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| India-Pakistan |
| Minorities Feel Insecure in Madhya Pradesh: Tribunal |
| 2006-05-01 |
| A human rights tribunal has found that religious minorities in the central India state of Madhya Pradesh feel insecure and are unable to participate in the mainstream economic and political process. With the change of government, communal forces have been spreading their tentacles and strengthening their roots in society in the past 15 years and the frequency and magnitude of physical attacks on minority communities have increased significantly, according to preliminary findings of the eight-member Indian People’s Tribunal (IPT) on Environment and Human Rights headed by Justice M. Kalla, a former chief justice of the Rajasthan High Court. The IPT said that in all the places that its members visited Christians and Muslims complained that police officers routinely refused to register cases and often named the complainants as accused. The report said communal forces had targeted Christians and their institutions in the name of stopping conversions. Splinter groups of the Hindu right wing have systematically attacked churches, individuals in their homes and Christian educational institutions. Although attacks on the Christian community have been reported regularly in urban areas, the focus recently shifted to rural tribal areas. As far as targeting the Muslim community is concerned, the panel found three patterns: — Planned attempts have been made to appropriate Islamic places of worship through various means by distorting history,In most places, the panel found that anti-minority violence was planned and systematic and that the administration played a proactive role. This has resulted in minority communities having been isolated physically, psychologically and economically. “However, they have not responded aggressively, even though they have lost confidence in the police, administration and the judiciary.” |
| Posted by:Fred |