While UN Celebrates the “Tolerance Day…”

This month “November” is an important landmark for the UN while celebrating two very important occasions…the International “Tolerance day” on 16 Nov and “Prevent Violence against Women” on 25 Nov among others.

The International Tolerance day was started by the UN General Assembly, with the goal of getting educational institutions and the general public to observe tolerance as a mantra by all diverse societies. In 1995, UNESCO created the ‘Principles of Tolerance’ on 16 November to raise awareness against any intolerance prevalent among caste, communities, races, societies or the nations in the world. Additionally, UNESCO created an award to recognize those with great achievements in promoting the spirit of tolerance or non-violence in fields such as science, culture, and the arts. In today’s world, tolerance to the Universal Human Rights is compromised the worst. It is unfortunate that some of those elected on the UN panel of the HR recently are the worst violators of HR. Pakistan has almost wiped out the religious minorities from its land and are known to be supporting ‘terror as tool’ from their territories. It is unfortunate that not a single HR investigation panel by neutral countries have been instituted against Pak or any other nation where the religious minorities have been persecuted to near extinction. Whatever few religious minorities are remaining, they are being killed and their women forcibly abducted with impunity. They are subjected to cruelty through their infamous ‘Blasphemy Law’. They harbour and fund more than 40 odd tanzeems of religious terrorists to persecute others in own as well as other countries. These tanzeems of the likes of LeT, JuD, JeM, HuM, Salafi, Al Badr and numerous 170 odd other terrorist organisations fanned all over the world are all thriving on the radical & Jihadi mindsets under the larger groups of Al-Quida, ISIS or any other as elaborated in the previous issue.

The Jihadists have waged war through their terrorists in almost all parts of world. Pakistan, the terror hub has been doing so in its neighbourhoods…be it India, Afghanistan or Bangladesh. As a matter of fact, any terrorist attacks the world over have some direct or indirect link to Pakistan. The radical Islamic intolerance advocated in Quran has compromised the peaceful living in the world. Spread of Islam to a ‘world Caliphate’ through the instrument of ‘terror & Jihad’, has cast dark shadows of religious intolerance by the radical Muslims the world over. Boko Haram is carrying out the extreme form of HR violations against women in Nigeria. The jihadists have recently beheaded a history teacher of a school in France teaching freedom of expression. Initial investigation revealed the involvement of a mosque in spreading hate and bigotry. After that mosque was closed by the French law & order agencies, the radical Islamic nations (Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Somalia) have started showing allegiance to the Jihadis, issuing threats. In French model of secularism, portraying of cartoons are considered as freedom of speech. However, the Islamic bigots are highly intolerant. In the past they have carried out world-wide violence following publication of Mohamed cartoon in Charlie Hebdo. In Nice (France) they carried another attack on 29 Oct 20. Many French leaders & scholars term it as “Islamo-Fascism”. In many other parts of the world, ‘Jihadists the religious bigots’ have demonstrated serious religious intolerance to the freedom of speech. In India itself, recently they burnt the house of a dalit Hindu leader in Bangalore. The Gandhian principles of non-violence is severely threatened.

A retaliatory violence is slowly emerging against Islam in many countries. New Zealand has seen one such reactionary killing of the Muslims. Some Singhalese killed the Islamists in Sri Lanka as a revenge for their Jihadi act on Good Friday. Myanmar Buddhists who are traditionally are the peace-lovers throughout the world, have taken some strong retaliatory measures against the Rohingya Muslims. In India also some retaliatory violence against Muslims’ ‘Jihadi terror’ have been witnessed in the past. Owing to the radicalism in Islam, some European Countries like Hungary and others are reluctant to allow Muslim on their land. They compare Muslims to Cancers that keeps proliferating uncontrolled till the society becomes ill, needing surgery. Recently French president Macron had to say that those parts of Quran which create hate and bigotry against other religions, need amendment…and he is not alone in this opinion. Many world leaders feel that the Quran needs to be amended. Islamist must shun religious bigotry to the others. Their principles of ‘Islamic World Caliphate’ are filled with hate, intolerance, bigotry and violence. It just cannot be permitted.

