Muslim blood continues to spill on New Delhi streets

NEW DELHI: Sporadic violence hit parts of Delhi overnight as gangs roamed streets littered with the debris of days of sectarian riots that have killed 34 people, police said Thursday.

Thousands of riot police and paramilitaries patrolled the affected northeast fringes of the Indian capital of 20 million people, preventing any major eruptions however. The unrest is the latest bout of violence over Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s citizenship law, which triggered months of demonstrations that turned deadly in December.

Sunil Kumar, director of the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, said Thursday the hospital registered 30 deaths while the chief doctor at Lok Nayak Hospital said three people had died there.

"All of them (at the GTB) had gunshot injuries," Kumar told AFP. Kishore Singh, medical superintendent Lok Nayak Hospital, told AFP that 10 people were still in a serious condition there.

The new fatalities -- up from 27 on Wednesday -- were all from the violence on Monday and Tuesday when mobs of Hindus and Muslims fought running battles. The initial violence erupted late Sunday. Groups armed with swords and guns set fire to thousands of properties and vehicles.

Homes, shops, two mosques, two schools, a tyre market and a fuel station were torched. More than 200 people were also injured. According to a list from the GTB hospital, the victims are a roughly even mix of Hindus and Muslims, based on their names.

Delhi police spokesman Mandeep Randhawa told AFP that there was "no major incident" overnight, while the city´s chief fire officer Atul Garg said they received 19 distress calls.

"In last three days 230 calls were received by the department from the region that included major incidents of arson," Garg told AFP. In December at least 30 people were killed, mostly in police action in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to a significant Muslim population, after the citizenship law was passed.

Many of India´s 200 million Muslims fear the citizenship law -- combined with a mooted citizens´ register -- will leave them stateless or even sent to detention camps. They and critics see Modi´s right-wing ruling party, which is linked to once-banned militaristic Hindu group RSS, as wanting to turn officially secular India into a Hindu nation.

His party has denied the allegations but in recent weeks BJP politicians, including in an ugly recent campaign for Delhi elections, have called the demonstrators "anti-nationals" and "jihadists".

One, Parvesh Verma, said protestors "could enter houses and rape and kill your sisters", while another, Anurag Thakur, encouraged a crowd to chant "gun down traitors".

A call on Sunday by another BJP politician, Kapil Mishra, for "Hindus" to clear a northeastern Delhi sit-in protest is being seen as the spark for the current unrest.

On Wednesday, a Delhi High Court judge Justice S. Muralidhar, sharply criticised the police and called on them to investigate BJP politicians for inciting violence.

Muralidhar was transferred to another state court in a late-night order, prompting a social media storm.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad insisted it was a "routine transfer". On Wednesday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises Washington but does not set policy, voiced "grave concern" about the violence as President Donald Trump was visiting.

Anurima Bhargava, a commissioner appointed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also expressed alarm at reports that Delhi police "have not intervened in violent attacks against Muslims."

Trump, asked at a news conference in the capital about the violence, said the issue was "up to India" and praised Modi´s "incredible" statements on religious freedom.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Thursday urged the Indian government to stop anti-Muslim violence and desecration of Islamic places of worship in the country.

The OIC statement came as death toll in ongoing riots in New Delhi climbed to 34, with nearly 200 injured.

"OIC condemns the recent and alarming violence against Muslims in India, resulting in the death and injury of innocent people and the arson and vandalism of mosques and Muslim-owned properties,” read the statement.

It expressed condolences to the families of victims of the “heinous acts” and demanded the perpetrators be brought to justice.

“The OIC calls on Indian authorities to bring the instigators and perpetrators of these acts of anti-Muslim violence to justice, and to ensure the safety and security of all its Muslim citizens and the protection of Islamic holy places across the country," the 57-member body said.

Responding to the OIC criticism, New Delhi Thursday urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) not to indulge in “irresponsible statements” at this time.

“Law enforcement agencies are on the ground and they are working to normalise the situation. So, I request (OIC) not to make any irresponsible statements,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, adding that it creates more problems than it solves.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has publicly appealed for peace and brotherhood, Kumar said, while referring to the efforts of the government to control the situation. He added that what led to the violence would be a matter of investigation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out Thursday against the massacres of Muslims in India after communal riots in New Delhi left at least 33 dead.

"India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims. By who? Hindus," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara after violence broke out this week between mobs of Hindus and Muslims over a citizenship law.

Erdogan, a devout Muslim, accused the mobs attacking Muslims of hurting children studying in private tuition centres with "metal sticks as if to kill" them.

"How will these people make global peace possible? It is impossible. When making speeches -- since they have a large population -- they say ´we are strong´ but that is not strength," Erdogan added.

In a related development, US presidential candidate and Democratic member of the US Senate Bernie Sanders said the selective statement of US President Donald Trump on anti-Muslim mob violence in India was a failure of leadership on human rights.

In a message shared on Twitter, Sanders said more than 200 million Muslims call India home and Trump terming the spread of anti-Muslim mob violence an internal matter for the authorities was a failure of leadership on his part.

"Over 200 million Muslims call India home. Widespread anti-Muslim mob violence has killed at least 27 and injured many more. Trump responds by saying, 'That's up to India.' This is a failure of leadership on human rights," he tweeted.

The violence in New Delhi has sharp reactions from US lawmakers soon after Trump concluded his recent India visit. Reacting to the violence, US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the "deadly surge of religious intolerance in India is horrifying".

Democratic hopeful for the US Presidency, Senator Elizabeth Warren, also tweeted out that the US had a responsibility to say that violence against peaceful protesters was never acceptable.

“One of the essential duties of any responsible government is to provide protection and physical security for its citizens, regardless of faith,” said Chairman Tony Perkins, a conservative Christian close to the Trump administration.

“We urge the Indian government to take serious efforts to protect Muslims and others targeted by mob violence,” he said.

A commissioner appointed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Anurima Bhargava, voiced alarm at reports that Delhi police “have not intervened in violent attacks against Muslims.”

“The brutal and unchecked violence growing across Delhi cannot continue,” she said. “The Indian government must take swift action to ensure the safety of all of its citizens,” she added.

Chief US diplomat for South Asian affairs, Alice Wells, in a mildly worded statement on Thursday urged those behind the recent communal unrest in India's capital to "refrain from violence".

In a tweet, she said: "Our hearts go out to the families of the deceased and injured in New Delhi. We echo PM @NarendraModi’s call for calm and normalcy and urge all parties to maintain peace, refrain from violence, and respect the right of peaceful assembly."

Wells' remarks come after India on Thursday accused a US government commission of politicising communal violence in New Delhi that killed at least 32 people and injured more than 200.

On Wednesday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said it was deeply troubled by the violence and cited accounts that police had not intervened in attacks against Muslims, which police and India's federal government have denied.

"The government is failing in its duty to protect its citizens," Commissioner Anurima Bhargava said.

India's External Affairs Ministry said the commission's comments were "factually inaccurate and misleading" and appeared to be "aimed at politicising the issue".

Several reports by Indian media outlets said Muslim localities in the Indian capital were attacked by Hindu mobs screaming pro-Hindu slogans.

The reports said these mobs rioted with impunity as the police appeared to aid the marauding crowds.

Muslim rioters, too, have been violent, and a number of Hindus, including security personnel, are among the dead and injured.

Most of the violence, however, appeared to be targeting Muslims who complained that while Hindu mobs went on a rampage, the police went missing. Police have denied the allegations.