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ISLAMABAD: Genocide Watch in a recent report warned that India was showing signs of entering the &ldquo;extermination&rdquo; stage in the organization&rsquo;s widely cited Ten Stages of Genocide framework.&nbsp; The report, titled &ldquo;Extermination in India: The Ninth Stage of Genocide,&rdquo; argues that anti-Muslim violence and dehumanizing rhetoric are intensifying across the country.&nbsp; Genocide Watch is an international organization focused on genocide prevention and mass atrocity monitoring.&nbsp; According to the report, perpetrators of genocide often stop viewing victims as fully human and portray them as threats that must be removed from society.&nbsp; Genocide mode The organization linked its warning to rising hate speech, communal violence and attacks targeting Muslims in India.&nbsp; The report referenced past episodes of mass violence, including the 2002 Gujarat riots, as examples of communal killings and impunity.&nbsp; Genocide Watch said genocides are not always sudden events and can develop gradually through stages such as discrimination, dehumanization, persecution and extermination.&nbsp; The Ten Stages of Genocide model was developed by Genocide Watch founder Gregory Stanton and is used internationally in genocide studies and early warning analysis.&nbsp; Ethnic violence in India The organization has previously issued alerts regarding communal tensions and ethnic violence in India, including in Manipur.&nbsp; Rights activists and minority groups have repeatedly expressed concern over mob lynching, anti-Muslim vigilante violence and inflammatory political rhetoric in recent years.&nbsp; The report also criticized the use of euphemisms such as &ldquo;ethnic cleansing,&rdquo; arguing that such language can minimize or obscure atrocities.&nbsp; India&rsquo;s government has previously rejected international criticism concerning minority rights and communal violence, describing some reports as biased or politically motivated. The Genocide Watch report adds to growing international debate over religious freedom, communal polarization and the protection of minority rights in India.

India

Genocide Watch has warned that anti-Muslim violence, hate speech and communal polarization in India are increasingly resembling the 'extermination' stage in its genocide risk framework.

International watchdog flags genocide concerns in India

ISLAMABAD: Violence and discrimination against religious minorities in India have sharply increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, with Muslims and Christians increasingly targeted by groups aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.&nbsp;According to the WSJ, India&rsquo;s Muslims, around 14%&nbsp;of the population, have faced the most severe physical attacks along with systemic discrimination in employment, education, housing and voting rights. Many Muslim communities have been effectively ghettoized, the report said.&nbsp;The newspaper noted that Christians, who make up just 2.3%&nbsp;of India&rsquo;s population and largely belong to poorer segments of society, are also facing growing hostility.&nbsp; Despite being a small minority, Christians have become frequent targets of violence justified under laws in at least 12 Indian states that prohibit religious conversion by &ldquo;force, fraud, or allurement,&rdquo; terms that critics say are broadly and arbitrarily defined.&nbsp;Citing recent incidents, the WSJ reported that mobs disrupted Christmas celebrations across several BJP-ruled states. In Uttar Pradesh, Hindu groups gathered outside churches on Christmas Eve, chanting threats while services were under way.&nbsp;In Madhya Pradesh, a BJP leader was filmed storming a church, disrupting a Christmas feast and assaulting a young blind woman, accusing her of facilitating religious conversions. In Chhattisgarh, Hindu extremists vandalized Christmas displays in a shopping mall, smashing religious imagery.&nbsp;Citizens for Justice and Peace, an Indian human rights organization, described Christmas 2025 as &ldquo;a national flashpoint for majoritarian assertion,&rdquo; saying such attacks were symbolic efforts to signal that &ldquo;Christian visibility itself is unacceptable,&rdquo; the WSJ reported.&nbsp;&#39;Sharp increase in attacks on Christians&#39;Data cited by the newspaper from the United Christian Forum showed that recorded attacks on Christians rose from 139 incidents in 2014 to 834 in 2024, with 706 incidents already documented by November 2025.&nbsp;The WSJ also referenced the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom&rsquo;s 2025 report, which recommended that India be designated a &ldquo;country of particular concern&rdquo; for allowing serious violations of religious freedom to continue with impunity.&nbsp;The commission highlighted cases in which police failed to intervene during mob attacks and noted instances where village councils pressured Christians to renounce their faith or leave their homes.&nbsp;While Prime Minister Modi attended a Christmas Mass in New Delhi and spoke of &ldquo;love, peace and compassion,&rdquo; the WSJ said critics viewed the gesture as hollow, pointing out that he has not publicly condemned the attacks carried out by Hindu extremist groups.&nbsp;The newspaper added&nbsp;that India&rsquo;s constitutionally enshrined secularism has steadily weakened under the Modi government, with critics arguing that official silence has emboldened radical elements and deepened insecurity among the country&rsquo;s religious minorities.

Report says India’s Muslims, around 14% of the population,face the most severe physical attacks along with systemic discrimination in employment, education, housing and voting rights.

Articles tagged with "attacks on Muslims in India"

International watchdog flags genocide concerns in India

India sees surge in attacks on Christians, Muslims under Modi: WSJ