Muslims’ ethnic cleansing in India is alarming across world: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran on Saturday said that reports of ethnic cleansing of Muslims by the Indian government should send alarm bells ringing across the world.

In a post on Twitter, the prime minister said, “Reports in Indian and international media on Modi Govt’s ethnic cleansing of Muslims should send alarm bells ringing across the world that the illegal annexation of Kashmir is part of a wider policy to target Muslims.”

Reports in Indian and international media on Modi Govt’s ethnic cleansing of Muslims should send alarm bells ringing across the world that the illegal annexation of Kashmir is part of a wider policy to target Muslims.https://t.co/QmjTDyaGVV

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 31, 2019

The prime minister said that the illegal annexation of Indian occupied Kashmir was part of a wider strategy by the Indian government to target Muslims.

The prime minister shared a recent report from the Indian state of Assam where almost two million people were denied citizenship on Saturday, risking mass deportations of Muslims from the area.

The state of Assam, which borders Muslim-majority Bangladesh, has historically witnessed migration first under the British colonial rule.

The enormous arrival of Bangladeshi refugees, both Hindus and Muslims, during the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh sparked violent anti-migrant agitations called the Assam Movement.

The agreement set March 24, 1971, as the cutoff date for people to be considered for Indian citizenship.

It also called for the detection and deportation of undocumented immigrants. But that process faltered due to legal hurdles.

Since 2015, the NRC body had been tasked with identifying Assam’s undocumented immigrants.

Concerns are being raised on the Indian government’s plans to grant citizenship to Hindu immigrants, who will be excluded from the NRC list.