Kashmir group says Modi not welcome in UK

LONDON

A prominent Kashmiri human rights group on Monday said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not welcome in the UK and called on UK premier to not invite him to the G7 summit.

Tehreek-E-Kashmir, together with a number of other Indian minority groups, also planned a protest against Modi, who is expected to attend the G7 summit which will be held in Cornwall later this year. The demonstration seeks to raise awareness of the gross human rights abuses Modi has committed against Muslims in Kashmir and other minority groups across India.

“Modi is not welcome in the UK and Prime Minister Boris Johnson must stop him from attending the G7 summit 2021. Modi has committed crimes against humanity in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

“Boris’ invitation to Modi to attend the G7 Summit is an insult to all human rights conventions,” Fahim Kayani, president of Tehreek-E-Kashmir UK, said in a press release.

Kayani also expressed his “disappointment” towards Johnson and the UK government as a whole for “trading human rights against business interests” and called on the UK to honor its commitments in upholding human rights and the rule of law.

“It is unacceptable that the G7, and the UK in particular, would invite nations who have abysmal human rights records and not be held to account,” Kayani said.

The press release was signed by a coalition of Indian minority groups that have also been targeted by Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his Hindu nationalist governing party. The coalition, called the United Front against Modi, includes prominent figures such as Ranjit Singh Srai from the World Sikh Parliament, Muhammad Ghalib, president of the Tehreek-e-Kashmir Europe, and Caire Bidwell from Let the Kashmir decide.

Modi and his far-right BJP have been governing India since 2014 when they rose to power following a historic election. Since then, India’s democratic credentials and institutions have witnessed an erosion under his rule and human rights laws and principles have come under sustained attack.

The BJP government attracted global criticism and condemnation for revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Modi also introduced a controversial law titled the Citizenship Amendment Act which strips Indian Muslims of their citizenship while granting the same to non-Muslim religious minorities.

Further to stripping away Muslims’ citizenship, the act also deems them to be illegal immigrants and thus liable for deportation. The law has sparked nationwide condemnation with protest movements springing up across major cities across the country, arguing it goes against India’s founding principles of secularism, and equality and justice for all Indians regardless of ethnicity, class or faith.