OIC condemns violence against Muslims in India
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned anti-Muslim violence in several places in India and called on the Indian authorities to punish those who targeted the community.
The OIC said it has 'followed with deep concern the acts of violence and vandalism targeting the Muslim community in several states in India during the Ram Navami processions, including the burning of a madrasa and its library by an extremist Hindu mob in Bihar Sharif on 31 March 2023'.
The 57-member organisation said the violence is 'a vivid manifestation of mounting Islamophobia and systemic targeting of the Muslim community in India'.
meanwhile, India's foreign ministry condemned the statement, saying the OIC showed an 'anti-India agenda'.
'This is one more example of their communal mindset and anti-India agenda. OIC only does its reputation damage by being consistently manipulated by anti-India forces,' Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement on Twitter.
Local media reports said large processions of people carrying tridents, swords, sticks and other weapons passed through Muslim neighbourhoods in several cities, raising hate slogans and even setting homes and shops on fire in some places.
According to local media reports, at least two people were killed in the violence during the festival, including one in the eastern state of Bihar, where authorities deployed hundreds of riot police and cut mobile internet services to prevent a flare-up.
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