Kashmiri 12th Grade Student Detained Over Allegations Of Being “Master Military Recruiter”
Arsalan Feroz, a 12th grade student in Kashmir, has been detained for a week now by the the National Investigations Agency (NIA), India’s counter-terrorist task force. He is being held away from his family on the outrageous charge of “radicalising, motivating and recruiting youngsters of Jammu and Kashmir to effect violent activities in the Union Territory.” His family protests that Arsalan, a schoolboy with good grades and a passion for sports, is being wrongfully detained.
“He can’t make his bed without my help, how could he radicalise people to join militancy?” said Sehrish, Arsalan’s older sister.
“So many families across Kashmir have been struck by similar tragedies in the past few months,” said a friend of the family. “Arsalan was a loving child who cared for his parents. There’s absolutely no truth in the claims that he recruited militants.”
Arsalan’s arrest has taken a toll on the health of his parents, Feroz and Zamrooda. Both his mother and father have been hospitalized twice, and both are bed-ridden. Doctors have diagnosed Feroz, the sole breadwinner of the family, with anxiety neurosis, and Zamrooda remains grief-stricken. The burden of running the household has fallen upon 18-year-old Sehrish. The family has no idea when, or if, they will see Arsalan again.
Human rights abuses have become rampant in Kashmir since the Indian government revoked the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian military forces now occupy the nation’s only Muslim-majority state, and civilians are routinely subjected to internet blackouts, beatings, and torture. Human Rights Watch reports that in 2020, thousands of Kashmiri civilians were detained, including 144 children.
Hindu Extremist Groups Lodge Baseless Police Complaint Against Muslim Former MP
In Gurugram city, Hindu extremist groups lodged a ludicrous police complaint against former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammad Adeeb and other Muslim leaders, accusing them of “wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot,” “disrupting communal harmony,” and “trying to grab land.” The complaint was lodged after Adeeb had moved India’s Supreme Court, seeking contempt action against state officials “for failing to comply with the court’s directions regarding measures to curb communal and violent sentiments that resulted in hate crimes.”
It is obvious that the Hindu extremist groups are accusing Adeeb of disrupting communal harmony for trying to prevent hate crimes only because he has brought the case before India’s apex court. Video proof shows that these same Hindu extremists regularly disrupt communal harmony in Gurugram.
For months on end, extremists have disrupted Muslim Friday prayers, chanting, “This nation doesn’t belong to Muslims, it belongs to Hindus,” and “Jai Sri Ram,” a Hindu religious slogan. These extremists have also been forcefully shutting down Muslim prayer sites with the goal of banning Muslim prayers in the city.
“We are the ones talking about peace, calm and communal harmony, and people who seek publicity glorifying Godse (Gandhi’s assassin) are out to blame us,” said Adeeb.
In State Elections, Demonizing Muslims Is An Acceptable Campaign Strategy
As the state of Uttar Pradesh gears up for elections, major politicians – especially those from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – are openly demonizing Muslims in their campaigns to win the Hindu nationalist vote.
Politicians have ramped up their fear mongering by speaking about cow slaughter, so-called “love jihad,” anti-conversion laws, false propaganda about a “growing Muslim population,” and the dangers of “Muslim” culture. References are commonly made comparing Muslim politicians to 16th- and 17th-century Mughal rulers, whom Hindu extremists believe to be uniquely bloodthirsty and anti-Hindu.
Last month Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya called for preparations to build a grand temple in Mathura, a city in the state, implying that a 16th-century mosque in the city should be demolished to make way for the temple.
Maurya also said, “People wearing lungis and skull caps grabbed your land and threatened you during the previous regime, you should remember all of this,” clearly referring to Muslims.
“BJP is demeaning Muslim political leaders because they want to instil fear among Hindu voters that if the BJP loses, ‘Muslim’ domination will return, which would be an attack on ‘Hindu’ culture,” said Aditya Menon, Political Editor at The Quint, an Indian online publication.
Uttar Pradesh is known for being a hotbed of Hindu extremists, headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is known for his vitriolic hatred for Muslims and Christians. Under his government, Uttar Pradesh was listed for three years in a row as the state with the most human rights violations in India.
Fourth Arrest In Case Of Fake Auction Of Muslim Women Shows Extremist Islamophobia Is Rampant Among Hindu Youth
Hindu extremism and hatred for Muslims has become rampant even among Hindu youth, as demonstrated by the latest arrests made in the case of Bulli Bai, an app that was designed to “auction” Muslim women, humiliate them, and inundate them online harassment.
So far, those arrested have been 21-year-old Mayank Rawal, 21-year-old engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha, 21-year-old engineering student Neeraj Bishnoi, and 19-year-old Shweta Singh, who is regarded as the mastermind behind the app. While many have attempted to show compassion towards Singh due to her youth, victims of Bulli Bai have not held back in calling her actions abhorrent.
“The perpetrator is NOT the victim. Stop exceptionalizing this criminality,” a user named Sidrah tweeted. “Instead, ask yourself, WHAT HAS LED TO THIS RADICALISATION OF THE MAJORITY?”
“Please don’t give us a lecture on compassion. She showed none when she auctioned off someone her mother’s age. Even the vilest of the vile would rethink before doing that. And she committed a crime, not a mistake, that could be forgiven,” tweeted another victim of the app.
Bulli Bai is a prime example of how Hindu extremism and anti-minority hatred have radicalized Hindu youth. Other forms of youth radicalization have been recorded nationwide. In the city of Haridwar, children attending a hate speech assembly with their parents waved swords and tridents as speakers called for a Muslim genocide. In Uttar Pradesh, Hindu youth were indoctrinated into the Hindu supremacist ideology through multiple oath-taking events shortly after the Haridwar assembly. In an event reminiscent of the Hitler Youth, schoolchildren swore “to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra (nation).”
