New York: India has raised concerns over the matter of emergence of certain contemporary forms of religiophobia especially anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist, and anti-Sikh at the UN. India called for urgent attention from the UN and other member states for addressing the threat.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti at the International Counter-Terrorism Conference 2022 on Wednesday asserted that the recognition of “religiophobia” is the only way to bring balance into the discussion on such topics.
The UN has highlighted some over the years, namely, those based on Islamophobia, Christianophobia, and anti-semitism — the three Abrahamic religions. These three also find mention in the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Trimurti pointed out that new phobias, hatred, or bias against other major religions of the world need to also be fully recognized.
“The emergence of contemporary forms of religiophobia, especially anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist and anti-Sikh phobias is a matter of serious concern and needs the attention of the UN and all member states to address this threat. It is only then can we bring greater balance into our discussion on such topics”, Tirumurti said.
He pointed out the tendency of several UN members driven by their political, religious, and other motivations trying to label terrorism into religious categories. He termed it a “dangerous” move that can racially motivate violent extremism which will take the world back to the 9/11 era of labeling them as “your terrorists” and “my terrorists”.
The central working president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Alok Kumar, has welcomed Tirumurti’s statement.
While India presently assumes the chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), it does not seem to be in the mood to allow any kind of religious phobias and further will continue to oppose any expansion of the terms as stated in the UNSC’s discussions on terrorism at least till it holds the UNSC seat till December 2022.
Voicing against Hindu hatred at the UN, Tirumurti noted that he speaks as the Ambassador of India to the UN and not as the chairman of the CTC.
