India’s sacred cows have taken precedence over human lives under the tenure of Narendra Mod

International organizations are sounding alarms as reports emerge detailing a string of horrifying incidents involving the martyrdom of hundreds of Muslims in the name of “Gau Raksha,” or cow protection.

According to data compiled by Reuters, a staggering 850 Muslims have lost their lives at the hands of Hindu extremists who claim to be protecting cows. The rise in these incidents has been exponential since Modi took office in 2014.

Between 2014 and 2018, there were 63 attacks by self-proclaimed “Gau Rakshaks,” resulting in the deaths of 44 Muslims and injuries to 124 others. However, these numbers have seen a horrifying escalation, with over 200 attacks recorded by August 2022 and the death toll reaching a shocking 850.

Disturbingly, this wave of violence shows no signs of abating.

The Indian Express reports the presence of around 200 Go Rakshak Brigades solely in Delhi, while an earlier 2016 investigation by The Guardian suggested that there are more than 5,000 such groups across the nation.

These groups, often aligned with or supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have taken it upon themselves to be self-appointed defenders of the cow.

What’s more unsettling is the complicity of media silence on these grave matters.

Between 2015 and 2018, there were a staggering 71 attacks by cow vigilantes. However, the Modi-controlled media reported only a mere four of these incidents.

One particularly heinous incident that sent shockwaves through the nation and the world occurred earlier this year in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district. In February, two Muslims were mercilessly burnt alive by extremists, casting an alarming light on the extent of the brutality committed in the name of cow protection.

With mounting evidence pointing towards BJP support or alliance with such groups, questions arise about the nation’s leadership and their commitment to preserving India’s secular fabric.

In a symbolic gesture of state-endorsed extremism, the government of Haryana in 2021 officially entrusted the task of protecting the revered “Cow Mata” to the Cow Rakshak Brigade of the controversial Mono Maser Bajrang Dal.

Who is a Gau Rakshak?

The first organized Hindu cow protection movement in India started with a Sikh group in Punjab around 1870.

In 1882, a Hindu religious leader named Dayanand Saraswati founded the first cow protection committee, as reported by the BBC in 2015.

The Bhartiya Gau Raksha Dal (BGRD), an organization focused on protecting cows, has around 6,000 full-time members, mostly men and mostly from the Brahmin community.

They work all over India, especially in states like Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat.

Sometimes, these cow protectors use violence, which has made the news since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came to power in May 2014.

On July 11th, in Gujarat’s Una town, cow protectors tied up and beat four Dalit men with iron rods because they were skinning a dead cow.

This kind of vigilantism turned deadly in September 2015 when a mob killed a 55-year-old Muslim man and seriously injured his son, accusing them of slaughtering a cow.

Since then, these cow protectors have been making frequent headlines.

Just in March, there were at least eight cases of violence reported to the police in Gurgaon, where vigilante groups were involved. In June, a video came out showing members of a group called the Gau Rakshak Dal in Gurgaon forcing two men to eat a mixture made from cow dung, urine, milk, curd, and ghee because they were suspected of transporting beef.

The BGRD was established in 2012 and claims to have saved the lives of 11,000 cows in Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. It’s even registered as a company by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs. One of the things they want to do, as mentioned on their website, is to create a research center and a practicing center for treating critical ailments using cow urine.

In Gujarat alone, about 200 cow vigilante groups have emerged, as reported by The Hindu on July 22.

In the wake of relentless monsoon rains and subsequent flooding, the death toll in southeastern Bangladesh has risen to 48, with a number of individuals still reported missing.

Authorities confirmed on Friday that floodwaters have finally begun to recede, offering a glimmer of hope to the flood-ravaged region.

Since Monday, at least 1.2 million people across four southeastern districts – Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Bandarban, and Rangamati – have been severely affected by the floods, which have left thousands stranded and numerous homes destroyed. Among the casualties, two Rohingya refugees were tragically among the deceased.

In a concerted effort to provide aid and support, ten military units have joined hands with civil administration to conduct rescue and relief operations. The past four days have seen non-stop efforts to reach affected communities and deliver essential supplies.

Rakib Hasan, a senior official in Chattogram district, reported that while the waters are slowly receding, several areas remain marooned by floodwaters. He emphasised the ongoing necessity for potable water and sustenance for the affected populace. “We, with the assistance of army personnel and locals, continue the relief operation as people require potable water and food,” Hasan said.

The district of Bandarban, nestled in the hills, witnessed 10 fatalities and around 15,000 residents grappling with the aftermath of the floods. The deluge managed to destroy 3,700 homes, leaving families without shelter.

As the country’s largest man-made lake, Kaptai Lake in Rangamati district played a significant role in the flooding, causing water levels to surge. Even now, floodwaters persist in low-lying areas, exacerbating the crisis. The situation has led to the destruction of homes, crops, livestock, and fish pounds, leaving the locals in dire need.

With meteorologists predicting monsoon rains until August 15, the challenge for relief and rescue teams remains daunting.

Despite losing their last piece of territory in Syria in 2019, IS has maintained hideouts in the vast Syrian desert from which it has carried out ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.

IS “members targeted a military bus” in Deir Ezzor province on Thursday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The number of dead has risen to 26” soldiers, it said, revising an earlier toll of 23 and calling it the extremists’ deadliest attack on government forces this year.

