The G20 Summit held in Bali island in the shadow of the raging Russia-Ukraine conflict dominated the coverage of the Urdu Press over the past week as the leading Urdu dailies spotlighted India’s takeover of the G20’s presidency, setting out various challenges before New Delhi at the centre-stage of geopolitics even as they highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch that India’s leadership of the grouping will be “inclusive, ambitious, decisive and action-oriented”. The Supreme Court’s move to step into the fraught issue of religious conversion while hearing a petition prompted a range of views in the Urdu Press, with some dailies dismissing conversion as just political fear-mongering without much factual basis or substance.
SIASAT
In its editorial on November 15, headlined “Jabri Tabdili Mazhab (forced religious conversion)”, the Hyderabad-based Siasat writes that every person’s religion is an individual matter and that the Constitution has given all citizens the fundamental right to choose and practise any religion but not indulge in religious conversion through force or coercion. The daily points out that hearing a PIL the Supreme Court has said that “forced” religious conversion is a “very dangerous” issue and may, if not curbed, “ultimately affect the security of the nation as well as the freedom of religion and conscience of the citizens”. The apex court also asked the Centre to “make their stand clear and file counter on what steps can be taken by Union and/or others to curb such forced conversion, maybe by force, allurement or fraudulent means”.
Maintaining that every citizen is entitled under the Constitution to follow any faith, the editorial notes that there is however no freedom to compel anyone to choose a religion forcibly. “In recent times such incidents have come to light where people have been lured to convert fraudulently. They have also been subjected to intimidation that they will have to adopt a particular religion or else they will not be allowed to live in this country… The Supreme Court’s remarks assume significance and make it clear that forced conversion is a very serious issue and that no one could be allowed to do so. And that those who indulge in it are zealots.”
Highlighting that India is a secular country where the State does not have any religion, the daily notes that equal respect for all religions and equal rights for their followers are enshrined in the Constitution. “However, there have been reports from certain remote or tribal areas about people being made to change their religion through various illegal means or intimidation in contravention of the Constitution, which is unfortunate. No religion of the world allows forcible conversion, as a religion cannot be about any compulsion or fear or allurements. So, those indulging in forced conversion must introspect that they are neither serving the interest of the country nor propagating their faith,” the edit says, adding that following the top court’s directives the Centre must examine the issue comprehensively in light of the Constitution and laws and take effective measures to ensure that no one is allowed to exploit people in the name of religion.
SALAR
Commenting on India taking over the G20 Presidency from Indonesia at the Bali Summit, the Bengaluru-based Salar, in its editorial on November 18, states that the Bali Declaration strongly pitched for immediate cessation of the Russia-Ukraine hostilities and a peaceful resolution of their conflict while making it clear that the world does not want war. The daily writes that India will have to play a key role in this regard at the helm of the G20, a major body of the world’s developed and developing countries. Pointing out that the G20’s Bali Summit was overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and divisions among its members over their continuing conflict, it says India’s global leadership will now be on test, even as the grouping’s next gathering would take place in New Delhi in September 2023. India will also have to direct its efforts towards stabilising the tottering global economy which has taken a severe beating in the form of rising inflation and food and energy crises.
The editorial points out India has maintained that the Russia-Ukraine war must end immediately and that their conflict must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. “Significantly, during their bilateral meeting (on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Samarkand) in September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told Russian President Vladimir Putin that ’now is not the time of war’,” it notes, highlighting that the communique adopted at the Bali Summit echoed Modi’s message to Putin.
Listing various challenges before India at the centre-stage of geopolitics as it assumes the G20’s leadership, the daily notes that New Delhi has remained non-partisan over the Russia-Ukraine conflict from the beginning and showed it at the United Nations too, choosing to pursue its own independent foreign policy despite intense pressures from the United States and other Western countries to join them against Russia. India also did not support their sanctions against Russia, especially the curbs on purchasing oil from Moscow. “The world is now seeing India as a global leader which can play a decisive role through dialogue and diplomacy in bringing an end to this devastating war. India will need the world’s support in accomplishing this mission,” the edit adds.
ROZNAMA RASHTRIYA SAHARA
With the world’s population crossing 8 billion, the multi-edition Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, in its editorial on November 15, points out that as per the United Nations’ projection the global population will peak at 10.4 billion in 2080. India, which accounts for over 1.4 billion population, is set to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country in 2023. It took barely 12 years for the world’s population to grow from 7 billion to 8 billion, although its growth will be now stabilising or slowing down. The daily notes that more than half the global population live in Asia. “The people of the Earth are divided along the lines of religion, race, language, culture, region etc. Several world leaders issue platitudes about the entire humanity but when it comes to their country’s self-interest the hollowness of their tall claims is exposed,” it says.
“On June 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, who had thought that it would lead to the World War I, which, in turn, paved the way for the emergence of leaders like Hitler and Mussolini resulting in World War II that saw mass fatalities on an unprecedented scale culminating in the United States’ move to drop atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” the editorial says, adding that the end of World War II did not really bring an end to global tensions and conflicts, even as it led to a nuclear arms race among countries for power and dominance. “The irony is that powerful countries have repeatedly justified wars for the interest and welfare of humanity. While launching aggression against Iraq, the then US President George W Bush had also sought to make such claims, although this war remains a blot on the face of humanity…Whether it was the West’s war against Iraq or the ongoing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, humanity becomes the victim as no war could be ever justified. The world leaders should also focus on resolving civil strife raging within countries like Syria, Sudan or Somalia.”
The daily writes that people do not have significant human rights in a slew of countries, whose leaders believe that no one would ever dare to rise up to challenge their dictatorial regimes. However, when on December 17, 2010, the edit notes, a protesting youth Al-Buazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia, it triggered the Jasmine Revolution there and inspired a larger pro-democracy protest movement, Arab Spring, against several autocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, in which rulers like Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Muammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak and Ali Abdullah Saleh were deposed.
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