LONDON: Kashmiri Diaspora community settled in UK took to the streets and chanted slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendar Modi as he arrived in United Kingdom for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
On the occasion, the Diaspora Community have organized a number of events to highlight the plight of Kashmiris. Moreover, demonstrations were being held against the Indian premier to protest against the deteriorating human rights situation in occupied Kashmir, sexual abuse of women and violence against Dalits and religious minorities in India. The large-scale protest at London’s Parliament Square has been organised by British Sikhs and Kashmiris to protest against the Indian premier’s policies. Modi is on a four-day visit to the country to attend the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London. Heads of 53 Commonwealth nations, including Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, will attend the Summit in London and Windsor. According to reports the demonstration started shortly after Modi met his British counterpart Theresa May. The demonstrators held banners stating “Modi India’s Prime Murderer” and “Stop terrorising minorities and defending rapists”. Many also held pictures of an eight-year-old Muslim girl who was abducted, drugged and brutally gang-raped and murdered in a temple by a group of Hindu men in occupied Kashmir’s district Kuthwa. South Asia Centre for Peace has also called for protest at the Parliament Square to highlight the plight of women in Indian occupied Kashmir.
As India’s rape epidemic gets worse by the year, critics have pointed fingers at Modi’s government for not doing enough to protect the country’s women. During the past week, his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been battered by a nationwide storm over two rapes.
One involved the abduction, gang rape and murder of eight-year-old Asifa Banu by Hindus in occupied Kashmir, where two BJP ministers in the provincial government were forced to resign after initially offering support for the accused rapists. Eight men are on trial for the crime, which has led to a wave of revulsion and anger in the country. In the other case, a BJP legislator in Uttar Pradesh state, India’s most populous, stands accused of raping a teenager. The situation in Kashmir has also been one of the worst in recent times.
Meanwhile, PTI president Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chudhary who is currently in London led a protest demonstration against Indian premier Narendar Modi, which was attended by a large number of people. Speaking on the occasion the PTI chief said that India on one hand was involved in the genocide of Kashmiri Muslims in IHK while on the other the BJP government had unleashed reign of terror on minorities. Urging the world community particularly the common wealth to impress upon Modi government to stop bloodshed in Kashmir and terrorizing minorities in India Barrister Chudhary said that Indian highhandedness was a great threat to peace and security in the region. He said that it was high time that the world community should redouble its efforts and resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully.
In a bid to show solidarity with the people of Kashmir the AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider Khan, Pakistan Peoples Party leader in AJK Assembly Chaudhary Yaseen, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Rasheed Turabi have rushed to London a couple of days back to participate in the protests planned by British Sikhs and Kashmiris against the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a news conference in London, Farooq Haider said that genocide of Kashmiris under Modi government has increased. The Azad Kashmir prime minister said that he had reached London especially to show solidarity with the people of Indian occupied Kashmir by confronting Modi on atrocities against Kashmiris under his watch.