The jihadists surrounded the bus and opened fire in Deir Ezzor province’s Mayadeen area, in Syria’s vast Badia desert, the Observatory added.

Eleven other soldiers were wounded, with some in critical condition, while troops previously thought to be missing were on other buses that managed to reach safe areas, said the Britain-based group which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

The official Syrian news agency SANA said the “terrorist attack” had caused a number of military casualties, citing an unidentified army source.

Syrian government forces and their allied pro-Iranian armed groups deployed in the area were on high alert on Friday morning, the Observatory reported.

The war monitor’s Rami Abdel Rahman said IS “has recently been escalating its deadly military attacks… aiming to cause as many deaths as possible”.

By doing so, the jihadists are trying to show that IS “is still active and powerful despite the targeting of its leaders”, he told AFP.

Last week, IS announced the death of its leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, who it said was killed in clashes in northwestern Syria.

A spokesman for the group announced a new leader, known as Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, in a recorded message on its channels on the Telegram messaging app.

Spate of IS attacks

In March 2019, IS lost the last territory it held in Syria to a Kurdish-led counteroffensive backed by a US-led coalition, but jihadist remnants continue to carry out deadly attacks.

Targets have included civilians and Kurdish-led fighters as well as government troops and allied pro-Iranian fighters.

IS members in recent weeks have increased their attacks in Syria’s north and northeast.

Thursday’s attack was the third carried out by the jihadists this month alone.

Earlier this week, 10 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed in an IS attack in the former jihadist stronghold of Raqa province, the Observatory said.

Last week, the jihadists attacked a convoy of oil tankers guarded by the army in the Syrian desert, killing seven people including two civilians.

And last month, IS claimed responsibility for a rare bombing in Damascus that killed at least six people near the capital’s Sayyida Zeinab mausoleum, Syria’s most visited Shiite pilgrimage site.

The Sunni Muslim extremist group’s brutal rule was marked by beheadings and mass shootings.

IS has had five leaders since it lost the last remnant of the once sprawling “caliphate” it proclaimed across large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.

Four of them were killed, including the group’s first “caliph”, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died in a US raid in October 2019.

Civil war first broke out in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad’s government crushed peaceful protests in 2011. It has since drawn in foreign powers and global jihadists.

The conflict has killed more than half a million people and driven half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes, with many seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.

The fires became the deadliest natural disaster in the state’s history, surpassing that of a tsunami that killed 61 people on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1960, a year after Hawaii joined the United States.

Officials have warned that search teams with cadaver dogs could still find more dead from the fire that torched 1,000 buildings and left thousands homeless, likely requiring many years and billions of dollars to rebuild.

“Nobody has entered any of these structures that have burned down and that’s where we unfortunately anticipate that the death toll will rise significantly,” U.S. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii told MSNBC.

He later told CNN that Lahaina resembled a bombed-out war zone where the heat melted engine blocks.

The Lahaina fire that spread from the brush to town was still burning but 85% contained, Maui County said in a statement. Two other wildfires on the island were 80% and 50% contained.

Three days after the disaster, it remained unclear whether some residents had received any warning before the fire engulfed their homes.

The island includes emergency sirens intended to warn of natural disasters and other threats, but they did not appear to have sounded during the fire.

“I authorized a comprehensive review this morning to make sure that we know exactly what happened and when,” Hawaii Governor Josh Green told CNN, referring the warning sirens.

Officials have not offered a detailed picture of precisely what notifications were sent out, and whether they were done via text message, email or phone calls.

Green described multiple, simultaneous challenges, with telecommunications down and firefighters concentrating on other major wildfires when the greatest threat to Lahaina arose.

In any event, he said, “We will do all that we can to find out how to protect our people more going forward.”

Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said at a Thursday press conference that the fire’s speed made it “nearly impossible” for frontline responders to communicate with the emergency management officials who would typically provide real-time evacuation orders.

“They were basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice,” he said, referring to residents of the neighborhood where the fire initially struck.

County Mayor Richard Bissen told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday that he did not know whether sirens went off but said the fire moved extraordinarily quickly.

“I think this was an impossible situation,” he said.

The disaster began unfolding just after midnight on Tuesday when a brush fire was reported in the town of Kula, roughly 35 miles (56 km) from Lahaina. About five hours later that morning, power was knocked out in Lahaina, according to residents.

In updates posted on Facebook that morning, Maui County said the Kula fire had consumed hundreds of acres of pastureland, but that a small three-acre (1.2-hecatre) brush fire that cropped up in Lahaina had been contained.

By that afternoon, however, the situation had turned more dire. At around 3:30 p.m., according to the county’s updates, the Lahaina fire suddenly flared up. Some residents began evacuating while people, including hotel guests, on the town’s west side were instructed to shelter in place.

In the ensuing hours, the county posted a series of evacuation orders on Facebook as the fire spread through the town.

Some witnesses said they had little advance notice, describing their terror when the blaze consumed Lahaina in what seemed a matter of minutes. Several people were forced to leap into the Pacific Ocean to save themselves.

The Lahaina evacuation was complicated by its coastal location next to hills, meaning there were only two ways out, at best, said Andrew Rumbach, a specialist in climate and communities at the Urban Institute in Washington.

“This is the nightmare scenario,” said Rumbach, a former urban planning professor at the University of Hawaii. “A fast-moving fire in a densely populated place with difficult communications, and not a lot of good options in terms of evacuations.”