NEW DELHI: Sporadic violence hit parts of Delhi overnight asgangs roamed streets littered with the debris of days of sectarian riots thathave killed 33 people, police said yesterday. Thousands of riot police andparamilitaries patrolled the affected northeast fringes of the Indian capitalof 20 million people, preventing any major eruptions however. The unrest is thelatest bout of violence over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's citizenship law,which triggered months of demonstrations that turned deadly in December.
Sunil Kumar, director of the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB)Hospital, said yesterday the hospital registered 30 deaths while the chiefdoctor at Lok Nayak Hospital said three people had died there. "All ofthem (at the GTB) had gunshot injuries," Kumar told AFP.
Kishore Singh, medical superintendent Lok Nayak Hospital,told AFP that 10 people were still in a serious condition there. The newfatalities -- up from 27 on Wednesday -- were all from the violence on Mondayand Tuesday when mobs of Hindus and Muslims fought running battles. The initialviolence erupted late Sunday. Groups armed with swords and guns set fire tothousands of properties and vehicles.
Homes, shops, two mosques, two schools, a tyre market and afuel station were torched. More than 200 people were also injured. According toa list from the GTB hospital seen by AFP, the victims are a roughly even mix ofHindus and Muslims, based on their names.
Delhi police spokesman Mandeep Randhawa told AFP that there was "no major incident" overnight, while the city's chief fire officer Atul Garg said they received 19 distress calls."In last three days 230 calls were received by the department from the region that included major incidents of arson," Garg told AFP.
'Gun down traitors'
In December at least 30 people were killed, mostly in policeaction in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to a significant Muslimpopulation, after the citizenship law was passed. Many of India's 200 millionMuslims fear the citizenship law -- combined with a mooted citizens' register-- will leave them stateless or even sent to detention camps. They and criticssee Modi's right-wing ruling party, which is linked to once-banned militaristicHindu group RSS, as wanting to turn officially secular India into a Hindunation.
His party has denied the allegations but in recent weeks BJPpoliticians, including in an ugly recent campaign for Delhi elections, havecalled the demonstrators "anti-nationals" and "jihadists".
One, Parvesh Verma, said protestors "could enter housesand rape and kill your sisters", while another, Anurag Thakur, encourageda crowd to chant "gun down traitors". A call on Sunday by another BJPpolitician, Kapil Mishra, for "Hindus" to clear a northeastern Delhisit-in protest is being seen as the spark for the current unrest.
On Wednesday a Delhi High Court judge, Justice S Muralidhar,sharply criticised the police and called on them to investigate BJP politiciansfor inciting violence. Muralidhar was transferred to another state court in alate-night order, prompting a social media storm. Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad insisted it was a "routine transfer". On Wednesday the USCommission on International Religious Freedom, which advises Washington butdoes not set policy, voiced "grave concern" about the violence as PresidentDonald Trump was visiting.
Anurima Bhargava, a commissioner appointed by DemocraticHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also expressed alarm at reports that Delhi police"have not intervened in violent attacks against Muslims." Trump,asked at a news conference in the capital about the violence, said the issuewas "up to India" and praised Modi's "incredible"statements on religious freedom. - AFP