India’s deliberate attempts to marginalise Muslims in India through the Kashmir lockdown and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are now noticeable by all for what they are; fascist tactics to systematically deprive a large minority group of its rights. The rest of South Asia has now joined the chorus of voices that have spoken against CAA, even leaders that were historically close to the Modi-led BJP government in India.
The latest to issue condemnations include staunch allies of India; former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Bangladesh Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina. Apart from the closeness of both states to India, the individuals coming out against the law have also had close personal relationships with PM Modi or his party, which tells us that even allies are now hard-pressed to support the Modi regime’s oppressive tactics.
Both leaders did not go all out in condemning this law; PM Shiekh Hasina even reiterated her government’s stance of this being an internal Indian matter. But what is important is that these statements have at the very least, refuted the baseless Indian arguments of needing the CAA to counter minority oppression of Hindus, Sikhs and other religions by Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan is no longer the only neighbouring Muslim country that takes issue with India’s politics of hate. To be clear, this in no way implies that Bangladesh and Afghanistan will support Pakistan in our efforts to highlight India’s oppression of Muslims internationally, but what this shows us it that the hard work being carried out by the Foreign Office and the Minister is finally reaping some fruit. Consistently bringing up the Kashmir issue wherever possible has undoubtedly helped in opening up this issue for international debate and discussion.
There is absolutely no defensible stance for what the Indian government are doing, and all those that still somehow manage to stay silent are essentially endorsing a targeted attack against a specific minority religion. This law belongs in the dustbin of history, and the Modi government has proven time and again that it is willing to exploit its position in the global community as a large trading partner to carry on violating rights with impunity. However, each statement against the CAA or the lockdown is a small victory for both the residents of Indian-Occupied Kashmir and Pakistan.