WASHINGTON: A prominent Kashmiri advocacy group announced that Kashmiris and their supporters will stage a protest rally near the White House on June 22 when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Joe Biden in Washington, amid India’s escalating atrocities in occupied Kashmir.
The Secretary-General of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), Ghulam Nabi Fai, told APP that he was getting immense response from the community members as well as expressions of support from several other organizations in the effort to highlight India’s brutal suppression of Kashmiri people.
He said that people from all over the United States and Canada were expected to come to Washington to join the demonstration that will serve as a reminder that the U.N.-pledged right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir has still not been implemented and that they continue to suffer under Indian occupation.
“I am confident that Kashmiris and their supporters will be there in full force,” Fai said.
He also said that WKAF has also hired three digital trucks that will flash messages like “Fascist Modi does not belong to White House” as they pass by key buildings and landmarks in this capital city. Other digital messages include,” Trade with India not fine when human rights are on decline”; “Indian democracy: Dead in Kashmir’; “Kashmir at the brink of Genocide” and “Modi guilty of crimes against humanity in Kashmir.”
Meanwhile, according to reports, U.S Human Rights groups are planning to hold similar protests against Modi’s US visit over the “deteriorating human rights situation.”
The Indian American Muslim Council, Peace Action, Veterans for Peace and Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition are also set to gather near the White House on June 22.
The report said the groups have also added flyers that read “Modi Not Welcome” and “Save India from Hindu Supremacy.” The groups have also planned an event in New York featuring a show titled “Howdy Democracy”, referring to 2019’s “Howdy Modi!” rally in Texas featuring Modi and then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
This comes as two human rights groups decided to organize a screening of the controversial BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’. As per reports, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have invited policymakers, journalists and analysts next week to a screening in Washington the BBC documentary, whose screening was banned in India.
Advocacy groups have also raised concerns over alleged human rights abuses under Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
They point to a 2019 citizenship law that the U.N. human rights office described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by excluding Muslim migrants; anti-conversion legislation that challenged the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief; and the revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
There has also been demolition of properties owned by Muslims in the name of removing illegal construction; and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when BJP was in power in that state.
The Indian government dismisses the criticism, saying its policies are aimed at the welfare of all communities and that it enforces the law equally. Modi remains India’s most popular leader and is widely expected to remain in office after next year’s elections.
The administration of then-President George W. Bush denied Modi a visa in 2005 under a 1998 U.S. law barring entry to foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” In 2002, when Modi had just become Gujarat’s chief minister, at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in sectarian riots.
Advocacy groups have also raised concerns over human rights abuses under Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
They point to a 2019 citizenship law that the U.N. human rights office described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by excluding Muslim migrants; anti-conversion legislation that challenged the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief; and the revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
There has also been demolition of properties owned by Muslims in the name of removing illegal construction; and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when BJP was in power in that state.
The administration of then-President George W. Bush denied Modi a visa in 2005 under a 1998 U.S. law barring entry to foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” In 2002, when Modi had just become Gujarat’s chief minister, at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in communal riots.
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