- By Bhargavi Kulkarni Sep 30, 2019
NEW YORK — As Indian-American supporters were chanting slogans and praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi before his address at the United Nations General Assembly, there was a group protesting against Modi across the street from the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza near the United Nations headquarters here on Sept. 27.
The group, which had been allotted an enclosed area a little away from the street, included Pakistanis, Indian-Americans, supporters of the Khalistani movement and activists from Coalition Against Fascism in India, Black Lives Matter and other groups.
Pakistan’s supporters, who stood in solidarity with Khan and on the issue of Kashmir, were holding placards against Modi for his stand on Kashmir and the atrocities on minorities in India. Some posters also compared Modi to Hilter and called him a fascist.
News reports said the turnout was in addition to protests against Pakistan, which included a fly-by of a small plane around the Statue of Liberty with a trailing banner urging the United Nations to stop human rights abuses by Pakistan in Balochistan. The protests coincided with the speech of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who spoke shortly after Modi. The plane around the Statue of Liberty was sponsored by the World Baloch Organization, which first deployed trucks — in London and then New York and Washington DC — with large billboards that cruise around blocks slowly and quietly spreading their message.
CAFI, one of the organizers for the protest, in a press release issued prior to the Sept. 27 event said that the Modi government had been “orchestrating a pogrom of hate and violence against Muslims and Dalits in India,” and had “disenfranchised seven million Kashmiris.” Also joining the protest with CAFi was Rutgers University professor and historian Audrey Truschke. Truschke said communities and individuals protesting “have experienced, often personally and painfully, the cataclysmic results of his hateful brand of extreme nationalism: Hindutva.”
She said Hindutva is “a bigoted political ideology with many victims,” adding that India’s religious minorities had faced increasing disenfranchisement and violence under Modi’s tenure and that the government had attacked the media, academics and others who had dared to speak out.
According to the press release, CAFI has demanded that the Modi government restore Article 370, end Kashmir’s “military occupation” and respect Kashmiris’ right to decide their own future. It has also demanded the repeal of the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, the termination of the National Register of Citizens and an end to the lynchings of Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis. The group also called for the freeing of political prisoners like Professor G.N. Saibaba and those in the Bhima Koregaon case, and has demanded the withdrawal of “false cases” against anti-caste activists such as Anand Teltumbde.
Similarly, Sunita Viswanathm, co-founder of the Hindus for Human Rights, who protested against Modi and the BJP at the Houston and the New York rally, in a op-ed in Scroll wrote that the protesters – Pakistani, Khalistani and Kashmiri – “were taking a stand against India.” She continued: “We were people of Indian origin who stood with Kashmiris and all of India’s minorities – especially Muslims and Dalits – who are the direct targets of the unabated lynchings, rapes and bigoted policies under the Bharatiya Janata Party government.”
Also joining the protest was New York-based musician Sunny Jain, who also performed. Jain, who according to news reports urged all artists and South Asians to raise their voice against hurtful ideologies, said Modi’s policies are “divisive and inciting aggression towards minorities.”
On Sept. 27 evening, the Kashmiri American diaspora gathered together at Times Square in hundreds” to show solidarity with all the 8 million Kashmiris who have been caged, cut off, and locked down under the Indian occupation since August 5, 2019,” according to a Facebook post by Stand With Kashmir.
At the same time, trucks were spotted in New York displaying atrocities against minorities in Pakistan. The yellow taxicabs and mini trucks carrying rooftop digital advertising highlighted the plight and miseries that minorities are facing in Pakistan. Some ads seen on the taxis and trucks plying around the UN headquarters said, “Pakistan: A country in denial of UN charter on Human rights” and “Mohajirs demand the UN intervention in Pakistan.” Some ads seen on the taxis and trucks plying around the UN headquarters said, “Pakistan: A country in denial of UN charter on Human rights” and “Mohajirs demand the UN intervention in Pakistan.”
The campaign launched ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly was launched by the advocacy group Voice of Karachi.
Voice of Karachi chairman Nadeem Nusrat told ANI that it’s ironic on part of Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan to peddle a false narrative on Kashmir issue at the UN in New York when the country’s own minorities are facing worst human rights situation. He said the campaign’s aims to raise awareness among the international community about the ethnic persecution and gross human rights violations in Karachi,
Earlier on Sept. 22, Pakistani-American group The Kominas, along with comedian Arish Singh and DJ Rekha organized “Fuck Modi: Noise for Kashmir”, a benefit concert in Brooklyn, New York, that brought together artists, protestors and activists. The concert coincided with Modi’s “Howdy, Modi,!” rally in Houston, Texas.