PRESS RELEASE:
London, 15 August 2023
Diaspora groups, feminist
organisations and MPs protest attacks on minority women and ethnic cleansing on
Indian Independence Day
At least eleven of the UK’s leading Indian diaspora groups, including diaspora organisations from Manipur, alongside several key feminist organisations, and a number of MPs, came together in London on India’s Independence Day to protest against targeted sexual attacks on minority women, systematic ethnic cleansing and hate-inspired killings being orchestrated by the current Modi regime, with a particular focus on recent events in Manipur and Haryana. They also delivered an open letter to India’s President, the Honourable Droupadi Murmu, in which they urge her to take action to ensure justice for the victims and survivors of sexual violence against minority women, and call for a number of measures to be undertaken urgently (see text of letter below).
The protest took place in Parliament
Square in Central London on Tuesday 15 August, 5.00 – 7.30pm BST. It was addressed by Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East. It also heard statements
of support from John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, Sir Stephen Timms,
MP for East Ham, Apsana Begum, MP for Poplar and Limehouse.
Organisers and participants have commented as follows:
“We are here to express our deep pain
and horror that as India celebrates its 77th Independence Day, women from
minority communities are being systematically targeted for horrific sexual
violence by state-sanctioned mobs. The world was shocked by the incidents where
Kuki-Zo women in Manipur were paraded naked, gang raped
and killed by heavily armed mobs and where the police handed women over to the
mobs. This story is repeated across India – Bilkis Bano had to wage a
courageous campaign to bring those who gang-raped her during the Gujarat
genocide to justice, but just one year ago, last Independence Day, the Modi
government approved the early release of the rapists and they were actually
welcomed with garlands by the VHP (a sister organisation of the ruling BJP)! In
Hathras, the BJP government of UP went to extreme lengths to shield the
oppressor caste men who gang-raped and murdered a 19-year-old Dalit woman. And
we can never forget how, in Kashmir, the BJP held marches in support of those
who gang raped and murdered eight-year-old Asifa. This hideous misogyny against
Muslim, Christian, Dalit and Adivasi women and girl children is inseparable
from the rise of fascism and the terrifying spectre of ethnic cleansing and
genocide in India today” - Mukti Shah, South Asia Solidarity Group
spokesperson.
“We in Unau Welfare
UK, along with our friends, are taking part in
this protest to raise awareness about the plight of our fellow community
members who are facing the state sponsored ethnic cleansing carried out by
Meitei militants (Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun) accompanied by the state
forces in Manipur. We want to ask the government: why are
they hesitating to address the human rights violations and atrocities against
the tribals in Manipur? Unau Welfare UK demands President’s Rule in Manipur to
stop the violence!” - Dany, Unau Welfare UK
“Rise in rage
against the state-sponsored attacks, naked parading, gang rapes and threats to
our sisters in India, particularly in Manipur but also elsewhere. We are
anguished, pained, and enraged to see that a country which calls itself a
democracy inflicts such violence against women” – Taranjit Chana, Million Women
Rise
“UKIMC is deeply concerned at the
ongoing crimes by the Hindutva gangs (led by the extremist VHP, Bajrang Dal
groups - affiliates of the RSS) against minorities in India. The violence in
Manipur continues - the world has watched in horror as video evidence emerged
of the rape of Christian women and the attempts at ethnic cleansing directed
against the Kuki-Zo community. There is a breakdown of law and order
with violence spreading over the last few days to other parts of India -
while the perpetrators are from the same Hindutva groups, the victims in these
regions are Muslims. It is shocking that 76 years after independence, following
targeted bulldozing, as the High Court has stated, ‘an exercise of ethnic
cleansing is being carried out by the state’. This Independence Day we stand in support of the minorities with the
other Indian diaspora groups in UK and demand an end to the acts of hatred and
violence in India.” – Mohammed Khan, Director, UK Indian Muslim Council
“Mob-lynchings,
rapes and murderous attacks on minorities and progressive forces and
suppression of dissent have become an everyday occurrence in India under the
present BJP government. Whether it’s Manipur or Haryana, politicians routinely
use nationalist rhetoric to divide the community, with rape and murder of women
weaponised with impunity. The world needs to wake up and take serious note of
the ‘world’s largest democracy’ under the shadow of majoritarianism turning
into a terrorist state, through suppression and silencing of Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs, caste affected Dalits and Tribal (Adivasi) communities!” – Satpal Muman,
Chair, CasteWatch UK.
For more
information please call or WhatsApp on (+44) 7846873341
or email
southasiasolidaritygroup@gmail.com.
================
Open letter to the
Hon’ble Droupadi Murmu, President of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Rajpath,
Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110004, India
Your excellency,
As members of the
Indian diaspora and as women’s rights activists, we are writing to you to
express our deep anguish about the current situation in India. We urge you to
take immediate action to ensure justice for the victims and survivors of the
horrific sexual violence faced by women belonging to the Kuki-Zo minority
tribal community in Manipur, and to halt the violent persecution of Muslims and
other minorities across the country.
The collusion of
the Manipur police in these crimes against women and the impunity with which
genocidal mobs are operating in Manipur, with mainly Christian, Kuki-Zo people
facing what can only be described as ethnic cleansing, and more than 60,000
people from both communities displaced, points to the deliberate failure of the
Manipur Chief Minister and indeed India’s Home Minister to protect lives in the
state.
We are also
appalled by the systematic violence against Muslims which has risen to
unprecedented levels in a number of BJP-ruled states. Uncontrolled public hate
speech by BJP leaders and associates, lynchings of Muslims in broad daylight,
mosques, madrasas and libraries being burnt down, Muslim homes being bulldozed
and other atrocities have all become almost daily events. Investigations into
recent events in Haryana, in which Muslims, both local residents and migrant
workers from other states, were targeted, have shown clearly how these are not
random acts but are the result of careful planning to destroy the conditions
for co-existence and orchestrate genocidal violence.
We join human rights defenders and civil society organisations in India in calling for:
- Those at all levels who are responsible for targeted rapes and sexual assaults against minority women from Muslim, Christian, Dalit and Adivasi communities to be brought to justice
- The immediate resignation of Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah
- Effective action to prevent public hate speech against minorities, both on the ground and online, which has included open calls for genocide and which India is now exporting to diaspora communities
- An immediate end to the bulldozing of homes as a form of ethnic cleansing and targeting of dissenters
- An end to the persecution of those who have spoken out against the policies and practices of the current Indian government and of organisations aligned with it, and immediate release of all political prisoners.
Signed:
South Asia Solidarity Group
Unau Welfare UK
UK Indian Muslim Council
CasteWatch UK
Million Women Rise
Strive UK
Scottish Indians for
Justice
Women Against Caste
Apna Haq
Oxford South Asian
Alternative Forum
Imkaan
Peace in India
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