ISLAMABAD: Indian political parties use anti-Muslim rhetoric including thehatred against Pakistan as a tool to win elections and it will be repeatedin India’s next general election due in 2019.
This was stated by British Kashmiri Journalist, Murtaza Shibli at a PublicTalk on “Rising Extremism in India” organised here by the Institute ofStrategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) in collaboration with the IslamabadCouncil of World Affairs (ICWA) under its Distinguished Lecture Series onFriday.
Talking about extremism in Indian society, Murtaza said that BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP) had given enough indications about the desire to againform the federal government.
“BJP, under the Ghar Wapsi (Back to Home) banner, has been attempting toturn India into a Hindu Rashtra or a Hindu nation,” he said.
He said that India was trying to re-write the history in Indian occupiedKashmir by using force.
“India is obsessed with Pakistan. Its leaders raise the slogans againstPakistan just to win the elections unlike Pakistani leaders”, he said.
Talking to the participants Murtaza Shibli said that India wanted toinstigate Pakistan for war by killing innocent civilians on LoC and workingboundary.
Relying to a question he said Pakistani media did not propagate on Kashmirissue as compared to Indian media.
“The negative propaganda that is sold on Indian media against Pakistanhelps shape the notion among Indians that Pakistan is their eternal enemy,”he added.
In his concluding remarks, Chairman ISSI Ambassador Khalid Mahmood saidthat extremism was a disturbing trend worldwide but its increasingpenetration in India society especially against Muslim minority wasalarming.
Ambassador Mahmood said that big powers having influence on India shouldshow a special responsibility.
He reiterated the dangers to the region of extremism in India and pointedout that international actors needed to play their respective roles inexposing the veneer of secularism in India. The event was attended by largenumber of members from civil society, media representatives and studentsfrom different universities. – APP