Bengaluru: After the Supreme Court decreed the Ayodhya land in favour of Hindus last year and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed its bhumi pujan earlier this month, a lot of people have gone to the extent of saying that India’s secularism has been compromised with and majoritarianism is unleashing its tentacles. 

And in China, when the ruling party decides to raze down mosques and erect public toilets on the same site, in what is seen as a wanton effort to hurt the sentiments of Uighur Muslims, we don’t see the same kind of criticism, do we? 

Pakistan, which cries pointing its fingers at how minorities are treated in India, has remained stoically silent, as also members of the secular brigade in India! 

The public toilet came up after the mosque was razed in Atush of Xinjiang province in northwestern China. 

Observers, as quoted by different reports, add that the decision was taken intentionally to hurt the feelings of Uighur Muslims. 

 

Reports add that authorities had demolished two of three mosques there in a drive launched in late 2016 to raze Muslim places of worship, known as "Mosque Rectification."

Radio Free Asia quoted an Uighur neighborhood committee chief from Suntagh village thus: “Tokul mosque was demolished in 2018 and the public washroom was erected in its place by "Han (Chinese) comrades. It is a public toilet ... they have not opened it yet, but it has been built."

 

This is how Uighur Muslims live in China: 

Uighur Muslims certainly don’t enjoy a comfortable stay in China. They are targeted, forced to live in deplorable conditions. Studies show that they are distributed across China and made to work in factories that provide goods to some of the most famous brands, including Apple.

It is to be noted that they are frequently subjected to surveillance and barred from observing religious practices. 

There are also reports that these Muslims are forced to eat pork and drink alcohol! 

The world would do well if these transgressions are taken note of!