Canada’s NDP demands boycott of G20 events in Kashmir over India’s anti-minority laws
Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) has called on its government to boycott events relating to the G20, a forum for the world’s largest economies, that are being hosted in Jammu and Kashmir due to India’s ongoing human rights violations. The NDP cited India’s discriminatory anti-minority laws, its threats of ethnic cleansing, persecution of minorities, and the arrests of journalists and human-right activists.
The G20 is a forum of 19 countries and the European Union (EU), which works to address major issues related to the global economy. The group’s presidency, which rotates annually, is currently held by India.
“The growing number of anti-Muslim and Islamophobic hate crimes and those toward minorities including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians … is appalling,” NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson said.
The NDP also demanded a ban on certain officials of India’s ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from traveling to Canada over their brazen “calls for racist and genocidal violence against Muslims and other minorities in India.”
The hosting role involves convening meetings throughout the year, which will culminate in a leaders’ summit planned for next September in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
This month, Human Rights Watch reported “a serious regression in human rights and constitutional protections” in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly for Muslims.
Hindu extremist mob assaults students campaigning activist’s release
A mob of members from India’s most prominent Hindu supremacist group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), physically assaulted college students who were protesting the detention of a prominent activist at Delhi University.
30 Hindu extremists surrounded and attacked the students, who were campaigning for the release of jailed academic Dr. G. N. Saibaba.
Around 12 students were injured and referred to a hospital.
Saibaba taught at Delhi University before being arrested on false terror charges in 2014. In prison, he has been denied medical care despite his serious health conditions.
Madhya Pradesh to enforce Uniform Civil Code, trampling minorities’ religious laws
The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh state has announced that a committee will be formed for the implementation of a controversial Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state, which minority groups have protested as a suppression of their right to practice religious law in personal matters.
The UCC mandates one common law that all communities would be forced to adhere to in personal matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, regardless of their religious practice.
The UCC has been a long-standing demand of India’s Hindu extremists, who have rejected the personal laws that India’s Muslims have been constitutionally allowed to observe and practice.
Other states ruled by the Hindu supremacist BJP, including Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh, have made similar announcements in recent months.
Implementing the UCC is a violation of freedom of religion and an invasion of the private lives of citizens, particularly Muslims and Christians, who are already severely marginalized in India.
