Modi appeals for calm as 27 die in Delhi riots

Police accused of standing by as Hindu mobs attack Muslims during three days of violent battles in capital

NARENDRA MODI appealed for calm as the death toll from Delhi’s worst rioting in decades reached at least 27 and the supreme court criticised police for doing too little to stop the violence.

Clashes on Sunday between protesters for and against a controversial citizenship law descended into religious riots with reports of Hindu mobs targeting Muslims while police looked on.

Three days of battles have seen mobs armed with swords, guns and acid rampage through parts of a north-eastern district of the Indian capital. The dead have also included a policeman and an intelligence bureau officer.

“I appeal to my sisters and brothers of Delhi to maintain peace and brotherhood at all times. It is important … calm and normalcy is restored,” Modi, the prime minister, said. Shops, shrines and vehicles were burnt out and around 200 people were injured, some with bullet wounds. The violence overshadowed a visit by Donald Trump.

The new law, which opponents say undermines India’s secular foundation, makes it easier for non-muslim minorities from neighbouring countries to seek citizenship.

Videos shared during the clashes have shown armed police standing by as Hindu mobs attacked Muslims. One clip showed officers forcing a group of badly beaten and bleeding Muslims to sing the national anthem to prove their loyalty to India. Other footage showed Muslims being made to chant Hindu mantras under police supervision.

The supreme court said police had not done enough to check the violence or incendiary statements by a leader of Bharatiya Janata, Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.

“The problem [with Delhi Police] is a lack of independence and professionalism,” KM Joseph, a supreme court justice, said.

Mr Modi has been accused of stoking communal tensions with an anti-muslim nationalist agenda. The violence has drawn comparisons with previous sectarian riots, including when more than 800 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in 2002 after a train fire killed 60 Hindu pilgrims.

Mr Modi was then chief minister in the state and he and the police were accused of complicity in the riots. Both were cleared by a commission last year.

Speaking in Islamabad, Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, claimed India was in thrall to Hindu extremists and asked the world to pay attention. “What we saw in Delhi last night is just the beginning,” Mr Khan said. “I don’t see how this is going to stop.”

In Kardampura, a Muslim-majority area where a youth was shot dead on Monday, patrols carried out by hundreds of police personnel in riot gear failed to reassure residents.

“We are scared and don’t know where to go,” said Dr Jeevan Ali Khan. “If the government wanted, they could have stopped these riots.”

One of the victims of Tuesday’s violence was an 85-year-old Muslim woman unable to flee her home when it was set alight.