Indian lawmaker attacked, UN intervention sought as beef row grows

SRINAGAR: Lawmakers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party tried to assault an opposition member in a state parliament Thursday over eating beef, as debate rages in India over intolerance of religious minorities.

Television footage showed several Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, who consider cows sacred, pushing and shoving Abdul Rashid, a Muslim, in the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly for holding a provocative "beef party".

"No amount of condemnation can be enough for what happened today," opposition leader Omar Abdullah told reporters outside the assembly in the northern region's main city of Srinagar.

"Trying to beat up a member, this is the first time I have ever seen something like this in any house," Abdullah, whose party walked out of the chamber over the attack.

"Do I assault everyone who eats pork or alcohol?"

Rashid served beef kebabs at the "party" this week in protest against a ban on killing and eating cows in India´s only Muslim-majority state.

The issue ignited in the region after a top court last month ordered the long-standing but little enforced prohibition be strictly implemented.

The attack comes as a wider debate rages in Hindu-majority India over hardliners´ intolerance of Muslims and other religious minorities, many of whom eat beef as a source of protein.

Late last month, a mob beat a Muslim man to death in Uttar Pradesh state over rumours that he had eaten beef. The man was dragged from his home and attacked while his 22-year-old son was also severely injured.

Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist, is under growing pressure to condemn that attack and defuse the growing row, amid accusations that his silence so far is only emboldening hardliners, including those from his own party.

Modi´s government wants a nationwide ban on the slaughter of cows, which is prohibited in only some states.

India is the world´s biggest exporter of buffalo meat, an industry mainly run by Muslims.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday called for officially secular India´s tradition of tolerance to be upheld, in what was seen as an attempt to calm raging anger over the issue.

Rashid told AFP that about 10 to 14 BJP members "just pounced on me as soon as I entered the house", saying he had feared for his life.

Footage showed legislators rounding on Rashid, trying to hit him as others held them back.

UP minister Azam Khan seeks UN intervention

Meanwhile, Indian media reported that senior UP minister Azam Khan has sought the intervention of United Nations to look into the “miseries” of minorities in India.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Khan also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of planning to convert “secular and pluralistic India” into a “majoritarian theocratic nation as Hindu Rashtra”.

“Fascist forces are attempting to create a divide in the society by launching a hate campaign against Muslims and Dadri incident is an example of this,” Azam told reporters here while releasing the letter in Lucknow.

India is second largest exporter of beef: Pakistan FO

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah on Thursday responded to a question during a press briefing regarding the eruption of violence in India on cow-slaughtering, and said that the country which claims to be a secular state should guarantee the basic rights of minorities.

“Attacks on Muslims on the issue of cow slaughtering are beyond comprehension and a cause of concern for the Muslim Ummah.”

He added that India is the second largest exporter of beef in the world, and that how is it possible that the beef is being exported without cows being slaughtered.

Khalilullah also mentioned that it is highly regrettable and shocking that Pakistani Ghazal legend Ghulam Ali’s concert to be held in Mumbai was cancelled.