Kafirophobia is on the rise in West Asia: ISI-backed Pan-Islamist- Salafi fanatics launch massive witch-hunt against Indians in Islamic countries

As a result of a relentless anti-India campaign launched by Indian Islamists in response to the Citizenship Amendment Act and Corona Jihad, the Islamist-Salafi fanatics in various West Asian countries have jumped on the bandwagon, and started targetting Hindus working abroad and spitting venom against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP.

Spreading hatred against India in West Asia, Kerala-based Islamic terrorist outfits started this massive witch-hunt against fellow Indians on foreign soil that has now snowballed into a massive anti-India campaign in Arab countries.

Kerala-based Islamic extremists pioneered the hate campaign and spread fake videos and hate messages on social media, urging Arabs and local administrations to take punitive actions against Hindus working in West Asia because they “kill Muslims in India with our money”! A Facebook page and twitter profile named ‘NRIs against Hate’ were formed to unleash a flood of fake contents for Islamic groups in Arab countries in order to propagate that India has turned out to be Islamophobic.

According to sources, various Islamic organisations based in Kerala used leading businessmen and religious leaders to influence the Arab ruling class and administration and feed them with the fake narrative against India. Various Arab media platforms like Al-Jazeera, Gulf News, Khaleej Times etc. were also used to disseminate the fake news. Even though the Indian media have time and again busted the fake narratives of Al-Jazeera that were aimed at tarnishing India’s image at the international level, the Islamist channel refused to air the correct version of the incidents.

The on-going hate campaign against India is seen as a part of the ISI operations in Kerala and West Asia. A report passed by Pakistani Senate titled “Policy Guidelines in view of the Latest Situation Developing between India and Pakistan,” suggests its agencies to work on the internal fault lines inside India: “Comprehensive outreach to those segments of Indian public opinion which are opposed to Modi’s extremism and his anti-Pakistan policies including political parties, media, civil society organisations and human rights groups.”

Speaking to Organiser, a group of NRIs said, the targeted attacks against the Hindus in West Asia started much earlier but took an ugly turn during anti-CAA riots. “The cadres of Islamic terrorist outfits like PFI and Jamaat-e-Islami are on the forefront to attack Indians in West Asian countries like UAE, Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, etc,” a migrant worker from Kerala said in an online conversation.

Jihadi migrants from Kerala are hell-bent on targeting nationalist Indian citizens who work in West Asia for supporting the policies of the Government of India. Muslim communal elements, especially the members of the Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islami and Popular Front of India, formed dedicated social media cells in West Asia to identify Hindu social media profiles which supported the Citizenship Amendment Act and criticised the Tablighi Jamaat for spreading COVID-19.

In December 2019, an Indian doctor was expelled from service in Qatar after a group of Muslim extremists made the hospital authorities into believing that his Facebook post in support of CAA was against Indian Muslims and communal. Now several Indian businessmen and migrant workers are facing cases for sharing news reports regarding Tablighi Jamaat. Many of them have already lost their job. The Islamic extremists and their dedicated social media teams are widely reporting such profiles to the police and authorities and also spreading their photos with hate messages on social media.

“If the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Embassies initiated stringent action against those who hold Indian passports and spread fake messages and run anti-India campaign on the foreign soil, the issue would not have escalated. They remained silent when each Indian was dismissed from job and deported to India on fake complaints registered by anti-Hindu groups,” he said on the condition of anonymity.

According to sources, ISI has hired a group of lawyers in various West Asian countries to push their anti-India narratives on Arab soil. Abdur Rahman Nassar, a verified account of an Islamist from Kuwait has been spreading anti-India messages on twitter, propagating fake news and baseless allegations against Indians. He has also shared several doctored images and videos on twitter, to establish his claims that Muslims are mistreated in India! “In 53 Muslim countries Indians where most of them Hindu, are treated with humanity and respect .. How do Muslims are treated in India?,” asks the semi-literate Islamist. Labelling RSS a terrorist organisation, he has shared several fake images intending to vilify India’s nationalist organisation. In a tweet pinned to his profile, Abdur Rahman Nassar has urged the Islamic radicals in the country to send him the details of Indians who write against the minorities in India so that he can initiate legal action against them! “Indian extremists will be watched in the Gulf. If you see extremist writings against minorities in India .. send it private to this account (send the photo + account link) (sic),” he says in the tweet.

In the wake of the hate campaign, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had posted a tweet and said that COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking. “COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together,” the Prime Minister said.

However, instead of warning the Indian Passport holders who are indulged in the hate campaign against India and Hindus in UAE, the Indian Ambassador in UAE chose to remind Indians about the country’s moral fabric and rule of law. “Discrimination is against our moral fabric and the Rule of law. Indian nationals in the UAE should always remember this,” his apologetic statement read.

Meanwhile, voices are rising from various corners of West Asia that the Arab countries are denying treatment to the migrant workers who tested with Covid 19. According to the sources in West Asia, almost all Arab countries have adopted an Arab-first policy as far as the treatment for Covid-19 is concerned. In almost all West Asian countries, the migrants who have Covid 19 symptoms are not allowed to take the medical test or treatment. This discriminative approach has invoked criticism from various quarters including the Muslim organisations working among migrant workers from various countries.