India: Karnataka Muslims want to open doors

On 26 February 2016 the Indian daily newspaper, The Hindu, reported that the Udupi district unit of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has begun a month-long district-wide campaign called "Quran for all." During the campaign, the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind will meet religious, social, political and academic leaders. It will also organize indoor meetings, conduct essay competitions, and distribute books and pamphlets. It will also give away Kannada and English copies of the Quran. The aim of the campaign is to clear "ignorance and misunderstandings" about Islam and Muslims. The organization believes that through this campaign it will be possible to create a harmonious and peaceful atmosphere in society.

Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, gives some background information: "Muslims form the largest religious minority in India, numbering between 170 and 175 million people (making India the country the third-largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan). The 2011 census indicated that Muslims were the fastest growing religious group in India, and this led to fierce reactions from Hindu radicals. It is a laudable initiative to defuse religious tensions between Hindu radicals on the one hand and religious minorities on the other. But we may expect that Hindu radicals will regard it as yet another example of outreach and react accordingly. Karnataka may become the stage of violent attacks on non-Hindus once more, and Christians will not escape from them."