The Indian minister of defense declined on Thursday to comment on Donald Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from the U.S., but said India does not look on particular groups of society with suspicion.
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, responding to a question about Trump’s plan during a joint press conference at the Pentagon, said the question has the potential to be a “nuclear bomb.”
“I will not comment on what is talked about in the U.S., but as India is concerned, we believe that we are the second largest Muslim population and we gel well,” Parrikar said.
“We believe that everyone has equal opportunity, equal rights. Yes, maybe there are a few small pockets of extremists and radicalization, but those are too few to treat different sections of society differently. In India we have equal rights for everyone and we don’t look towards communities with suspicion. Those who are radicalized is a separate issue,” he added.
Trump has said he would ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. by having customs officers ask those coming what religion they practice. The comments drew backlash from the administration as well as leaders around the world. Mufti Mohammed Saleem, an Indian religious leader, said Trump’s plan would only “cultivate hatred and divide people,” according to an International Business Times report.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter also declined to wade into the political firestorm surrounding Trump’s comments, but stressed that the U.S. war with the Islamic State is not a war on Islam more broadly.
“This is an extremist, violent movement which threatens America and needs to be defeated,” Carter said.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said this week that banning Muslims from entering the U.S. could harm national security, since it plays into the Islamic State’s narrative that America is at war with Islam.
