February 2, 2024
China and India both took new action against their Muslim citizens in January, but the Islamic Republic has ignored their bigotry completely and has not even allowed reports to be carried in the media.
The Islamic Republic is very vocal about the repression of Palestinians by Israel and about anti-Islamic actions in Western countries. But it is silent about most other regimes that repress their Muslims.
It has never spoken out about the Russian repression of Chechens, the Chinese repression of Uyghurs, the Serbian repressions of Kosovars, or the current Indian government’s Hindu nationalist policies. It briefly spoke up on behalf of the Rohingya of Myanmar, but since Myanmar supports Iran in the UN annual votes on human rights, the Islamic Republic soon stopped talking about the mistreatment of Rohingya.
In January, China expanded its anti-Muslim practices from the far western Xinjiang province, where the Uyghur minority is strong, and ordered a major reduction in the number of mosques in Ningxia and Gansu provinces, which have the largest Muslim groups after Xinjiang.
The Daily Express of London reported that mosques in those provinces were being decommissioned, closed, demolished or converted to secular use. It said the pace of such actions has increased since the start of the Gaza fighting October 7.
But Tehran has maintained silence. The Iran Times has not seen any reports in the media of the Chinese actions.
Meanwhile, in India, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, inaugurated January 22 a very controversial new Hindu temple in Ayodhya on the site of a mosque that had been razed by a Hindu mob in 1992.
Many Indians boycotted the event.
The Islamic Republic was silent.