Letter to Biden…Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
The following is a condensed version of a longer open letter to US President Joe Biden: Dear Mr President, we wish you all the success during your ensuing visit to India from September 7-9 to attend the G-20 Summit and hope that your hosts will not exploit your presence as a licence to commit the genocide of Muslims in India (as was done in Delhi riots when former president Donald Trump visited India on in February, 2020.
The 2020 Delhi riots led chiefly by Hindu mobs, ended up killing 53 people, two-thirds of whom were Muslims who were shot, slashed with repeated blows, or set on fire. By mid-March 2020 many Muslims had remained missing.
Now it is becoming a recognizable pattern that whenever an American president announces his visit to India, a physical and social genocide of minorities (read: Muslims) is unleashed in India. A few weeks before your visit to India, the BJP government in Haryana province unleashed unimaginable atrocities against Muslims. These inhuman acts were widely reported by the international media.
Another example is the murder of 35 Sikh villagers in the year 2000 in a place called Chittisinghpora. This massacre preceded former president Clintons March 2000 arrival in India by only a few hours.
However, we hope the Indians know very well that this US president named Joe Biden is a different man, who will never mince his words and actions when there is a question of human rights.
There have also been important statements by international observers and organizations as well. For example, Dr Stanton from genocide Watch was interviewed in January 2022 by Karan Thapar for The Wire during which he said that the early warning signs of (genocide) are present in India. Referring to Genocide Watchs 10 stages of genocide, he said several of the stages have been fulfilled in India. The ones he identified are classification (distinguishing between people as us vs. them and othering them), symbolization (identifying people by the clothes they wear or calling them abba jaan), discrimination (the Citizenship Amendment Act), dehumanization (calling them termites and foreigners who should go to back to Bangladesh) and polarization (accusing them of love jihad and discriminatory laws against conversion and inter-marriage).
Dr Stanton said, Just because a country is a democracy its not impossible for a genocide to happen. He cited Americas own example where, he said, genocide was carried out against Native Americans and against African Americans during the slave trade.
Dr Stanton said while it is not his view that genocide is happening in India at the moment, his fear is that the stages that lead to genocide, what he calls the early warning signs, have occurred. Genocide is not an event. Its a process. It develops, he said.
Dr Stanton said if genocide happens, it wont be committed by the state, but by mobs organized by RSS and BJP militants who will lead it.
Speaking specifically about Prime Minister Modi, Dr Stanton said he has told the US Congress that he believes the Indian prime minister encouraged the 2002 Gujarat massacres of over 1000 Muslims. Modi has also used anti-Muslim rhetoric to build his political base. He has a record, (and) he has to answer, he said. He needs to be accountable.
In 1989, five years before genocide happened in Rwanda, Dr Stanton had forewarned the president of the country that maintaining ethnicity on identity cards would become a tool for genocide. Five years later that is precisely what happened.
As you know, Sir, the charter of the UN specifically allows a subjugated population to wage struggle for the right of self-determination, but India has cunningly projected the Kashmiri struggle for their right of self-determination against the Indian occupational forces as terrorism, to mislead the West. This was the easiest way to distract the champions of human rights, like you Sir. There is no doubt that the Kashmiris are justly struggling for their legal right of self-determination as per the UN charter and the UNSC resolutions on Kashmir. So, the Indian manipulation of branding their struggle as terrorism, is itself a violation of the UN charter and makes India culpable for being tried under the war crimes tribunal.
Moreover, the latest revelations made by Satya Pal Malik, former governor of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, proved how, besides the bogey of terrorism to suppress the Kashmiris, the Indian government of BJP/Modi killed its own 40+ soldiers in a false flag operation, to find an excuse to launch a military attack over Pakistan, just for the petty objective of getting popular votes (in Indias general elections 2019).
Sir, it is hoped that after going through the complete compilation of the war crimes of India, you as the biggest champion of human rights will take up with the Indian leadership this grave matter (which is fit for a war crimes trial) of the genocide of Muslims in India and Kashmir.
The Genocide Convention authorizes the mandatory jurisdiction of the ICJ to adjudicate disputes, leading to international litigation such as the Rohingya genocide case, dispute over the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and recently in March 2020 Senior judges at the international criminal court have authorized an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, overturning an earlier rejection of the inquiry. The ICC investigation will look at actions by US, Afghan and Taliban troops.
Now, the question arises that if US, UK and Russian troops can be investigated under the genocide conventions, why not the Indian government and its functionaries be investigated for much worse genocide and serious war crimes?
Now when India wants a permanent seat in the UNSC it must immediately comply with the UN GA Resolution 45/130.
Moreover, India must also pay war crimes reparations to the Kashmiris and also the Muslims living in India and face the inquiries of the international criminal court.
In conclusion, we implore you to leverage your position and influence to initiate dialogue with the Indian leadership about these pressing concerns. The evidence presented and the voices that have spoken out underscore the gravity of the situation. Your unwavering commitment to justice and human rights serves as a beacon of hope in a world marked by challenges.
Courtesy The News