"if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen
the side of the oppressor." - Desmond Tutu.

IAPI honoured for standing up against repression

 

Canada-based Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), established in response to growing attacks on religious minorities and political dissidents under a right wing Hindu nationalist BJP government in India, was honoured in absentia at a public event held in Ludhiana on Sunday, February 9. 

A Punjabi media outlet Suhi Saver, that covers alternative politics, presented a plaque to the organization during their annual event. 

The award was received by social justice activist Buta Singh on behalf of the group whose members could not make it.

Singh is an ally of IAPI and was instrumental behind the drafting of the policy paper of the organization that continues to raise its voice against repression and state violence in India ever since BJP came to power in 2014. However, IAPI is equally critical of other parties that indulge in majoritarianism and try to stifle freedom and democracy. It's members have also been raising voices against racism in Canada.   

Suhi Saver also announced a monetary award to IAPI. The group unanimously declined the award, but decided to double the figure and donate the entire amount to student union leader Aishe Ghosh of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi who was recently assaulted by supporters of the ruling BJP. 

IAPI had resolved to extend its solidarity with Ghosh and her outfit to send a strong message to the apologists of the Indian government. 

The student unions, owing to affiliation with the left parties, are under constant attack by the right wing goons.  

In the meantime, Suhi Saver also honoured a brave Kashmiri journalist Jalil Rathore on the occasion. 

Kashmir has been under lockdown since August 5. The Indian authorities have suspended civil liberties in Kashmir on the pretext of fighting a war on terror to suppress the ongoing struggle for the right to self determination in the disputed territory. 

Rathore is the first Kashmiri journalist to travel outside the region to shed light on the current state of affairs in his home state, where media is not being allowed by the government to function freely. 

 

***    

Rate this item
(0 votes)
Super User

Gurpreet Singh

Cofounder and Director of Radical Desi

https://twitter.com/desi_radical?lang=en

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.