All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi has said that the ‘so-called’ human rights supporters talking about injustice to women in Afghanistan were silent on the atrocities in India.

He questioned their silence on the recent Kanpur incident in Uttar Pradesh where a girl was begging for mercy when her father was being beaten up in the presence of police.

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The Hyderabad MP was addressing a meeting at a mosque in the old city late Thursday on the eve of ‘Yaum-e-Ashura’ which marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.

Owaisi said for the last few days all TV channels were talking about Afghanistan. “When I was asked about Afghanistan, I said talk about Kanpur, not Kabul. In Kanpur, a nine-year-old girl was begging for mercy when her father was being beaten up in the presence of police. These so-called human rights supporters are concerned about girls in Kabul and are talking about atrocities on women there but nobody is bothered about the Kanpur girl. They don’t talk about the widows of Akhlaq, Tabrez, Pehlu Khan, and Aleemuddin Ansari,” he added referring to the men lynched by mobs of cow vigilantes.

The Hyderabad MP said according to one report, one out of nine girls dies before reaching the age of five in India but nobody was concerned about it.

“There are atrocities and crimes against women here. But they (human rights supporters) are worried about what is happening to women in Afghanistan. Isn’t it happening here?” Owaisi asked.

The AIMIM chief said the governments of Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Modi invested $3 billion in Afghanistan. The Afghan parliament was built at a cost of Rs 700 crore and it was jointly inaugurated by Narendra Modi and former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Nobody responds to the question about the taxpayers’ money spent by India in Afghanistan, he added.

Owaisi said since 2013 he had been drawing the attention of the successive Indian governments that the Taliban will reorganise and may come back to power and therefore talks should be held with them. “We have nothing to do with Afghanistan or Taliban but we drew their attention in view of the possible threat to India’s security in future to which nobody paid attention,” he added.

He said after the Taliban came to power, Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists started shifting to remote parts of Afghanistan. He claimed that ISI, which is India’s enemy, is controlling the Taliban and China is trying to take advantage of this situation. He reiterated that China has occupied Indian territory but those in power were not worried.

Owaisi said a Samajwadi Party MP was booked for sedition for making a statement about the Taliban but his own party chief and other leaders were silent. “We don’t agree with his statement but their double standards are unfortunate. They need votes of Muslims but they will not stand with them in the event of any injustice,” the AIMIM leader added.

He wanted to know why no sedition case was booked against those who recently raised slogans of killing Muslims in Delhi or those who killed Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan, and others or those who beat up the Kanpur man.

Owaisi said Imam Hussain gave the message from Karbala that we will sacrifice our lives but will not bow to falsehood.

The holy life of Imam Hussain gives the message that we should not lose heart under any circumstances and we should never support repression, he added.