Anti-Muslim Violence Flares up in Indian State

Tension prevails in India’s north-eastern state of Tripura following attacks on mosques and properties owned by Muslims.

Security has been tightened and restrictions on gatherings have been enforced in the affected areas.

The violence followed clashes between Hindu groups and the police.

The groups were protesting against the police refusing them permission to hold a rally against recent attacks on Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh.

At least seven people were killed, temples desecrated and hundreds of houses and businesses of the Hindu minority torched in Bangladesh earlier this month after rumours spread that the Quran had been insulted at a special pavilion set up for the annual Hindu religious festival of Durga Puja.

Tripura is encircled on three sides by Bangladesh and connected by a thin corridor to the neighbouring state of Assam. The state has been run by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2018 after 25 years of Communist rule.

More than 10 incidents of religious violence have been reported from the North Tripura district in the past four days.

Authorities enforced restrictions on large gatherings after Tuesday night’s violence in the border town of Panisagar in which a mosque and several shops belonging to Muslims were vandalised.