Further Links To Pakistan Emerge In Nuh Violence, Role Of Online Groups Operating From Pakistan Under Scanner

The violence that erupted on 31 July in Haryana’s only Muslim-majority district Nuh had strong Pakistani connections, as per reports quoting police.

English daily The Tribune has reported that at least 12 social media groups running from Pakistan played a pivotal role in triggering the violence.

The groups had thousands of followers from the Meo community living in the Indian states of Haryana and Rajasthan.

These groups were operational on various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Telegram. Meo is a jaati predominant in Haryana’s Nuh, Rajasthan’s Alwar and Bharatpur and parts of Uttar Pradesh such as Mathura. Almost all members of this jaati have been Islamised since the 12^th century.

During partition, a large number of Meos migrated to Pakistan. In the run up to the partition, a movement for ‘Meostan’ was quite active in the region that demanded Meo-dominated areas to be made part of Pakistan.

Meos, both in India and Pakistan, call themselves ‘Mewatis’ and the geographical region they inhabit in India is called Mewat, derived from Meo.

The Tribune report, quoting the police, says that the social media groups were spreading hate against the Hindu community, calling them “kafirs” and urging Mewatis to beat them up.

This revelation comes at a time when a YouTuber from Pakistan, who goes by the name ‘Ahsan Mewati Pakistani’ and was quite active online during the violence, has been identified as a major instigator.

Although the man claimed to be from Alwar in his social media profiles, he was later found to be a resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan.