LUCKNOW: Indian Muslim protesters clashed with police Sunday with at least two people killed in riots sparked by a survey investigating if a 17th-century mosque was built on a Hindu temple.
“Two persons were confirmed dead,” Pawan Kumar, a police officer in Sambhal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, told AFP, adding that 16 police officers were “seriously injured” during the clashes.
The Press Trust of India news agency quoted officials saying three people had died.
Hindu activist groups have laid claim to several mosques they say were built over Hindu temples during the Muslim Mughal empire centuries ago.
Street battles broke out when a team of surveyors entered the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on orders from a local court, after a petition from a Hindu priest claiming it was built on the site of a Hindu temple.
Protesters on Sunday hurled rocks at police, who fired tear gas canisters to clear the crowd.
Hindu nationalist activists were emboldened earlier this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand new Hindu temple in the northern city of Ayodhya, built on grounds once home to the centuries-old Babri mosque.
That mosque was torn down in 1992 in a campaign spearheaded by members of Modi’s party, sparking sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims.
Some Hindu campaigners see an ideological patron in Modi.
Calls for India to more closely align the country’s officially secular political system with its majority Hindu faith have rapidly grown louder since Modi was swept to office in 2014, making the country’s roughly 210-million-strong Muslim minority increasingly anxious about their future.
India mosque survey sparks clashes, two dead
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India mosque survey sparks clashes, two dead
- Hindu nationalist activists were emboldened earlier this year when Modi inaugurated a grand new Hindu temple in Ayodhya, built on grounds once home to Babri mosque
Indonesia eyes investment boost from UAE after leaders’ meeting
- Indonesia-UAE trade was worth $6.4b in 2025, up from $5b in 2024
- President Prabowo Subianto, MBZ also discussed increasing cooperation in renewable energy, tech, AI
JAKARTA: Indonesia is expecting more investments from the UAE, the Indonesian government said on Friday following talks between President Prabowo Subianto and his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
Indonesia’s relations with the UAE grew under former President Joko Widodo, who in 2021 secured more than $46 billion investment commitment from the Gulf state.
Subianto visited Abu Dhabi earlier this week accompanied by Foreign Minister Sugiono, and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia on a trip aimed at strengthening cooperation under the Indonesia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
“The meeting discussed cooperation to increase investment (and) strengthen bilateral cooperation. The UAE wants to increase its investment in Indonesia,” Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said in a statement, without disclosing any amount.
Indonesia and the UAE signed the free trade deal in 2022, which came into force a year later. It was Jakarta’s first with a Gulf country and Abu Dhabi’s first with a Southeast Asian nation.
The Indonesia-UAE CEPA erases about 99 percent of existing tariffs and includes commitments to increase Indonesia’s services exports to the UAE by 6 percent while mutually recognizing each country’s halal certification.
Commerce between the two countries has seen a boost since then, with bilateral trade reaching more than $6.4 billion in 2025, according to Indonesian Trade Ministry data, showcasing an increase of nearly 27 percent from the previous year, when it was worth around $5 billion.
The Emirati state news agency WAM said the talks in Abu Dhabi also covered ways to increase cooperation in other sectors, including renewable energy, technology, artificial intelligence, sustainability, food security and culture.
“The (UAE) president noted the continuing progress of long-standing UAE-Indonesia relations, which are founded on mutual trust, respect and shared interests,” WAM said.
“He reaffirmed the UAE’s commitment to advancing its development and economic partnership with Indonesia for the benefit of both countries and their peoples.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and the UAE.
The UAE was Subianto’s last stop on a multi-nation trip, which included the US, the UK and Jordan.
