Pakistani actress Mehwish Hayat has slammed India for stoking Islamophobia and demonizing Muslims for spreading coronavirus in the country. The disillusioned actress in her tweet blasted India for pursuing its nefarious extremist agendas under the garb of coronavirus.
She asked why Muslims in India are being discriminated against when coronavirus did not insinuate that the pandemic is evenly ravaging communities, ethnicities, and countries irrespective of color, race, and religion.
Just came across this article. When the world is uniting to fight against a common enemy,our neighbours are using this pandemic as a way of spewing further hatred & dividing ppl. Why do they discriminate when the virus doesn't? This is Shameful! #Covid_19https://t.co/e7k4Zse1Vt
— Mehwish Hayat TI (@MehwishHayat) April 14, 2020
“Just came across this article. When the world is uniting to fight against a common enemy, our neighbors are using this pandemic as a way of spewing further hatred & dividing people. Why do they discriminate when the virus doesn’t? This is Shameful!,” wrote Mehwish Hayat in a tweet.
She shared an article from an international publication ‘The Guardian‘ that reported how Muslims have been assaulted by Hindu mobs in different parts of the country on the suspicion that they are part of the unfounded Islamic conspiracy to spread coronavirus in India.
Read more: How a hospital in India became an epicenter of the coronavirus?
Mehwish Hayat’s criticism is, however, not uncalled because a systematic trend of vilifying Indian Muslims by Indian media has been identified by local researchers and analysts.
Indian media and publications are utilizing this outbreak as an opportunity to demonize Muslims further.
The opportunistic Indian media is catalyzing anti-Muslims sentiments in a country marred with rampant religious intolerance and persecution of Muslims.
Read more: Indians find new target among Muslims, the Tablighis!
The leading Indian media channels and publications have successfully built a narrative accusing the participants of a Muslim missionary group, Tableeghi Jamaat’s annual conference in New Delhi in March for the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Hats off to you….. @TheMahiraKhan ap q nhi bolti?
— World 🌎 (@AhmadAliKhan321) April 15, 2020
The accusations against Tableeghi Jamaat are unfounded but the narrative of Indian media has strongly imprinted in the mind of naive Indians who believe Muslims are responsible for the ravages of coronavirus India.
Despite the denial from Indian Scientists’ Response to COVID-19 group that “The available data, does not support the speculation,” the blame for the coronavirus epidemic in India lies mainly with Tableeghi Jamaat, a score of Muslims were beaten, assaulted, swore by aggressive Hindutva advocates across India.