The world is now in the era of the resurgence of nationalist sentiments, as governments have become in all walks of life from Scotland to Sri Lanka, and from China to Brazil; Depends on nationalism as a source of community identity and a means of joint action.
However, the growing nationalist sentiments in various parts of the world have had bad consequences for ethnic and sectarian minorities, who are declining their independence and are subject to greater persecution by national governments seeking to increase their power.
With this introduction, the British writer Patrick Cockburn launched an article in the British newspaper, The Independent, under the title "The rise of nationalism has caused an increase in the persecution of minorities around the world, but the coverage of the Uighur and Kashmir issues was different", dealing with the suffering of religious and ethnic minorities in light of the growing feelings Nationalism.
The article focused on the issue of the Muslim minority in India, especially in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Kashmir region, and what Uighur Muslims are exposed to in Xinjiang, China, to name a few.
He said that those ethnic and religious minorities in many countries around the world are under overwhelming pressure to surrender to the political and cultural control of the nation-state, and that the same brutal methods are practiced against them everywhere, ranging from mass imprisonment to enforced disappearance and torture, and political parties and independent media that represent Those oppressed societies, and the accusation of terrorism is attached to any opposition they make, no matter how peaceful, and they are repressed with extreme cruelty.
The writer criticized the West’s handling of the grievances faced by these minorities, and said that although the Uyghur issue deserves all the sympathy and attention that can be mustered, it is naive to imagine that the West’s sudden interest in what they are exposed to injustice has to do with the West’s desire to achieve justice due to their cause. He added that the reason for this interest is that Chinese President Xi Jinping has become in the eyes of the United States and its allies a new "demon", and every action he takes uses new evidence to prove that China is an evil country, as he put it.
He referred to the oppression of 182 million Muslims in India by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said that this repression caused a great disaster.
The tragedy of the Muslims of India
The writer pointed out that the Indian government, on August 5 of last year, stripped Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority, of its special legal status, and divided it into two areas under the Indian federal administration, under allegations that the measure aims to revive the economy of Kashmir, but the prolonged curfew imposed by it The heavy Indian military presence devastated the economy of the region.
Millions of Indian Muslims are at risk of being stripped of their citizenship and gradually losing their civil rights due to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens enacted by the Modi government.
According to the Association of Parents of the Missing, a local civic organization in Kashmir, the number of missing persons in Kashmir since 1990 is estimated to be between 8 and 10,000.
The writer concluded that what is happening in Kashmir represents the height of the escalating persecution of India’s Muslims, who are estimated at 200 million, under the government of the militant nationalist Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party. The Indian government's endeavor to perfection in humiliating Muslims was evident in the prime minister's position. Al-Hindi this week is the cornerstone for building a Hindu temple on the ruins of the Babri Mosque, which was demolished by Hindu extremists in 1992, and its demolition caused riots that killed nearly two thousand people.