Conflict between Hindus and Muslims

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India is the center of a very serious problem in the world today. It’s a very diverse place with people from many different religious backgrounds, who speak many different languages and come from many different regions. They are also separated economically. Two of the country’s religious sects, Muslims and Hindus, have been in conflict for hundreds of years. Their feelings of mistrust and hatred for each other are embedded in all those years and will not leave easily. What’s most disturbing is that there seems to be no plan for reconciliation available. There are numerous reasons for this conflict. Power struggles amongst the two groups are ever present and each group thinks the other is out to get them. Hindus comprise the majority of the population of India at eighty percent while Muslims are a minority, making up only fourteen percent, which is a problem in itself. The feeling of being dominated by the majority comes from being a part of the minority. To complicate things even more is the controversy that surrounds Ayodhya, a holy place in Gujarat claimed by both groups. The Babri Masjid, a Muslim temple in Ayodhya was burned to the ground by Hindu extremists in 1992 and caused a wave of violence that resulted in the loss of over two thousand lives. These Hindu extremists believe the temple rests on the birthplace of Ram, one of the Hinduism’s most revered deities. They want a temple built on the site to commemorate Ram’s birth. Muslims in turn want the Babri Masjid rebuilt in the same spot. Neither side wants to give in and are currently fighting on. The most threatening conflict between Hindus and Muslims is the province of Kashmir. This is where the decision to divide India into India and Pakistan seems to have been a terrible mistake. Kashmir, which is the only Muslim majority city in India, lies between the divided India and Pakistan. After India’s independence in the 1940’s, Kashmir had to choose to either unite with India or Pakistan. The Prince of Kashmir chose India but Pakistan invaded the province soon after and have occupied part of Kashmir since then. Controversy still surrounds the province today because naturally, Muslims want to control it. While many Muslims relocated to Pakistan and the Hindus to India, half of the Muslim population was left in India and their relations did not improve after being partially separated.

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