The Indonesian government has conveyed its concerns over the recent deadly riots in New Delhi, as anger mounts in the predominantly Muslim country over what local Islamic groups say is anti-Muslim violence in India. 

The Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it had called the Indian ambassador in Jakarta to discuss the riots that have claimed dozens of lives.   

“The government of Indonesia has complete confidence that the government of India will be able to manage the situation and ensure the harmonious relations among its religious communities. Moreover, both countries share similar characteristics, as pluralistic countries that uphold democratic values and tolerance,” the ministry said. 

The statement came hours after the Religious Affairs Ministry uncharacteristically issued a statement condemning the sectarian “violence against Muslims” in India, in an apparent attempt to calm Indonesian Muslims after photos of the rioting, including one that shows the beating of a Muslim man by Hindu nationalists, circulated online. 

"There is no religion that allows violence, regardless of what the motives are. Upholding humanity is the essence of all religions," Fachrul said in a statement

The minister said he believed the violence committed by some Hindus in India "did not reflect the teachings of Hinduism, but is the result of an extreme understanding held by some Hindus about their own religion".

He said he hoped peace would return to India soon. "I hope the people of Indonesia can learn something from what is happening in India," he said, adding that there should be no place for such religious violence.

Separately on Friday, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Pradeep Kumar said that peace had been restored. "As of now, the situation in India is under control," Kumar told Indonesian reporters, asking them to be alert to fake news peddled online by those who wished to destroy the fabric of Indian society.

Indonesian Islamic groups, including Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have condemned the violence in Delhi and called on the government to take diplomatic action to contain the situation. GP Anshor, NU’s youth wing, went as far as to urge the Indonesian government to call out the Indian government for the violence. 

Indian police have arrested 514 people over the deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes that broke out in the capital, the government said, as it faced mounting international criticism for failing to protect members of its Muslim minority community, according to AFP.

Police said the toll from days of blood-letting stood at 35, but local media, citing unnamed sources, said it was likely to be more than 40 as the full extent of the violence that began on Sunday in a densely packed locality in northeastern Delhi became clear.

Additional forces had been deployed at mosques in the area for the weekly Friday prayers, the government said. There has been no new violence since Wednesday morning, it said in a statement late Thursday.

The violence began over a citizenship law that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government introduced in December that provides a path to Indian citizenship for undocumented migrants of six religious groups, excluding Muslims.

Critics say the law is discriminatory and comes on top of other measures, such as the withdrawal of autonomy from the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir regions, that have deepened disquiet about the future of India's 200 million Muslims.

Critics of the government, however, blamed this week's violence on members of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was trounced in local Delhi elections at the beginning of the month. The BJP has denied the allegations.

Ultimately, the violence morphed into street battles between Hindu and Muslim groups with the police largely unable to control the situation.

The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) has condemned the violence against Muslims in India and the vandalism of mosques and Muslim-owned properties.

The OIC said authorities needed to bring the instigators and perpetrators of the anti-Muslim violence to justice and ensure the safety and security of all Muslim citizens and Islamic holy sites across the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also criticized India for “massacres” of Muslims. "India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims. By who? Hindus," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, as quoted by AFP. (glh/trn)

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