The United Arab Emirates’ decision to go ahead with awarding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi its highest civilian award on Saturday is a slap in the face to the people of Kashmir who continue to live under a communication and military lockdown that began on August 4.
The UAE’s decision is particularly chilling given that on August 15, Genocide Watch, an organization that works to predict and prevent genocide, issued a Kashmir alert, calling “upon the United Nations and its members to warn India not to commit genocide in Kashmir.” The organization stated the “Ten Stages of the genocidal process” as “far advanced” in Kashmir.
This award also solidifies the UAE’s position as a country that has no interest in human rights and that condones injustice and oppression.
Stand with Kashmir calls on the international community to condemn the slide towards authoritarianism, the rise of Hindu-nationalism and the persecution of minorities in India. Failing to do so only gives legitimacy to the belligerent actions of the Indian state.
For the past 20 days, more than 7 million people have been under siege in Kashmir. Telephone and internet services have been disconnected, local media has been shut down, movement is restricted; at least 2,000 activists, politicians and even children have been arrested and detained; and tens of thousands of Indian troops continue to patrol the streets of towns and villages.”
Stand with Kashmir is a Kashmiri diaspora-led international solidarity movement that seeks to end the occupation and support the right to Kashmiri self-determination.