged Khan and his family with various corruption cases. The government recently arrested him in these cases. His supporters took to the streets to protest the arrest. Later, Supreme Court of Pakistan had to intervene in the matter and the court released Khan on bail. However, during the protests, there were widespread incidences of violence in which several key army installations were damaged by the protesters.The government alleges that Khan and his political party instigated their supporters to carry out violence. Khan and his party have denied the charges. However, the government arrested several key PTI leaders for instigating the violence. The courts released some of these leaders later but they have now either abandoned PTI or quit politics altogether. The army seems to have pressured these leaders to give up politics or face the consequences.  Further, it is also a tactic to isolate Imran Khan and criminalize any kind of association with him.The Establishment is trying people associated with the recent violence under army law. The government is also publicly talking about banning PTI. Several international human rights organizations have called upon the Pakistani government to try these people under civil law.

Establishment’s Move Against Khan Not Unprecedented

The Establishment’s attempt to break PTI and obliterate Imran Khan by accusing him of terror and corruption is not unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. There were at least two cases where a popular political leader rose and the Pakistani Army felt threatened. They either killed them or tried to obliterate their political parties. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and his party banned while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was killed.

Sheikh Mujibur Rehman

When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged as a mass leader in the erstwhile East Pakistan, his party won a majority of the seats in the 1970 elections. He was about to take the charge of Prime Minister of Pakistan, but the Establishment was against him. The Establishment arrested him and banned his party and launched the infamous operation in East Pakistan that culminated in the liberation of East Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh in 1971.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Similarly, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as a mass leader in Pakistan in the early 1970s, he threatened the Pakistani Army’s power.  Pakistan Army’s chief, General Zia-ul-Haq staged a coup and arrested Bhutto on the charges of murder. After a lot of controversy, the court found Bhutto guilty in the case and subsequently sentenced him to death. They finally executed him in April 1979.There is a standard model that the Establishment in Pakistan follows when it comes to the rise of popular political leaders. The Establishment either kills or politically obliterates any leader who threatens its power. It is still in the initial days of the process to make Imran Khan politically irrelevant in Pakistan, and it remains to be seen how the Establishment will deal with Khan.

The Appalling State of Muslims in post-colonial India

South Asia is home to one-third of the world’s Muslim population. Contrary to the popular belief there are more Muslims in South Asia than there are in middle-east which is popularly known to be the heart-land of Islam. After Indonesia, India is the second country in the world with the largest Muslim population. India is anciently known to be the hub of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. So, when and how did a country largely consisting of Hindus, Buddhists and Jains become so densely populated by Muslims? How did Islam emerge in pre-colonial India? As much as there is a controversy around this inquisition, there is also a lack of historical, geographical and political awareness related to it. The most important aspect to this bone of contention is the appalling state of the Muslims in post-colonial India, and how is it different from that of the Muslim diasporas in the rest of the world, in specie the West. Albeit there have been events of religious violence in pre-colonial and British India, the post-colonial period has seen an enormous increase in riots and hate crimes against Muslims in India.

The Image of Muslims in the West

The image of Muslims in the west has been in question lately more than ever in the world in general. The rise of hate crimes against. State of Muslims in post-colonial India  Muslims usually chalk up to the 9/11 attack against the United States which was allegedly carried out by a religious extremist organization Al-Qa’ida. Having said that there have been some crucial conspiracy theories that called for a new investigation into the attacks, because they asserted that there was evidence of individuals from within the US government being either responsible for or knowingly having conspired in the attacks as a means for America of justifying the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, majority of the general public held the opinion that Al-Qai’da had orchestrated the attack. Because the members of the Al-Qai’da were people who proclaimed to be the adherents of the religion of Islam, this gave rise to a sense of bigotry and intolerance in the west towards the entire Muslim community.The widely accepted notion among the broad commonality incriminated the Muslims of effectuating the attack. Non-Muslims started generalizing Muslims and started viewing them as people who endorsed terrorism, which led to a common prejudice against them in the western society. From their customs and religious practices, including their eating habits, to their appearance and clothing, Muslim men and Women were looked down upon and stereotyped as radical and fundamentalists. This generalization and stereotyping of Muslims gradually turned violent in nature and this turn of events gave rise to a series of hate crimes resulting in abuse and even unfortunate deaths of many Muslims. Howbeit, even before the 9/11 attack, many bookmen and laypeople alike had accepted a prior perception that religious terrorism had become the most common form of terrorism, particularly with regard to Islam. This suggests that Islamophobia was a common practice even before 2001.

Islamophobia before 9/11

People have associated Islamophobia with various manifestations. While some people reckon the phenomena with the increasing population of Muslims in the United States and Europe, others deem it to be retaliation for an ostensible anticipation of the emergence of a global Muslim identity. Yet many others identify Islamophobia with xenophobia and racism. Another less talked about reason for Islamophobia is the media’s double standards while reporting terrorism. A recent study has found out that terror attacks by “muslims” receive 357% more press attention. This was University of Alabama researcher’s newly study which was published in Justice Quarterly (academic journal covering criminology and criminal justice) authored by Dr. Erin Kearns, UA assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice. Still and all the causes of Islamophobia have always been and till date are debatable.

