WASHINGTON: A prominent Kashmiri advocacy group has announced that Kashmiris and their supporters will hold a protest rally near the White House on June 22nd, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits US President Joe Biden in Washington, despite India’s increasing brutality in occupied Kashmir.
The Secretary-General of the World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF), Ghulam Nabi Fai, told APP that he was receiving an overwhelming response from community members as well as offers of support from a number of other organizations in the attempt to highlight India’s ruthless persecution of Kashmiri people.
People from all over the United States and Canada are expected to come to Washington to join the demonstration, which will serve as a reminder that the people of Kashmir’s UN-pledged right to self-determination have yet to be implemented and yet to be implemented and that they continue to suffer under Indian occupation. Fai expressed confidence that Kashmiris and their sympathizers will be present in abundance.
He additionally said that WKAF has hired three digital trucks that would display messages such as “Fascist Modi does not belong to the White House” as they pass by important structures and landmarks in this capital city. Other digital messages include “Indian Democracy: Dead in Kashmir,” “Kashmir on the Brink of Genocide,” and “Modi Guilty of Crimes against Humanity in Kashmir.”
US human rights organizations
Meanwhile, according to reports, US human rights organizations are planning similar rallies against Modi’s visit to the US due to the “deteriorating human rights situation.” On June 22, the Indian American Muslim Council, Peace Action, Veterans for Peace, and the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will also gather outside the White House. According to the report, the groups have also distributed flyers that read “Modi Not Welcome” and “Save India from Hindu Supremacy.” The groups have also organized a New York event with a title called “Howdy Democracy,” a reference to Modi and then-US President Donald Trump’s “Howdy Modi!” rally in Texas in 2019.
This comes after two human rights groups agreed to organize a screening of the controversial BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’. According to sources, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have invited politicians, journalists, and analysts to a screening of the BBC documentary, which was banned in India, next week in Washington. Advocacy groups have also expressed worry over alleged human rights violations committed by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
They point to a 2019 citizenship law that, by excluding Muslim migrants, was described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by the United Nations Human Rights Office; anti-conversion legislation that challenged the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief; and the revocation of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status in 2019. There has also been the demolition of properties owned by Muslims in the name of removing illegal construction; and a ban on women wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when BJP was in power in that state.
The Indian government dismisses the allegation, claiming that its policies are designed to benefit all communities and that it applies the law equally. Modi remains India’s most popular leader, and he is largely likely to remain in power following the elections next year. Modi was denied a visa by then-President George W. Bush’s government in 2005, citing a 1998 U.S. rule prohibiting the admission of foreigners who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” At least 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in sectarian riots in Gujarat in 2002 when Modi was still the state’s chief minister.
Advocacy groups have also expressed worry over human rights violations committed by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They point to a 2019 citizenship law that, by excluding Muslim migrants, was described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by the United Nations Human Rights Office; anti-conversion legislation that challenged the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief; and the revocation of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
There has also been the demolition of Muslim-owned properties in the name of removing unlawful construction, as well as a prohibition on wearing the headscarf in schools in Karnataka when the BJP was in power there. Modi was denied a visa by then-President George W. Bush’s government in 2005, citing a 1998 U.S. rule prohibiting entry of foreigners who have committed “particularly severe” violations of religious freedom.
