As India continues to push to the wall its minorities, national and regional identities by crushing their rights and reducing the space for co-existence, taking the mantle of being the voice of the Sikhs, the Sikh political body -Dal Khalsa has urged the US President Donald Trump embarking on a trip to India to teach them how to deal with rights issues and debunk India’s hollow argument of treating all international obligations as India’s internal matter only.

SEEKING A PRO-ACTIVE ROLE FOR THE US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, during his visit to India, Dal Khalsa, in a communique through the office of the US Ambassador to India, has made a fervent appeal to the United States to debunk India’s hollow arguments that whatever it does to its minorities, nationalities and regional identities is its internal matter.

Hitting out at India’s march to become a Hindu country, Dal Khalsa cautioned the visiting US President about the BJP’s march towards Hindu India being a direct threat to our identity and existence. “If not stopped, it would lead to dangerous repercussions, urged Dal Khalsa.

Narrating the tale of woes that plagues India today, Dal Khalsa has lamented saying, “You arrive in India at a very crucial juncture in this country’s contemporary history. Civil society, the concerned citizenry of the country along with national identities -Kashmiris, Sikhs and Nagas keenly watch the kind of pressure that the United States of America will exert on India to ensure respect for human rights and acceptance of the right to self-rule through the right to self-determination.”

“Things have reached a pass where the Indian administration and the executive have turned bigots and the judiciary and the army play a clear subservient role to the executive, creating a dangerous paradigm for the survival of democracy and peoples’ rights, read the letter.

“You arrive in India at a very crucial juncture in this country’s contemporary history. Civil society, the concerned citizenry of the country along with national identities -Kashmiris, Sikhs and Nagas keenly watch the kind of pressure that the United States of America will exert on India to ensure respect for human rights and acceptance of the right to self-rule through the right to self-determination.”

The United States cannot afford to ignore “the widespread public outcry across the spectrum against the divisive and discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act -CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens -NRC purports increasingly difficult and dangerous times for all minorities and nationalities.

Urging President Trump to exert pressure on India to ensure respect for human rights of struggling nationalities and acceptance of their right to sovereign self-rule through the right to self-determination, Dal Khalsa said that the President’s friendship with Indian Prime Minister should go beyond the personal domain.

“The Modi dispensation was using the state’s full might to spread terror on university students, scholars and dissenters while showing its timid “Gandhian face” to the international community.

Sharing the thrust of his missive, party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh shared, “As you would be descending on Indian soil, your friend Narendra Modi and his party -Bharatiya Janata Party -continues its march against minorities and nationalities.”

The turmoil in Kashmir was paramount in the letter to the US President with Dal Khalsa pointing out that, “the Indian Parliament stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomous status and amending Citizenship laws to exclude Muslims” has drastically curtailed rights in the region.  The Dal Khalsa spokesperson stated, “In India, the anti-Pakistan, anti-Muslim and anti-minority euphoria was on full swing to polarize society on communal lines.”

“We believe as a leader of the world; the US cannot afford to take sides. Mr President your photo opportunities with Narendra Modi were being exploited by India to continue the subjugation of a large section of Indian society and repression against Kashmiris in particular”, reads the letter.

The Dal Khalsa letter listed that, “the statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on February 19, stating that there was a “risk of statelessness for two million Muslims excluded by the divisive Citizenship (Amendment) Act” is living proof of how India is maltreating its minorities. The detention and deportation of British MP Debbie Abrahams, who is a vocal critic of New Delhi’s handling of Kashmir dispute is another proof of India’s intolerance and arrogance towards criticism.”

Referring to Washington’s huge trade interests with New Delhi, he said even if the United States takes the only-trade argument, India on the brink of economic and political disaster does not augur well for the growth of trade and prosperity.

“We believe as a leader of the world; the US cannot afford to take sides. Mr President your photo opportunities with Narendra Modi were being exploited by India to continue the subjugation of a large section of Indian society and repression against Kashmiris in particular”

While the Narendra Modi sponsored thousands may gather to welcome Donald Trump in a quid pro quo for the thousands gathered by him during Narendra Modi’s visit to India, Dal Khalsa said that it stood for a peaceful resolution of the political conflict and turmoil in Kashmir, Punjab and the Northeast, for which the United States must positively and urgently intervene to bring about an amicable engagement between these identities, the government of India and the United Nations to satisfy the political aspirations of the people.

Responding to a query at the press meet, the Dal Khalsa leader said when the US is talking with Afghan Taliban to restore peace in the region, why is the Indian state stubborn enough not to talk with struggling nationalities. He chided the Indian leadership by saying, “leave alone talking to dissenters and leadership of nationalities, they do not have the will and heart to talk to the women protestors at Shaheen Bagh in the heart of Delhi.”

President Trump and Narendra Modi Photo, courtesy: Rapidleaks