Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in his reaction to the ongoing hijab controversy in India, has termed the intimidation of Muslim women for wearing hijab in Karnataka "an act of coercion."
The controversy intensified after a video showing a Muslim hijabi woman being heckled by over 100 male students wearing saffron scarves in Karnataka went viral on social media.
Taking to Twitter, the foreign minister condemned the extremist gesture, saying that stripping Muslim girls of their right to education is a violation of fundamental human rights.
Depriving Muslim girls of an education is a grave violation of fundamental human rights. To deny anyone this fundamental right & terrorise them for wearing a hijab is absolutely oppressive. World must realise this is part of Indian state plan of ghettoisation of Muslims.
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) February 9, 2022
"Depriving Muslim girls of education is a grave violation of fundamental human rights. To deny anyone this fundamental right & terrorise them for wearing a hijab is absolutely oppressive," FM Qureshi wrote.
He urged the international community to take notice of what he called a "ghettoisation of Muslims" under the Indian state plan.
Meanwhile, foreign policy and South Asian affairs analyst Michael Kugelman also responded to the incident in one of his recent Tweets, questioning India's future after all the hate and extremism becoming prevalent there.
He also condemned the harassment of the Muslim woman for practicing an aspect of her religion, which she has the constitutional right to do, and the Indian government's silence over the matter.
"When the flames of hate have spread to schools, when young Muslim women are harassed for simply exercising their constitutional rights, and when the state continues to respond with stark silence, thereby emboldening the haters—what then does this portend for the future in India?," Kugelman wrote.
On Tuesday, a video of a hijabi woman named Muskan being accosted by a “saffron-scarf clad mob” chanting "Jai Shri Ram” (victory to lord Rama) when she entered her college caused a stir among people, according to India Today.
In response, the girl chanted “Allah Hu Akbar” (Allah is the Greatest) and turned her back towards the mob.
Speaking to India Today, the girl said: "They asked me to take my burqa off and were not letting me in. As soon as I entered the college, the group started chanting Jai Shri Ram."
The girl said that the mob included outsiders and boys from her college, however, the college staff supported her. "I was scared when the mob surrounded me," she added.
The protests have intensified since the hijab row in Karnataka. A few days ago, a college in Udupi locked hijabi students outside the college.
