OIC condemns India over treatment of Muslims amid coronavirus outbreak

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) human rights body on Sunday criticized the “unrelenting vicious Islamophobic campaign in India maligning Muslims for the spread of COVID-19″— the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

In a statement issued Sunday, the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) also condemned the “negative profiling [of Muslims in India] in media subjecting them to discrimination & violence with impunity”.

OIC’s IPHRC has also called upon the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to take notice of the growing tide of Islamophobia in India.

“Indian government to take urgent steps to stop the growing tide of #Islamophobia in the country and protect the rights of its persecuted Muslim minority as per its obligations under [international human rights] law”, says the statement.

The outbreak of coronavirus in India had triggered a series of attacks against Muslims across the country, with the health ministry of Modi’s Hindu nationalist government claiming that the Muslims are responsible for spreading the virus.