When hate invades the human mind, there is no limit to brutal atrocity. On April 10, a Guardian
story included a video in which there is cheering as an Israeli sniper
shoots an unarmed Palestinian a considerable distance away. Shown on TV
in Israel, it has been the subject of some introspective debate. Then
there is news from Kashmir to make anyone, but the perpetrators and
their supporters, cringe in horror.
Eight-year-old Asifa Bano went in the afternoon to the nearby forest, as she
usually did, to bring back the family horses from grazing. She never
returned. Family and friends searched all-night by flashlights but
could not find her. Five days later her body was found.
"She had been tortured," recalls her mother.
"Her legs were broken ... Her nails had turned black and there were blue and red marks on her arm and fingers."
Was
this the work of a demented sadist? No, it turns out. It was a
planned operation intended to terrorize her community of Muslim nomads
(Gujjars) to leave this predominantly Hindu area about 45 miles east of
Jammu City.
According
to investigators, Asifa was taken to a temple where she was held for
several days. The eight-year old was repeatedly "raped for days, tortured and then murdered," states the charge sheet. She was strangled
to death, then hit twice on the head with a stone.
A
retired government officer, Sanji Ram, aged 60, calmly planned this
horror, aided by police officers Anand Dutta, Tilak Raj, Sunder Verma,
and someone called Khajuria. The outrage over the incident has grown since two ministers from the ruling BJP (Mr. Modi's party) attended a rally in support of the accused.
Terrorizing
Muslims in Kashmir is not new; it has been ongoing for decades. But
terrorizing Muslims, Dalits, Christians and indigenous peoples in India
itself has now also mushroomed.
Six Christian churches have been burned
since 2015, and a concerted attempt to boycott Christian businesses is
underway in the northeast. The killing of Muslims and Dalits by
vigilantes on minor pretexts continues as the country's democracy turns into a 'mobocracy'.
It is 'Democracy a la' Modi', a phrase that is the title of a long essay by scholars Sumit Ganguly and Krishna Menon in The National Interest
(Jan/Feb 2018) -- the title was changed to 'Making India Great Again?'
in the internet version. Mr. Modi and his party want to turn India's "kaleidoscope
of languages, religions, castes and cultures" into a culturally Hindu
state, even a religious return to Hinduism for they believe that "many
Hindus were forcibly converted to, or duped into adopting Islam and
Christianity." Forget the Islamic injunction against forced conversion
or the abundant evidence of tireless Christian missionaries including
Mother Teresa.
The National
Volunteer Force or RSS in their white shirt, khaki shorts uniform
conduct martial drills and "serves as the party's force multiplier and
base". It demonizes the other creating the environment for vigilante lynchings of minorities -- overwhelmingly Muslim note the authors -- to continue with impunity.
"Attacks
on minority communities have become common, and academics, students and
journalists who highlight the harassment and intimidation are subjected
to public calumny, and have occasionally been killed."
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