Analysis, Side Feature

Views on the News – 18 Dec 2019

Headlines:

  • Muslims in Kashmir and Assam One Step Away from Extermination
  • UK to Pass Law Banning Anti-Zionist Boycott
  • India Erupts


Muslims in Kashmir and Assam One Step Away from Extermination

On Thursday 12 Dec, Gregory Stanton at the US Congressional briefing, who is president of the organisation Genocide Watch, highlighted “Muslims in Kashmir and Assam” were just one step away from extermination. Stanton explained further: “Preparation for a genocide is definitely under way in India.” He explained, “The persecution of Muslims in Assam and Kashmir is the stage just before genocide. The next stage is extermination—that’s what we call a genocide.” Stanton declared the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “all the hallmarks of an incipient Nazi regime”, adding “nationalism taken to its extreme is fascism and Nazism.”

 

UK to Pass Law Banning Anti-Zionist Boycott

Just days after winning UK general election, the Conservative Party says it will target Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) that rallies against the Zionist entity. The BDS movement was inspired by the campaign that targeted South Africa’s apartheid regime. It has three primary objectives: the end of the Zionist occupation of Palestine and dismantling of the Zionists illegal separation wall and settlements in the occupied West Bank, full equality for Palestinian citizens of “Israel”, and for the rights of Palestinian refugees to be upheld as stipulated by the United Nations. Support for the movement has grown enormously over the years, with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle Archbishop Desmond Tutu supporting the campaign, among many others. Prime Minister Johnson is expected to list the anti-BDS motion as one of his government’s priorities during the Queen’s Speech. Last month, his Conservative Party manifesto included a pledge to ban local councils from boycotting products from the Zionist entity. “We will ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries,” the manifesto said.

 

India Erupts

India has passed a law that grants citizenship to religious minorities – except Muslims – from neighbouring countries. The new citizenship law, which was an amendment to a 1955 legislation, allows Indian citizenship to “persecuted” minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but makes no reference to Muslims. The legislation was pushed through India’s Parliament by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ratified by President Ram Nath Kovind on December 12. Opposition parties say the law is discriminatory as it singles out Muslims in an officially secular nation of 1.3 billion people. Muslims form nearly 15 percent of the population. Critics point out that the move is part of a Hindu supremacist agenda pushed by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since it came to power nearly six years ago. Numerous protests were undertaken against the bill with many students taking action especially at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University. Social media has been rife with videos of baton wielding police officers and other closed individuals violently beating men, women and children.