HOUSTON: A pair of Kashmiris have sued Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a US federal court ahead of his arrival in Houston, alleging his unilateral annexation on August 5 of held Kashmir caused the detention, disappearance and deaths of their loved ones amid ongoing repression, the Houston Chronicle reports.Some in the international human rights community have criticised US President Donald Trump’s silence about the upheaval in held Kashmir as well as his plan to glad hand with Modi in NRG Stadium in Houston, the report said.Human rights protesters are expected to gather outside the stadium in great numbers for a counter-event of their own.The 73-page lawsuit alleges Modi; his minister of home affairs, Amit Shah; and commander of the Indian army, Lt-Gen Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, carried out extrajudicial killings, committed wrongful death, battery, emotional distress, crimes against humanity and inflicted “cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment” upon Kashmiris during the military exercise. They say Modi and his henchmen have created a public nuisance and are guilty of negligence by not preventing the “deliberate, willful, wanton, malicious, intentional and/or oppressive” killings of Muslims in the regions of Jamuu and Kashmir.The Houston Chronicle cites reports that a number of Kashmiris have been killed since the crackdown and many have unable to get medicalattention. Furthermore Indian officials have enforced a curfew, cut off communication and access to necessities.The civil complaint accuses the Indian head of state of human rights violations under the The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, a federal statute that allows civil suits on US soil against foreign officials suspected of committing torture or extrajudicial killing.The two unnamed litigants in the Modi lawsuit are US-based Kashmiris. Their New York attorney plans to submit the case as a class action. “We want to hold a human rights violator like Modi accountable,” said Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. “He can only escape if he has been granted immunity by the US Department of State,” Pannu said. “Otherwise, the facts and the law are on the side of the victim.”A US court has asked Modi, and other members of his government to respond within 21 days to the charge that they have illegally occupied the territory of Jammu and Kashmir and are committing gross human rights violations there.
09-21-2019, 09:47 AM
Modi faces US lawsuit for rights abuses in IOK
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