GLOBAL INDIANS… As Kashmiri separatists request release, Pak using Houston mosques against “Howdy Modi”
Seeing no light at the end of the tunnel, several Kashimiri separatist leaders, including Hurriat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are melting down. They have signed bonds to secure their release from jail and promising not to indulge in political activities. It may lead to similar conditional release of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, his son Umar and Mehbooba Mufti, among others. They have all lost reasons to be in dynastic and separatist politics any longer!
But Pakistan has again failed to see writings on the wall and resorting to petty politics.
After its attempts to rake up the Jammu and Kashmir issue internationally collapsed miserably, Pakistan, still smarting under all-round opprobrium, is now reduced to do what it does best: using mosques to motivate militants to make them terror-ready, as it did in Kashmir Valley over the last three decades where sponsored clergy’s political sermons from mosques claimed more than 40,000 innocent lives.
This time, Pakistan has ganged up militant Muslims in Houston, USA, to fan them out from as many as 13 mosques, madrasas and “Islamic” centers in the fourth largest city of America to protest against India’s much-supported revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution which ended the “special status” of J&K in August. Countries across the world, including the Muslims’, have supported India’s move, to the chagrin of Islamabad.
On September 22, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share stage with US President Donald Trump in a mega-event “Howdy Modi” in Houston, under the auspices of over 60 organizations of Indian-Americans with whom he will interact.
Sensing this as an ‘opportunity’ to score brownie points and take their protest beyond a peaceful J&K, Pakistan has enrolled mosques, madrasas and other Islamic institutions to herd sponsored protesters to march to the venue of the event, NRG Stadium, on September 22.
In this “mass protest” against #HowdyModi, the organizers have crafted their own #StopTheBus campaign to onboard protesters amid a twitter warfare. “Mosques are not simple places of worship. They are the places of coordination and control of #StopTheBus, Katie Hopkins of Britain, tweeted.
That the “campaign” is Pakistan-sponsored is clear because hardly any Muslims from other countries have responded to it.
And who is organizing this protest? The so-called International Humanitarian Foundation, Inc. (IHF), acting almost as the Voice of Pakistan Government in America. It has virtually imported and put up posters proclaiming “8 Million Kashmiris Under Siege”, “Stop Genocide in Kashmir” and “Support Democratic Values, Say No To Modi’s Visit”. Its Facebook page is also straight from Pakistan, sharing the propaganda unleashed by Islamabad since August 5, around the theme: “Stop Modi, Free Kashmir, Save India!”
See an appeal by IHF:
“Join us for a peaceful protest in front of the NRG Stadium on Sunday, September 22, 2019, at 9 a.m., when the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will conduct a summit with Indian-American community members. Prime Minister Modi and his administration have been responsible for flagrant human rights violations and lynching/killing of minorities in India. Let’s raise our voices for the victims of this humanitarian crisis and hold the Indian government to the highest ethical standards.
“Buses are available to transport protesters from multiple locations throughout greater Houston. You may reserve a seat for yourself or a group. If you will arrange your own transportation, select the “No Transportation Needed” ticket.
“PLEASE NOTE: IHF will keep your name and contact information private. However, if you have a grave concern about security, you may use a pseudonym or just your first name and an initial for the last name (it doesn’t need to be the actual first initial of your last name).”
So here is an organization espousing democracy but promising confidentiality to the armchair ‘warriors’ to keep their identities under wraps!
And where is the IHF arranging buses to pick up the protesters?
These are mosques, madarsas and other Islamic institutions in Houston:
- Masjid Abubakr, 8830, Galveston Road, Houston;
- Maryam Islamic Center, 504, Sartartia Road;
- Masjid Al-Taqwa, 10415,Synot Road, Sugarland;
- Masjid Hamza, Mission Bend Islamic Center, 6233 Tres Lagunas Dr;
- Bear Creek Islamic Center (BCIC), Masjid Al Mustafa, 17250 Coventry Park Dr
- The Woodlands Mosque, 15217 Sunset Trail, The Woodlands;
- Islamic Center of Baytown, 4000 Emmet Hutto Boulevard, Baytown;
- MAS Katy Center, 1800 Baker Road;
- Madrasah Islamiah, 6665Bintiff Dr
- Al Noor Society of Houston, 443 Prestwood Dr;
- Islamic Education Center (IES), 2313 S Voss Rd;
- Pearland Islamic Center, 1530, Garden Rd, Pearland and
- Masjid Al Salam, 16700Old Louetta Rd, Spring.
A blank and broke Pakistan no more needs enemies; it is self-sustaining in this respect!
