indica News Bureau-
It seems a large section of Indian-American community is not happy with the resolution of democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who has introduced a Congressional resolution on Kashmir, urging India to end the restrictions on communications in Jammu and Kashmir. Members of Indian-American community say they feel betrayed and cheated after this resolution, PTI reported.
It says that the lawmaker is “pandering” for political advantage through it.
Jayapal on Friday, Dec 6, introduced a Congressional resolution urging India to preserve religious freedom for all residents. Indian-American community has strongly supported the Democrats in past, but now they are voicing against Jayapal.
“Her resolution mocks America and interferes in a bilateral relationship between India and the US.” Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra told PTI. He said, “I look upon as Pramila Jayapal as completely unprincipled, un-American, anti-Hindu and pro-terror, who is shamelessly pandering for political advantage,”.
Quoting the American Declaration of Independence, Batra said the historic document sequentially talks about preservation of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
“She has introduced this resolution about rights,” Batra said, adding that America’s Founding Father Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that first comes the preservation of lives, then comes liberty and only when there is freedom, can there be rights.
“The (Narendra) Modi government passed the laws based on the Constitution of India. What is her problem,” he said.
Batra stressed on security and said that it is very critical for a nation to be terror free. “We need to have public safety. Only then can freedom and rights mean anything. I hope she will stop embarrassing all Americans of Indian ancestry,” he added.
Debadutta Dash, a resident of Seattle and founder and co-chair of Washington State India Trade Relations Action Committee, a non-profit advocacy group promoting trade and cultural relations between India and Washington state, also echoes Batra and expressed disagreement with the resolution brought by Jayapal and Republican Congressman Steve Watkins from Kansas.
Dash, who had voted for Jayapal when she ran for Washington State Legislature, Washington State Senate and Congress, said that Jayapal appears to have lost track and has been “misled and totally influenced” by the negative media reporting about Kashmir in mainstream American news organizations.
Dash said it is “very opportunistic and biased” for Jayapal to bring this resolution. “It is hard to understand why she is doing so, representing only a couple of people in her constituencies, undercutting” the issues of the Kashmiri Pandits.
Dash said members of the community will “definitely be very careful about who they vote for next time” because they will be watching what steps the lawmakers are taking in terms of issues like Kashmir.
“It is absolutely unfortunate. It appears that she is looking for some opportunistic career move in the Democratic Party. I’m baffled by this resolution,” he said stressing that Kashmir is India’s internal issue and the Indian government doesn’t take any action in the Indian Parliament based on what is happening in the US.
Imran Khan Niazi-narrative
Massachusetts-based Pawan Roy, a board member of several US-India focused non-profit organizations, said that “Suddenly we have this Imran Khan Niazi-narrative being played out primarily by the Democrats in the US. They are brazenly peddling the Pakistan narrative and completely ignoring the plight of Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Hindus.”
Human right debate
Vibhuti Jha, Executive Director and board member of NGO Nalanda International USA, said Jayapal is trying to sermonize the human rights challenge and suspension of communications in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Human life takes precedence over human rights. When you misrepresent a challenge as a human rights challenge, you ignore the human life challenge that India faces in that area, especially when we have a very na-pak country as our neighbor and whose Prime Minister at the UN General Assembly called for nuclear war and blood bath,” Jha said.
Jha said that Democrats such as Jayapal have no locus standi to interfere in India’s internal affairs.
He said he would appeal to Jayapal that she should not insult her “original homeland with a myopic point of view.”
