BREAKING: This morning, right-wing Hindu American organizations held an event on #Kashmir near the U.S. Capitol this morning without any Kashmiri Muslim speakers, instead serving as a gathering for far-right individuals and organizations.
Read more: hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/steps-…
Read more: hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/steps-…
One such speaker was Cliff Smith, Washington Project director for the Middle East Forum (MEF), a conservative think tank that has been described as “the center of the Islamophobia network” in the United States.
According to Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative, MEF and its founder Daniel Pipes “were cited numerous times in Anders Breivik’s manifesto detailing the far-right mass murderer’s motivations for his July 2011 attack that resulted in the death of more than 70 Norwegians.”
These far-right connections extended to some of the event attendees as well. One notable individual who had registered for the event was Krishna Gudipati - one of the rioters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021 who notoriously waved an Indian flag at the riot.
This isn’t the first time that the VHPA has hosted speakers with a history of anti-democratic and anti-Muslim views. In April 2021, the VHPA announced a series of virtual events featuring Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati...
... a hate-mongering Hindu extremist leader in India who has called for the “eradication” of Islam and Muslims in India. Within two days of our public petition and awareness campaign, the VHPA cancelled their virtual events with him.
hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/for-im…
hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/for-im…
This event was titled “Kashmir: Moving Forward in a Dangerous Region.” How did the event organizers hope to “move forward” without the participation of Kashmir’s largest community?
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