THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Expressing deep anguish and concern over the cruel persecution and near-elimination of ‘Yazidis’ by the ISIS extremists in Iraq, without creating a storm of protest from the world at large, Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram director P Parameswaran has urged the Centre and general public in particular to explore ways of saving the remaining Yazidis from war-torn Iraq.
“Can India save the remaining Yazidi people from total extinction?” Parameswaran asked in a statement issued here.
Stating that the issue raises certain frightening and fundamental questions, he pointed out that we are living in a globalised world where mutual contact, communication and safe passage from one country to another is the norm. “But how is it that the Yazidis could not find an escape route and get external support for evacuating them?” he asked.
Parameswaran said that there had been instances of persecution all throughout history. When the Jews were persecuted, they came to India and remained, not only safe and secure but also with absolute freedom of worship, as a trading community in Kerala. Later on, when the Parsis were persecuted, they too came to India and lived and served India as a flourishing and prosperous community.
“If tradition could be a guide, Yazidis could have been given a safe asylum in India. But in today’s situation, many Indians themselves are stranded in Mosul and other places, under the Jihadis. They are yet to be freed and brought back to India. “There are lot of similarities between the Yazidis and cultural and traditional practices of India. Yet we could not save them. But the powerful nations and the UNO should be blamed for failing in their fundamental duty,” Parameswaran said.
He said that another basic question is regarding the stunning silence observed by the Leftist progressive intellectuals of India, irrespective of religion.
“In the question of Palestine, they were so vociferous in their protest. The case of the vanishing tribe of Yazidis received no attention from these human right activists,” he said.
Parameswaran said it was encouraging to see that Pope made a statement that this cruelty against a section of humanity is an act which neither man nor God should forgive.