KUALA LUMPUR (DNA) – Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisation (MAPIM) has strongly condemned receiving of the United Arab Emirates’ highest civilian award by India’s Narendra Modi while committing gross human rights’ violations against Muslims in occupied Kashmir.

The MAPIM, in a statement issued in Kuala Lumpur, stated, “We register our disgust and abhorrence to India’s Narendra Modi receiving the UAE honour.

It is outrageous and shameful for the UAE to honour Modi the highest civilian medal knowing very well the world is equating Modi as an oppressor of minority communities in India.”

“The UAE is blinded by the economic gains it anticipates to derive with India while Modi has his hands full of blood from his victims of massacre in Gujarat and Kashmir,” the statement said.

“It is only recently that the world was shocked by the annexation of Kashmir by India when it decided to strike out the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, stripping Kashmir of its special status.”

The organisation further stated, the UAE’s decision reflects its non-concern on the violation of human rights and the international law. “Even worst, it does not seem to care the lives of Muslims persecuted under the Modi’s administration.”

“The fact that India is working closely with Israel and sharing the Zionist experience in dealing with Palestine, honouring the award to Modi reflects how the UAE is cutting off itself away from the sentiments of the Muslim ummah,” the statement deplored.

“We are outraged over the Indian government’s clampdown on the Muslim-majority Kashmir region occupied by New Delhi. UAE is now openly accepting and honouring a criminal.”

“If anything what Modi deserves is to be tried for crimes against humanity in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom which killed around 2,000 people, majority of whom are Muslims.”

“The UAE is in actual fact awarding Modi for the genocide and human rights abuses he is continuing to execute in his Hindu supremacy agenda (Hindutva),” the MAPIM stated while urging Muslim nations to prioritise their agenda to protect the lives of Muslims under oppression in the various conflicts around the world including Kashmir.

The statement maintained that Modi had shown glaring disregard for human rights. “His government imposed tight security restrictions in Indian-occupied Kashmir. As a result, Modi has the free will to annex Kashmir with impunity and deployed thousands of troops to the region, now numbering almost a million.”

“We are enraged, although Modi’s decision affects Muslims living in Indian-occupied Kashmir, the move has drawn a largely muted response from Gulf Arab nations,” the MAPIM said. It added Kashmir was not an internal affair of India, as described by the UAE ambassador to India.