With the continued intolerance of radical Islam, there will be more and more retaliatory measures adopted by the followers of other religions. There will be more and more of New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar in the coming years. Revenge against the Jihadis is bound to take place. There are concerns in India too. Hindu have traditionally suffered the most in the hands of intolerant Muslims. The country has been divided twice due to them. There are deliberate efforts by the Muslims to change the religious demography of India. Muslims have almost doubled in their percentage population at the cost of depleting Hindu. After the call of global Islamic caliphate by the Iraqi jihadi “Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi” more and more nations are facing the radicalism of Islam esp those having >10% Muslim population. Jammu & Kashmir Muslims have already shown their radical colour when they committed a genocide against the Kashmiri Pandits, the original inhabitants of the land, in independent India. Hence it is only a matter of time before such hate, intolerance and bigotry becomes evident in other parts of the country esp Assam, Kerala and West Bengal. Smaller pockets of Muslim dominated localities are already showing this trend in the likes of Kairana (UP) and many more areas, threatening the non-Muslims to flee. It is only a matter of time before Assam, Kerala and West Bengal Muslims repeat such bigotry of Jammu & Kashmir in 1990. Hence, it will not be surprising if Hindu take up retaliatory actions at some point of time. Religious intolerance against the Hindu in their own land, cannot and will not remain one sided.

China on the other hand, is one of the worst violators of Human Rights…be it the traditionally suffering of the Tibetans, the Uighur Muslims or recently, the residents of Hongkong who are asking for democratic values. The Uighurs Muslims have been put in to detention camps Religious freedom of the Tibetan monks are being violated the worst. The Uighurs Muslims in China have been put in to detention camps and the Chinese openly defend their acts of radical Islamic suppression of the Uighurs. They have demonstrated their intolerance to Human and Democratic Values time and again. They are the one who don’t hesitate to run-over their Tanks over own citizen protesting to have some form of democracy. The latest security provisions of mainland China in Hongkong has marginalised them in their Human Rights. There has been world-wide condemnation against their actions. Of late, the Chinese exploit the economically weaker nations though debt traps and then do the arm-twisting on various issues. UN Human Rights Executive Roth summarised in his 2020 report “China is not simply a new emerging power finding its place, but a country that poses an existential threat to the international Human Rights system”. The worst…China & Pakistan have been elected to the Human Rights panel of the UN for 2021. It is a mockery of Human Rights. The duo leaves no opportunity to name & shame Indian govt in Kashmir fighting the Pakistan sponsored Islamic terrorism. Some radical Kashmiri groups duly supported by the Paki Jihadists committed grave genocide on their Pandit brethren in 1990. They have snatched their properties, killed the family members. Yet they are crying of HR violations. There is no doubt that Indian Security forces are having tough times with the local radical Islamists and Pak sponsored terrorists. They have suffered loss of many lives. At times they do try some high-handed measures to maintain the law & order and to protect the fewer Hindu minorities left in the valley. There is no year when Pakistan does not try to defame the Indian security forces of rights violation in Kashmir but actually it is, they who are committing the crime in the name of Jihad.

One more member nation of the earlier Human Rights panel, Saudi Arabia has been committing grave HR violations in Yemen and the international community have been largely silent. Numerous women & children have died due to their indiscrete aerial attacks. The entire new generation of the children are starving. Saudi should have been made to pay for their atrocities but actually it is the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) which is bearing the expenditure for the Saudi crime. The UN WFP which is essentially to combat world hunger against famine, is exhausting its resources instead. Saudi, by virtue of being in the member of the OIC, could steer themselves out of the culpability for the war crimes on Yemen.

In todays’ world, the values of tolerance to other’s opinions are at premium. There is intolerance to “rights to speech, other’s opinion, democratic values, religious minorities in most of the Islamic countries”. Chorus is growing against the current concept of Islam. There are numerous voices rising to amend Quran to remove the hate and bigotry from its verses. Human Rights violations in some of the countries are extreme. Religious freedom of the Tibetan monks is being violated the worst. It can only be hoped that tolerance in the world will prevail in the coming years. Till the day that happens, we will continue celebrating the UN International day of Tolerance without the tolerance being shown in our lives.