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Παρασκευή, 29 Μαρτίου, 2024

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President leaves India after being shielded from violent anti-Muslim riots

Trump has just returned from his two-day visit to India where he set in place a lucrative $3bn (£2.3bn) arms deal with Narendra Modi and toured the country’s beauty spots while being shielded from the outbreak of anti-Muslim riots, which left at least 20 people dead in New Dehli.

The White House says it has agreed to “promptly” conclude its ongoing talks with the Modi administration, which it hopes will lead to the first phase of a bilateral US-India trade deal.

Ahead of’s trip, negotiators from the two sides wrangled for months to narrow differences on farm goods, medical devices, digital trade and new tariffs.

“If the deal happens with India it will be at the end of this year and if it doesn’t happen then we will do something else,” he said on Tuesday. The president added that the US expects to be treated fairly and given reciprocal access to India’s market after criticising the country’s high tariffs.

All of which will allow to pronounce the visit a success despite its coinciding with brutal clashes in the capital between Hindu and Muslim groups over a new citizenship law.

“There are 20 people dead and 189 injured,” a senior doctor from the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital told Reuters on Wednesday. Separately, an official at the Al-Hind Hospital in New Delhi said the facility had treated more than 200 injured people since Monday, many with severe injuries.

 

After some of the worst violence in the capital in decades, police used tear gas, pellets and smoke grenades, but struggled to disperse stone-throwing mobs. On Wednesday, parts of the riot-hit areas were deserted and a witness saw paramilitary and police forces deployed in much greater numbers.

Witnesses told Reuters they saw mobs wielding sticks, pipes and stones walking down streets in parts of northeast Delhi on Tuesday, amid incidents of arson, looting and stone-pelting. Thick clouds of black smoke billowed from a tyre market that was set ablaze, as fire trucks rushed to control the flames. Shots could be heard in the area and many of the wounded had suffered gunshot injuries, hospital officials said.

“The situation is relatively better than yesterday in the violence hit areas,” Atul Garg, the director of the Delhi fire department said on Wednesday, adding the fire department had stationed more vehicles and senior officials in the area. “There are no rioters on the streets and our vehicles have been able to reach the area,” he said. At least two mosques in northeast Delhi were set on fire in the rioting. 

On Wednesday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in a tweet that it was alarmed by the violence and it urged the Indian government “to rein in mobs and protect religious minorities and others who have been targeted.”

The sectarian violence erupted between thousands demonstrating for and against the new citizenship law introduced by Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

India’s capital has been the epicentre of unrest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which makes it easier for non-Muslims from some neighbouring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.

Critics say the law is biased against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has denied it has any bias against India’s more than 180m Muslims.

India’s home minister Amit Shah, who is directly responsible for law and order in the national capital area, held multiple high-level meetings on Tuesday to assess the situation and urged politicians to avoid provocative speeches that could fan tensions. The Home Ministry also appointed a special commissioner of the Delhi Police to help bring the situation under control. 

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