‘Run or die’: Muslims left mourning as police raze another mosque in northern India

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnHALDWANI, India (RNS) — Despite fears of a police crackdown, hundreds of Muslim men had come out on Feb. 15 for “Shab-e-Baraat,” the night of forgiveness, gathering in a vast, wooded graveyard in this city near the Nepal border to pray for the souls of their departed.Among the graves are six fresh mounds in a line, covered with fresh rose petals and black tarpaulin, the burial sites of men cut down a week earlier, when the police fired on Muslims protesting the demolition of a mosque and its madrassa, or religious school. The buildings, the authorities said, illegally occupied government-owned land.
Mohammad Zahid, 45, had left home not to demonstrate but to fetch milk for a relative’s baby. His son, 21-year-old Mohammad Aman, said his family had gotten a call saying, “Your father has been shot. Come quickly,” but when Aman and others arrived and put his father on a wooden cart, “the policemen caught us, started beating me, calling (me) names like ‘terrorist,’ ‘Falestini’ (Palestinian),” said Aman. “They also hit my father, who was still breathing.”
At a makeshift medical office down the narrow lanes of the Muslim ghetto of Banbhoolpura, another patient was already being treated for a gunshot wound. “I saw the face and it w …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]