• Sherry Rehman questions his failure to condemn attacks on Christians and Muslims
• WSJ report highlights rising religious intolerance and systemic discrimination in India
ISLAMABAD: PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate, Sherry Rehman, has expressed grave concern over the continued silence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding violence carried out by Hindu radical groups against religious minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims.
“What stops Prime Minister Modi from condemning the actions of Hindu radicals who attack Christians — as we all do in Pakistan — from clearly stating that such violence is unacceptable in a civilised country?” Senator Rehman asked. “I think we know the answer, he is comfortable with impunity.”
Senator Rehman underscored that leadership was ultimately tested by its willingness to confront extremism within its own support base.
Silence, she warned, risked signalling tolerance for impunity and normalising hate-driven violence.
Her remarks align with recent reporting by The Wall Street Journal, which has documented a significant rise in violence against religious minorities in India since Prime Minister Modi took office in 2014.
‘Religious intolerance’
According to the report, groups aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been implicated in attacks against Muslims and Christians, alongside systemic discrimination in employment, education, housing, and access to civic participation.
The Journal noted that India’s Muslim community — approximately 14 per cent of the population — has borne the brunt of the most severe attacks, facing widespread social exclusion and ghettoisation.
Christians, who make up just 2.3pc of the population and largely belong to economically marginalised communities, have also increasingly been targeted.
The Journal reported that radical Hindu groups remained fixated on what they describe as the “threat” of Christian conversion, despite the community’s small size and with 80pc of India’s population being Hindu.
At least 12 Indian states have enacted laws prohibiting religious conversion by “force, fraud, or allurement”, with the term “allurement” often interpreted so broadly that even peaceful evangelical activity is criminalised. The report added that violence against Christians was frequently justified under the pretext of enforcing these laws.
Senator Rehman emphasised that protecting religious freedom and minority rights was neither a regional nor a partisan issue, but a universal democratic obligation.
“Condemning extremism should never be selective,” she stated. “A civilised nation is defined not by the power of its majority, but by how it protects its most vulnerable citizens.”
She asserted that a democratic country must unequivocally denounce hate-based violence, uphold constitutional protections for all faiths, and ensure accountability for those who incite or carry out attacks in the name of religion.
Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2026