In the spate of attacks on Muslims in the western countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand, it should be noted that the occurrence of such deplorable crimes in the West have one regularity. They are all driven by Islamophobia, the impetus of which is the bigotry for Muslims, a sequence to the specious notion that Muslims endorse Terrorism

Appalling State of Muslims in post-colonial India- Partition

Talking about Islam and Muslims, then like in West the appalling state of Muslims is much the same in parts of South Asia explicitly in India, but for wholly different reasons. Though there have been incidents of religious violence in pre-colonial and British India, the history of modern India has seen a compelling surge in the estimate of both subjective and objective violence. But what accounts for this rise of violence against Muslims in independent India? Is it Islamophobia that drives this hatred, just like it does in the West.

Inasmuch these crimes are a result of anti-Muslim sentiments in both the West and in India, the causes of these crimes are primitively much different. Benchmarking the nature of these crimes and the disparity in the claims of the perpetrators, one finds out that there is significantly a historical aspect to the nature of violence against Muslims in India. The partition of British India into two different countries, now called India and Pakistan, was originally borne out of a religious divide amongst Hindus and Muslims. As history claims, different people were for and against partition, as each had a different vision in mind.There are many theories that explain the reasons for the establishment of Pakistan. One of the most agreed upon consensus of the pro-partition leaders for the formation of Pakistan was the subject of safety of the Muslim minority in the otherwise Hindu majority India. The earlier incidents of religious violence in India had taken a toll on both the Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims being the minority were now more insecure about their safety while living amongst Hindus. Because the safety of Muslims had been in question, ultimately the demand for a separate country for Muslims by the pro-partition leaders was unanimously supported by most Muslims. The Muslims who were not able to migrate then to the land given to Pakistan were left in India, and thus were even less in number, making them an even smaller minority than before.

Commencement of the Appalling State of Muslims in post-colonial India

What marked the commencement of the violence against Muslims in Independent India was the demolition of Babri Masjid, a 430 year old mosque in Ayodhya by extremist Hindus and members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) and Bajrang Dal. What followed was a sequel of incidents feuled by the religious animosity stirred between Hindus and Muslims. There has been a continuing rise in the manifestation of hate crimes and incidents of religious prejudice against Muslims in India ever since. However, with the emergence of the current government in India, the last few years have seen an enormous and noticeable amount of hate driven crimes including rape, public flogging and lynching. The motives of the perpetrators for committing such heinous crimes are as bizarre as they are abominable. Concepts like cow vigilantism and theories like “Ghar Wapsi” have been doing rounds in the air and have accounted for most of these crimes if not all.

The idea of “Ghar Wapsi” in the appalling state of Muslims in post-colonial India

The idea of “Ghar Wapsi” has also been endorsed and publicized by the right-wing extremists in India, including the leaders of the current government. It is a concept that propagates religious conservation of non-hindus to Hinduism. The reason behind the ideology of these people is their belief that all the people living in pre-colonial and ancient India were originally Hindus. They believe that the emergence and presence of non-hindus in India is only because of the forced conversions by missionaries and invaders that came to India from outside, who were by and large Muslims. This ideology is linked to the pre-colonial past of India. It refers to the period when Islam first emerged in India in 711, when Mohammad Bin Qasim, who was a general in the Umayyad -empire conquered the area of the Southern Pakistan. This was the initial interaction of Islam with South Asia.Afterwards in the 13th century, the Mongol Invasion uprooted a large number of Persian Turks from Iran and Central-Asia driving them to India where they settled in. And so gradually the tradition and practices of these people started to blend in the syncretic culture of India. Subsequently in the late 13th century with the establishment of the Empire of Timur, began the era of the rise Muslim rulers in India.Later on in 1526, Babur, a direct descendant of Timur, founded the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent for more than 200 years. During the growth of the Mughal Empire under Babar’s son Akbar (1526-1605) there was an essential blending of Hindu-Muslim cultures. Akbar married a Hindu princess of a pure Hindu Rajput blood-line. This made Akbar’s son Jehangir half Rajput and half-Hindu.  After Akbar, his son also married a Hindu woman, and therefore Jehangir’s son Shahjahan was three-quarters Rajput. With the rise of the Mughal Empire, biologically each successor of the dynasty became less and less Turkic and more and more Indian. They adapted the culture of India and also the Indian culture was insinuated by the Islamic traditions, resulting in the concoction of two separate cultures and religions.

Historic Bias as a reason for the Appalling State of Muslims in Post-Colonial India

These religious and cultural adaptations are, however, still seen as unethical and blameworthy by many Hindus in India, as they see Islam as a threat to their own culture and identity, as a foreign concept brought to India from outside. They consider the presence of Muslims in India as a result of the historic invasions and forceful conversions by Muslim outlanders and conquerors, and not the gradual amalgamation of two different cultures and religions over the course of time. Crimes like lunching and theories like “ghar wapsi” are not mere co-incidents but are borne out of such historic beliefs. They are a corollary of a historic hurt that these people carry. The violence in the west or bread out of islamophobia is sporadic in nature and often spontaneous while in India violence is structured. Unlike the west, the primeval and ever-growing intolerance towards the practices and culture of Muslims in modern day India is not because of the nature of these practices. On the contrary, in India Islam as a religion is not seen as much of a threat but Muslims are