NEW DELHI: Riot police patrolled the streets of India´s capital onWednesday and the city´s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for acurfew following clashes that claimed at least 20 lives.
The two days of unrest — which has seen clashes between mobs armed withswords and guns — is the worst case of anti-Muslim violence seen in Delhiin decades.
The clashes come amid worsening religious tensions following a citizenshiplaw that critics say is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s Hindunationalist agenda.
Delhi´s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, called Wednesday for the army tobe deployed and for a curfew to be imposed over flashpoint northeasterndistricts.
“Police, despite all its efforts, (are) unable to control situation andinstil confidence,” Kejriwal tweeted on Wednesday morning.
“Army (should) be called in and curfew imposed.”
The clashes began on Monday between people supporting and opposing thecitizenship law, then descended into pitched battles between the mobs.
Twenty people died and nearly 200 others were wounded in the first two daysof violence, the director of the hospital where people were taken, told AFPon Wednesday.
Sixty people had suffered gunshot wounds, according to the director, SunilKumar.
The area is home to mostly poorer economic migrants living in many shantyneighbourhoods, and some fled on Wednesday ahead of more expected clashes.
“People are killing (each other). Bullets are being fired here,” a tailorin the Jaffrabad area told AFP, adding that he was returning home to hisvillage in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
“There is no work… It is better to leave than to stick around here. Whywould we want to die here?”
On Wednesday morning AFP saw people cleaning out the blackened and trashedinterior of a mosque in the Ashok Nagar area burned out during the violence.
A video circulated on social media and verified by AFP showed men rippingoff the muezzin´s loudspeaker on top of the mosque´s minaret and placing aHindu religious flag and an Indian flag.
The new citizenship law has raised worries abroad that Modi wants toremould secular India into a Hindu nation while marginalising the country´s200 million Muslims, a claim he denies.
The law expedites the citizenship applications for persecuted minoritiesfrom India´s three Muslim-majority neighbouring countries, but not if theyare Muslim.
The flare-up in violence occurred as US President Donald Trump visitedIndia and held talks with Modi in Delhi on Tuesday.
But Trump left as scheduled on Tuesday and his visit was not visiblyinterrupted by the violence.Modi govt issues media advisory
The Indian government issued an advisory to television channels,directing them to be cautious while airing content that incited violenceand promoted anti-national attitudes amid deadly violence in New Delhi inthe last three days, reported the *Hindustan Times. *
While the US President Donald Trump was on a two-day visit to hold talkswith Modi, pictures and videos from the affected areas showed horrificscenes forcing the authorities to issue directives to the media.
The Indian government has instructed news channels that they must becautious about airing content that incited violence and promotedanti-national attitudes.
“It is hereby reiterated that all TV channels are advised to beparticularly cautious with regard to any content which is likely toencourage or incite violence, or contains anything against the maintenanceof law and order or which promotes anti-national attitudes,” the advisorysaid.
The advisory also impressed upon private channels to be cautious of contentthat contains attack on religious or communities or visuals or wordscontemptuous of religions groups or which promote communal attitudes.
It also cautioned against content that may carry “defamatory, deliberate,false and suggestive innuendos and half truths”. The advisory askedchannels to ensure that no content is telecast which is violative of theProgramme and Advertising Codes as prescribed in the Cable TelevisionNetwork (Regulation) Act, 1995.
US lawmaker concerned over violence
The violence in New Delhi drew sharp reactions from US lawmakers soon afterTrump concluded his India visit.
Reacting to the violence, US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the “deadlysurge of religious intolerance in India is horrifying”. -APP/AFP