LONDON, May 28: The Muslim community in India became increasingly vulnerable to victimization after the Sept 11 attacks in the United States and an attack on the Indian parliament in December, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The victimization, the London-based rights group added in its annual report, was carried out “by both the state and some Hindu political groups”.

“Tension between the police and Muslim groups erupted into rioting in different parts of the country,” Amnesty said.

Tension also escalated when Hindu activists began implementing plans to rebuild a temple on the site of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya.

Discrimination and abuse at the hands of police was also suffered by socially and economically marginalized sections of society, such as women, dalits, adivasis (tribal people) and religious minorities, Amnesty said.

It said inter-caste and inter-religious tensions “were often politically exploited, leading to several violent incidents throughout the country in which the police were believed to have taken a partisan role”.

Calls by the United States for a global campaign against “terrorism” following the attacks on New York and Washington saw the Indian government passing a new law that gives police wide powers of arrest and allows six months detention without trial.

“Human rights organizations were concerned that some provisions were not consistent with the rights to freedom of expression and association set out in international human rights standards,” Amnesty said.

“In the disputed state of Kashmir, human rights abuses continued to be committed by armed groups, police and security forces on a large scale,” it said.

“Tensions between India and Pakistan on the issue of the support of armed groups in Kashmir became a subject of international debate in the context of the bombing campaign in Afghanistan by the US and its allies.—AFP