Anti-Muslim violence erupts in Indian state
Tension prevails in India’s north-eastern state of Tripura following attacks on mosques and properties owned by Muslims.
Security has been tightened and restrictions on gatherings have been enforced in the affected areas.
The violence followed clashes between Hindu groups and the police.
The groups were protesting against the police refusing them permission to hold a rally against recent attacks on Hindus in neighboring Bangladesh.
At least seven people were killed, temples desecrated, and hundreds of houses and businesses of the Hindu minority torched in Bangladesh earlier this month after rumors spread that the Quran had been insulted at a special pavilion set up for the annual Hindu religious festival of Durga Puja.
Tripura is encircled on three sides by Bangladesh and connected by a thin corridor to the neighboring state of Assam. The state has been run by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2018 after 25 years of Communist rule.
More than 10 incidents of religious violence have been reported from the North Tripura district in the past four days.
Authorities enforced restrictions on large gatherings after Tuesday night’s violence in the border town of Panisagar in which a mosque and several shops belonging to Muslims were vandalized.
The attacks followed a rally taken out by the hardline Hindu organization, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) – a close ally of the BJP.
Soubhik Dey, a senior police official in Panisagar, said some 3,500 people had taken part in the rally.
“Some VHP activists participating in the rally ransacked a mosque in the Chamtilla area. Later, three houses and three shops were ransacked and two shops were set on fire in the Rowa Bazar area, around 800 yards from the first incident,” Mr. Dey said.
Police said the ransacked shops and houses belonged to Muslims and a case has been filed based on a complaint by one of them.
Narayan Das, a local leader of Bajrang Dal, another hardline Hindu group, has claimed that some youngsters in front of the mosque abused them and brandished swords, a charge that could not be independently verified.
The Tripura police tweeted that “some people are spreading rumors and circulating provocative messages on social media” and appealed to people to maintain peace.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES