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Indian Muslims praying together. India’s Supreme Court is investigating the case of calls by Hindu religious leaders to commit genocide against Muslims. Photo/REUTERS
Gregory Stanton, founder and director of Genocide Watch, said during a US Congressional briefing there were “signs and processes” of genocide in the Indian state of Assam, India and the Indian-administered Kashmir region.
Also read: Calls for Muslim Genocide by Hindu Leaders Disturb, Indian Supreme Court Steps In
“We warn that genocide could happen in India,” Stanton said Al Jazeera, Monday (17/1/2022).
He speaks on behalf of the non-governmental organization he launched in 1999 to predict, prevent, stop, and hold accountable these crimes.
Stanton said genocide was not an event but a process and drew parallels between the policies pursued by Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and the Myanmar government’s discriminatory policies against Rohingya Muslims in 2017.
Among the policies he cited were the revocation of the special autonomy status of Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019 – revoking Kashmir’s seven decades of special autonomy – and the Citizenship Amendment Act the same year, which grants citizenship to religious minorities but excludes Muslims. .
Stanton, a former lecturer in genocide and prevention studies at George Mason University in Virginia, said he feared a similar scenario with Myanmar, where Rohingya are first legally declared non-citizens and then driven out through violence and genocide.
“What we’re dealing with right now is a very similar kind of plot,” he said.
Stanton said the Hindutva ideology was against India’s history and India’s constitution and called Modi an extremist who had taken over the government.
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