Indian PM moves to cool panic as thousands flee cities

[leo]

Indian PM moves to cool panic as thousands flee cities


NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister assured migrants from the northeast of the country that they were safe as thousands continued to flee from Mumbai, Bangalore and other cities on Friday, fearing a backlash from violence against Muslims in Assam state.

Railway authorities have laid on extra trains from Bangalore and other cities this week for the two-day journey back to Assam in the northeast. Some media reports said that by Friday as many as 15,000 people had left cities in the south and west, including Mumbai and Pune.

Muslims across India have been alarmed by clashes in recent weeks between indigenous people in the northeastern state of Assam and Muslim settlers from neighbouring Bangladesh.

About 75 people have been killed and more than 400,000 displaced.

The Assam violence angered India’s Muslims, who represent about one-fifth of the population, and raised tensions in a country where religious and ethnic divisions have simmered for decades, occasionally erupting into communal blood-letting.

Rumours of revenge attacks by Muslims have been swirling, many of which have been carried on social media and mass mobile phone text messages.

The Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has in the past been accused of fomenting Hindu-Muslim violence, blames the Assam riots on uncontrolled immigration into the state from Muslim-majority Bangladesh.



Indian PM moves to cool panic as thousands flee cities | DAWN.COM

[leo]

Thousands flee violence-hit Indian cities

Al Jazeera


Thousands of Indians from the northeast of the country who live in southern cities are fleeing as fears grow of a backlash over violence against Muslims in the state of Assam and neighbouring Myanmar.

Hundreds of students and workers from Assam state crowded Bangalore's main railway station to try to board trains heading out of the city, while officials tried in vain to assure them of their safety.

Those fleeing Bangalore said they had heard text messages had been circulating threatening attacks by Muslims.


Thousands flee violence-hit Indian cities - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

[repentingslave]

This is conspiracy to defame Muslims

[Abu'l 'Eyse]

Breaking News!

Krishna chops ganesh's head off and blames Muslims

[Ibn Ibrahim]

Breaking News!

Krishna chops ganesh's head off and blames Muslims

Got the source?

[Bint al-Jaidi]

Got the source?

I think he was being sarcastic...

[repentingslave]

After three days of panic and frenzy, during which hundreds of people from Assam and other north-eastern states left Hyderabad city, Andhra Pradesh government seems to have succeeded in turning the tide.

The police managed to persuade a group of 60 Assamese to change their plans of returning to their home state. On learning that a group of Assamese working in two hotels were about to leave the city fearing attacks, Assistant Commissioner of Police K Govardhan Reddy and others met the group and assured them that there was no threat to their security.
The group included 50 Assamese working at 'Mainland China' and ten employees of Hotel Swagath.
The development took place on a day when a delegation of two ministers from Assam, Rakibul Hasan (forests) and Pradyut Bordoloi (power), arrived in Hyderabad to assess the situation. They met Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy and top police officials. They also visited Anjaiah Nagar and Siddique Nagar areas of Cyberabad, which has a sizeable population of Assamese.
During the interaction with the ministers, the migrants expressed their satisfaction with the security provided to them. They told the ministers from their home state that the police authorities and the local people had extended full cooperation to them.
Rakibul Hasan thanked the government of Andhra Pradesh for taking care of their citizens. "We have been deputed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to thank the government of Andhra Pradesh for their cooperation," he said

[repentingslave]

Hyderabad: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi Friday assured people of the northeast region living in Hyderabad of protection and advised them not to leave the city.

The Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad told them that they are equal citizens of India, free to live here.

Addressing a gathering at the historic Makkah Masjid here on the occasion of Jumat-ul-vida or last Friday of Ramadan, the MP said he visited Anjaiahnagar and Siddiqnagar areas and reassured people from the northeast.

"I told them we are not like Bodo militants who rendered four lakh Muslims homeless in Assam. We will protect you," he said.

Owaisi alleged that the rumours were a conspiracy of the Sangh Parivar and appealed to people not to fall prey to their designs.

The MIM chief wondered why police failed to trace the elements behind the SMSes and offered to crack the case in four hours if the 48-hour call data record of all service providers was given to him.

Owaisi, who visited relief camps in Assam last week, urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to rehabilitate four lakh people who were made refugees in their own country.

The MP reiterated his remark made in Parliament that refugees in Assam could take to militancy. "Even if 25 youth become militants they can become a threat to all of us and to the entire country," he cautioned.

He condemned BJP leader L.K. Advani's statement that the refugees were Bangladeshi and reminded him that he too came from Pakistan.

"They are all Indians and will always remain Indians. Why should anyone fear that if any district in Assam becomes Muslim majority, it will join Bangladesh? We will sacrifice our lives but we will not allow even a single district to become part of Bangladesh," he said.

"I have never seen such devastation. Those rendered homeless have only one set of clothes, the ones they have on. Thousands of women are malnourished and children suffer from various diseases," said Owaisi while sharing his experiences in Assam.

The MIM leader said he also visited Bodo relief camps and distributed relief. "We don't discriminate between Bodos and non-Bodos. All are Indians," he said.

Owaisi announced that MIM would soon send 20,000 packets containing milk powder for children, iron-fortified powder for malnourished women and other medical supplies to alleviate the sufferings of those in Assam's relief camps.

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/ow...ed-420832.html

[abu hadeed]

Kind of sad how Indian Muslims get owned all the time in a fight with these snake worshiping Hindus

Somebody told me that Indian Muslims aren't that keen in putting up their dukes in comparison to their afghan and Pakistani counterparts

[Bint al-Jaidi]

Kind of sad how Indian Muslims get owned all the time in a fight with these snake worshiping Hindus Somebody told me that Indian Muslims aren't that keen in putting up their dukes in comparison to their afghan and Pakistani counterparts

well the counter parts can be more courageous because those countries don't have a majority hindu population to deal with