So far, 20 women including those victims of Love Jihad, have disappeared from the state and resurfaced in Afghanistan and Syria even as coersive conversions abound
Girish
Last month, the Kerala High Court directed the police to conduct a detailed probe into the suspected forced conversions of Hindu women by groups having links with the Islamic State. Twenty one women have disappeared only to resurface in Afghanistan and Syria.
The court’s order came while considering the case of a girl Akhila, daughter of ex-serviceman Ashokan, who had disappeared from the Medical College campus she was studying in. Ashokan named two of Akhila”s classmates Jaseena Aboobaker and her sister Faseena – residents of Perinthalmanna – as the persons behind her disappearance under mysterious circumstances. An activist of the Communist party, Ashokan said that his daughter had started acting strangely and when he heard that she was seen wearing a veil at her college, he suffered a heart attack. Later Akhila informed the court that she had taken admission in Satyasarani and produced records of her admission in the religious institution. Sathya Sarani, an Islamic conversion centre, has close links with the Islamist Popular Front.
After the Kerala court annulled the Akhila’s ‘marriage’ to a Muslim man post ‘conversion’, Islamists ramped up their aggression by holding a demonstration right in front of the High Court and threatened the Judges from atop a Police van even as the officers of the Law and order machinery watched helplessly.
While Kerala politicians are trying to appease the fundamentalists using antics like Beef festivals, Hindu daughters are disappearing. Organised groups have time and again succeeded in trapping and converting girls. Some just disappear and months later families get a call that their daughters had found ‘truth’ and were at distant locations. The leader of the Ezhava community, Shri Vellapally Natesan has warned his community against ‘Love jihad’ and called for a ban on forced conversions. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy informed the State Legislature that 2667 young women had been converted to Islam in the state since 2006.
It is not just Hindu girls that are being targeted. Recently, many Christian girls also disappeared. Merin Jacob from Kochi and her husband Yahiya (a Christian who converted to Islam) have since joined the Islamic State. These incidents have forced the authorities to act against outfits like the Islamic Research Foundation. Islamic preacher Arshid Qureshi was arrested for recruiting Christians for the Islamic state. Such incidents have sent shockwaves within the Christian community. In an article ‘Love Religious Terrorism; Parents Beware’ in the October issue of Jagratha, a community newsletter, the Church’s Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance warns Catholic parents against their daughters being wooed by young Muslim men whose real intention is to convert them to Islam. According to Wikileaks, the Global Council of Indian Christians mentioned ‘concerted effort in south India by some Muslim men to trap Christian women to fall in love with them in order to convert them’. The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference (KCBC) says there should has been a well-planned programme behind the 4,500-odd conversions of girls into Islam since 2005.
Kerala is a state where the Islamists wield enormous influence. Having a massive vote bank and being capable of financing media houses and political parties, they hold the strings of power whichever government rules the state. Traditionally Islamists in Kerala have voted for Congress. But now, Marxists are trying hard to win the Islamists. Meanwhile Islamists have infiltrated into the Left parties and freely interact with their female cadre. Consequently, many girl comrades have been trapped and converted. Anuja, a Left activist in Ernakulam, was one such victim. She was trapped, abused and was finally left hanging with her head tonsured. Her mother held a press conference and stated that her daughter was murdered because she had refused to convert. Even then, there was no murmur of protest by her comrades. Such is the extent to which the once ‘progressive’ civil society has degenerated.
(The writer is a social activist)
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