Calgary, AB, October 26, 2019

Dear Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,

Subject: MODI’s INDIA AND KASHMIR, THE NEXT MINORITY / MUSLIM GENOCIDE

On 5th August 2019, the Indian government revoked the special status given to Kashmir under article 370 of the Indian constitution. This article is against UN Resolution 47: the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), the UN Security Council passed Resolution 47 on 21 April 1948, after the war for peace in the region, it gave the people of Kashmir the right of self-determination. On August 5^th, 2019 Kashmir became the most militarized region and under curfew for more than 2 months with media lock down. A month ago, there were reports of more than 300 girls kidnapped and sent to army installations, over 3000 youth ages 15-35 years have been captured and moved throughout India. In addition, 182 youth have been killed in Indian jails due to the Indian crackdown on Jammu and Kashmir. The area has been subjected to over 60 days of media blackout and curfew. This move played well with Modi and the BJP’s voter base, majority of which identify as Hindu Nationalists.

In Europe and North America, India’s actions has universally produced negative coverage. Reports of human rights violations coming out of the valley have alarmed the international community. The military lock down and communication blackout imposed by the Indian government since last month has crippled life in the Muslim-majority Kashmir region. The use of pellet guns on protesters has also been prevalent.

The rise of a powerful brand of Hindu nationalism has raised concerns of fascist elements within India’s leading political party, the BJP. Some claim that this sudden takeover of Kashmir is a fulfillment of an ideological yearning to subjugate a predominantly Muslim population to Modi’s vision, a homogeneous Hindu Nation. In the past Modi has been accused of inciting violence against the Muslim population of Gujrat in 2002. His inaction as the chief minister of the state earned him condemnation from the west. His far-right Hindu nationalist views can be traced back to his days in the training camps of RSS, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the right-wing Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organization that is widely regarded as the parent organization of the BJP, Modi’s political party.

On August 31, 2019 nearly 2 million Muslims in the state Assam were not granted citizenship, at the same time the Indian government is constructing concentration camps for them. The next step would lead to imprisonment of the Indian Muslims of Assam which in turn could lead to concentration camps and genocide.

Modi’s India is increasingly being seen as rigid, anti-Muslim and a Hindu Nationalist state. During partition of India in 1947, an estimated 20,000-100,000 Muslims were massacred in Jammu at the hands of RSS to make a homogenous and politically unified India. The same political agenda is respected by the current Indian government and the Kashmiri population is at risk, again. International condemnation and action is necessary to prevent the next genocide of Indian Minorities.

Necessary actions to prevent genocide in Kashmir and India include:

1. Declaration of RSS – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a terrorist and extremist organization
2. BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party as a sympathizer of extremism
3. Narendra Modi, BJP and RSS leaders as Hindu extremists and terrorists
4. Declare sanctions against India, RSS and BJP leaders
5. Immediate withdrawal of Indian forces from Kashmir and restore UN Resolution 47
6. Negotiate safety measures to prevent the penitentiary & genocide of 2 million Muslims in the state of Assam
7. Immediate access to international media in Kashmir to assess the suffering and lifting of curfew from civilian population to access health care, necessities of life and normalize life.

Dr. Mukarram Zaidi
Chair, Canadian Muslim Research Think Tank, Think for Actions, chairman@thinkforactions.com

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