ISLAMABAD – Indian PM Narendra Modi is likely to be given court summons andprocess servers before he leaves the “Howdy Modi” event at NRG Stadium onSundaylink.If that doesn’t work team will try again in New York when Modi visits anawards ceremony at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or during hisscheduled visit to see statutes of Mahatma Gandhi.
A pair of Kashmiri citizens sued the prime minister of India in federalcourt Thursday ahead of his much-anticipated arrival in Houston, allegingthat his unilateral annexation Aug. 5 of their homeland caused thedetention, disappearance and deaths of their loved ones amid ongoingrepression, Houston Chronicle has reported.
The region, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been a subject offevered dispute between India and Pakistan since partition in 1947. InAugust, Modi withdrew Kashmir’s special status, a radical shift thatintensified conflict in the Muslim-majority state and heightened tensionswith Pakistan. The group behind the lawsuit says the annexation violatedinternational law.
During the G7 Summit, Modi declined President Donald Trump’s offer tomediate a settlement between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region.Some in the international human rights community have criticized Trump’ssilence about the Kashmir upheaval as well as the president’s plan to gladhand with him in NRG Stadium in Houston.
Human rights protesters are expected to gather outside the stadium in greatnumbers for a counter-event of their own.
The 73-page lawsuit alleges Modi; his minister of home affairs, Amit Shah;and commander of the Indian army, Lt. General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon,carried out extrajudicial killings, committed wrongful death, battery,emotional distress, crimes against humanity and inflicted “cruel, inhuman,degrading treatment or punishment” upon Kashmiris during the militaryexercise. They say Modi and his henchmen have created a public nuisance andare guilty of negligence by not preventing the “deliberate, willful,wanton, malicious, intentional and/or oppressive” killings of Muslims inthe regions of Jamuu and Kashmir.
A number of Kashmiris have been killed since the crackdown and many haveunable to get medical attention, according to news reports. Indianofficials have enforced a curfew, cut off communication and access tonecessities, according to reports.
The civil complaint accuses the Indian head of state of human rightsviolations under the The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, a federalstatute that allows civil suits on U.S. soil against foreign officialssuspected of committing torture or extrajudicial killing.
The act was first used the following year by Sister Dianna Ortiz, who sueda the defense minister of Guatemala, Hector Gramajo for her abduction,rape, and torture by military forces. A federal court in Massachusettsawarded her $5 million in damages.
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The two unnamed litigants in the Modi lawsuit are U.S. based Kashmiris.Their New York attorney, from an organization called the Kashmir KhalistanReferendum Front, plans to submit the case as a class action.
“We want to hold a human rights violator like Modi accountable,” saidGurpatwant Singh Pannu, whose group is focused on a right to selfdetermination campaign for the state of Punjab. Since the annexation thissummer the campaign has been advocating on behalf of the people of Kashmir.
“He can only escape if he has been granted immunity by the U.S. Departmentof State,” Pannu said. “Otherwise, the facts and the law are on the side ofthe victim.”
Pannu said Modi and the two other officials do not enjoy an automaticimmunity. The U.S. State Department typically intervenes in such cases toask the judge to grant officials immunity from civil lawsuits.
Pannu said he is working with process servers to deliver Modi the courtsummons before he leaves the “Howdy Modi” event at NRG Stadium on Sundaylink.If that doesn’t work Pannu’s team will try again in New York when Modivisits an awards ceremony at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or duringhis scheduled visit to see statutes of Mahatma Gandhi.
*Gabrielle Banks covers federal court for the Houston Chronicle. Follow heron Twitter link and send her tips atgabrielle.banks@chron.com .*
*gabrielle.banks@chron.com
