Action Alerts
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The
Rediff Special Report A spokesman of the US embassy in New Delhi said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been denied a diplomatic visa and his tourist/business visa already granted had been revoked as per the US Immigration and Nationality Act. Following is the text of a letter United States Congressman from Pennsylvania Joe Pitts and 21 other US Congressmen sent Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice requesting that Modi be denied permission to enter the US 'due to numerous reports of his involvement in horrific human rights violations in India.'
Published verbatim.
The
Honorable Dr Condoleezza Rice Dear Secretary Rice: We are writing to raise our deep concern about the upcoming visit of Mr Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat, India. As you may know, Mr Modi has been invited to be the chief guest at the annual conference of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association to be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from March 24-26, 2005. We respectfully request that the US government deny Mr Modi entry to the United States due to numerous reports of his involvement in horrific human rights violations in India.
As you may know, Mr Modi was the Chief Minister of
Gujarat during the 2002 riots in which over 2,000 Indian Muslims and
non-Hindus lost their lives. Since that time, reports suggest that
over 100,000 people remain displaced and are unable to return to
their homes or communities. Numerous inquiries by Indian officials
and non-government organisations have determined that the state
government in Gujarat, led by Chief Minister Modi, provided
leadership and material support for the rape and murder of over
2,000 people, including women and young children, and the
destruction of homes, businesses and resources primarily belonging
to Indian Muslims. Mr Modi made public statements and directed
official actions seemingly calculated at justifying his orders to
increase attacks on and kill religious minorities while ordering the
police not to interfere.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government have
obstructed attempts to bring the perpetrators of the 2002 violence
to justice. Mr Modi and his administration closed the files on over
2,000 police cases where the non-Hindu victims filed reports of
rapes, killings and destruction of their property. The Gujarat state
administration claimed there was no evidence to prosecute those
cases. However, most of the people named in cases against the police
are associated with Mr Modi's political party.
Furthermore, the US State Department has discussed in
one of its reports the role of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his
government in promoting attitudes of racial supremacy, racial hatred
and the legacy of Nazism through his government's support of school
textbooks in which Nazism is condoned.
In addition to his reported culpability in the
Gujarat riots and his promotion of racist ideology, there are
widespread reports of Mr Modi's leadership of the harassment of
Christian religious and educational organizations over a number of
years. Further, on a daily basis Chief Minister Modi and his
government actively harass Christian leaders and Christian religious
organizations who are involved in the relief and rehabilitation work
of the victims of violence by extremist Hindus. Thank you for your attention to this serious matter. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, |