One wonders if radical Iran today can be allowed to project itself as the champion of Muslims in the world!  It is well documented that since the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979, the successive dispensations in the country have advanced the cause of revolutionary Shiite Islamism alone. At home, they have accorded limited freedoms not only to those Muslims, who belong to non-Shia denominations, but also to those Shias who do not blindly follow what the clerical regime prescribes.

The radical Shiite regime in Iran has cared little for Muslims abroad. Its attitude towards the plight of Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region is a case in point. The whole world knows the Chinese communist regime has been committing “serious human rights violations” against the Uighur people in the region. Beijing masterminds the repression of the rights of Uighurs (and other ethnic groups) in China. Chinese authorities have used forced sterilizations, birth control and family separations to completely destroy the Uighur identity.

One report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) reads, “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

But radical Iran remains simply unmoved over the predicament of Muslims in China. It’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is the last word in the country’s politics and governance, has been on the best of terms with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Today Tehran and Beijing have agreements on a range of issues from energy to boosting trade. China happens to be Iran’s biggest trading partner.

One hopes India, like-minded democracies and various non-governmental organizations, would come forward  and expose the radical Shiite regime’s hypocrisy on the issue of Muslim rights . New Delhi must take the lead in the matter. It has the morality on its side of history. India is a pluralist democracy. Herein there is no space of any monopolistic religious doctrine. The state in contemporary India has throughout been constitutionally committed to ensure basic rights of all its citizens without any distinction based on the ground of one’s caste, creed or gender.

The Muslims, whatever their denominations, in India are as free as anyone else in practicing their faiths. As a result of positivism on the part of the Indian state, several members from the Muslim community have, from time to time, come to adorn some of the highest seats in India’s governments both at the Centre and in the states.

The successive administrations in India – especially the country’s fiercely independent Courts – have appreciated the role of human rights defenders, journalists and activists in ensuring the people’s rights. Constitutionally, the state in India can place restrictions on the functioning of any groups and individuals. But they can do so only when any activity is not in conformity with the law of the land.

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