Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9—The incidents of hatred against Muslims that started afresh with the media propagating day and night that members of the Tablighi Jamaat are spreading coronavirus in the country, are not going to stop. The latest fallout of the hate-campaign has been reported from Punjab where Muslim Gujjars from Hindu-dominated villages in Talwara block of Hoshiarpur district were driven out of their villages four days ago.
As many as 80 members of Muslim Gujjars have taken refuge in the bed of the river Swan on Himachal-Punjab border for the last four days, under the open sky, with nothing to eat as they could not carry anything with them when they were beaten and forced to leave their villages.
Narrating their woes, one of the Muslim-Gujjar Sarraj Deen told mediapersons that they were beaten and driven out of the village on the allegation that they were spreading diseases. “When I asked them why were they beating us, they began abusing us and said that we are sick and spreading disease”, Deen told local mediapersons.
He said that a local chemist denied medicine when he went to him to buy medicine for his 80year-old mother.
He said that during summers, they moved to the jungles of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh with their cattle but the police are not allowing them to go there also. Animal husbandry is the only livelihood of the Muslim Gujjar families in the area.
Saraj said that people in nearby villages were harassing and humiliating them ever since Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi was reported by TV channels and newspapers. He said that none of the Gujjars ever went to Delhi but they were being accused of being coronavirus carriers. He also said that none of the Gujjars were having symptoms of the coronavirus and all of them were hale and hearty.
Saraj said that he had brought the matter to the notice of the police but no action was taken against the culprits.
He told mediapersons that as many as 80 members of the Muslim Gujjar family had taken shelter in the riverbed for the last four days. The government had only provided them with dry ration.
As the Muslim Gujjars were not allowed out of the riverbed, six of their bovines had died due to starvation in the absence of any fodder.
According to sources, temples and gurudwaras of Naushera Shimli, Godda, Wazira, Saryana and Sibbo Chakk villages announced through loudspeakers on April 7 night, saying that Muslims from Tablighi Jamaat had arrived in their villages and don’t allow them to enter as they would spread corona. This resulted in boys coming out on streets with batons and sticks, looking for Muslims, resulting into a tense atmosphere all around.
Sources said that Muslim Gujjars are also being subjected to economic boycott. Dairies are not buying their milk. According to sources, it is not only in Hoshiarpur but also in Ludhiana district where the Muslims have lodged complaint with the state animal husbandry department about diaries refusing to procure milk from them.
Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner Apneet Rawat told mediapersons that she had ordered to take strict action against the culprits.
Owing to the grave situation Muslim Ggujjars are facing in Punjab after Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) president Navaid Hamid has urged Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh to help the Muslim victims.
He not only demanded stern action against the culprits but also compensation to the Muslim families who have lost their bovine and business due to the goons who have thrown them out of their village.
He also demanded cancellation of the license of the chemist who refused to give medicine for the 80-year-old woman.
Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner Apneet Rawat told mediapersons that she had ordered to take strict action against the culprits.
