DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: Human rights advocates are criticizing the United States for ignoring India’s rights abuses against Muslims and in occupied Kashmir as Washington and New Delhi forge stronger diplomatic and military ties aimed at neutralizing China’s growing influence in the region, according to a media report.
Citing officials, The New York Times said in a dispatch that as Washington and Delhi were strengthening ties,India’s recent border dispute with China has “accelerated relations between the countries”.
“Both the U.S. and India have recognized the importance of the other,” Nisha Biswal, a former American US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, was quoted as saying. Ms. Biswal, who is of Indian origin, said New Delhi was “looking for like-minded strategic and security partners”, especially in the wake of the India-China conflict in June.
“But”, the Times said, “social justice advocates worry that the Trump administration is turning a blind eye to India’s rights abuses against Muslims under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prioritizing military and geopolitical alliances over all else.”
“They are warming relations under the same banner,” Wasim Dar, who campaigns for rights of Kashmiri people, told the New York Times. “They’re prioritizing military, or hegemony, over any kind of human rights or political freedom,” he added.
Noting that the United States and India have increasingly soured on China in recent years, the newspaper said.
