India should 'properly resolve' situation following BJP leaders’ blasphemous remarks: China

• Many Muslim countries condemn remarks made by BJP officials.
• OIC issues strongly-worded statement against blasphemous remarks.
• Indian authorities resort to brutal measures against unarmed protesting Muslims.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday hoped that India would "properly resolve" the situation that has emerged as a result of Bhartia Janata Party (BJP) leaders making blasphemous remarks, hurting the sentiments of Muslims in India and around the world.

“We have noted relevant reports and hope that the relevant situation can be properly resolved,” Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing while commenting on BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Muslim countries including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, Indonesia, Iraq, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Jordan, Libya, and Bahrain have condemned the remarks.

The foreign offices of many Muslim countries summoned the Indian envoys in protest besides issuing strongly-worded statements.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also issued a statement denouncing the remarks.

Wang said that China had always maintained that different civilisations and different religions should respect each other and live on an equal footing.

“We should abandon arrogance and prejudice, deepen our understanding of the differences between our own civilisation and other civilisations, and promote exchanges, dialogue and harmonious coexistence,” he added.

In a statement, Cheng Xizhong, Visiting Professor of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said that massive Muslim demonstrations across India, demanding the arrest and punishment of the two members of BJP for using blasphemous remarks, reflected not only the aspirations of the vast Muslim community in India, but also the aspirations of the entire Muslim world, and the Indian authorities, which have always advocated democracy, should respond positively.

Instead, the Indian authorities have resorted to brutal measures against unarmed protesting Muslims and used the security forces to suppress them, he said.

The international community should pay close attention to the atrocities committed by the Indian authorities and strongly condemn the disproportional use of security forces on Indian Muslim protestors, he added.

Cheng said that India should immediately shun its Hindutva policies and stop targeting its minorities, hurting their religious sentiments, and put an end to rising incidents of violence and the spread of hate against Indian minorities, especially Muslims.

Otherwise, the worsening ethnic contradictions and religious conflicts in India will lead to the final division of the country, he added.

Nupur Sharma made offensive remarks in a televised debate last month and another party official, Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was media head of the party’s Delhi unit, had also posted a provocative tweet on the issue.