News
Friday, January 06, 2012
Hindu group ‘flew Pakistan’s flag to create tension’LAHORE: Six members of a right-wing Hindu group have reportedly been arrested in India’s southern Karnataka state for raising Pakistan’s national flag on a government building. BBC quotes police as saying that the arrested men belong to the Sri Rama Sena group. The flag was raised in Sindgi, near Bijapur, on January 1, leading to angry protests by Hindu organisations and the stoning of a Muslim prayer hall. Police say Sri Rama Sena was trying to create “communal disharmony” in an area with a sizeable Muslim presence. Sri Rama Sena is a fringe group that claimed responsibility for attacking women outside a pub in the coastal district of Mangalore in 2009, saying that allowing females in pubs was against Indian culture. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Charan Reddy told BBC that the situation in Sindgi was “now peaceful”. “It seems they were out to create communal disharmony,” he said. Hindu organisations had called for strikes in a number of towns around Bijapur to protest against the flag-raising. However, IGP Reddy said police investigations had led them to members of the Sri Rama Sena, a group founded by Pramod Muthalik after it broke away from the Bajrang Dal, an affiliate of the long-standing Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Muthalik is the leading suspect in the attack on the women in Mangalore. Former chief minister and Janata Dal Secular party leader HD Kumaraswamy said of the flag-raising, “It is such a shame. I blame the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the incident. They want to divide society on religious lines.” daily times monitor
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk