Court warns of ethnic cleansing against Muslim minority in India’s Haryana

Amid rising tensions triggered by Hindu mobs in India, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a grave warning, accusing the state of potentially orchestrating ethnic cleansing. The court’s concerns revolve around the demolition of buildings owned by a specific community under the pretext of law and order, raising suspicions of deliberate ethnic cleansing. […]

Amid rising tensions triggered by Hindu mobs in India, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a grave warning, accusing the state of potentially orchestrating ethnic cleansing.

The court’s concerns revolve around the demolition of buildings owned by a specific community under the pretext of law and order, raising suspicions of deliberate ethnic cleansing.

Troubling reports have emerged from Nuh, Haryana’s sole Muslim-majority district governed by the BJP, where over 350 properties were razed within four days. Starting in early August, a distressing series of events unfolded, involving the bulldozing of Muslim homes and shops.

Shockingly, three mosques were set ablaze, and an imam was brutally beaten to death by an extremist Hindu mob. In Nuh, located an hour away from New Delhi, over 150 Muslims have been arrested, and an internet blackout until August 12 aims to curb the escalating ethnic violence incited by radical Hindu groups against the Muslim minority.

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The violence ensued following a procession organized by the far-right Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, in Nuh district, affiliated with the ruling BJP.

Recent years have seen bulldozers used in BJP-governed states to demolish properties of Muslims accused of religious clashes. (Albawaba)