Kashmiri Muslims group in South Africa tried to get PM Modi arrested, and they failed

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in South Africa to attend the 10^th ongoing BRICS summit. Before the summit, few Kashmiri Islamists tried desperately to get PM Modi arrested. According to IOL, the South African Kashmiri Action Group and the Muslim Lawyers’ Association demanded the investigation, arrest and prosecution of PM Modi over his governance of Jammu and Kashmir. Their baseless allegations were based on an equally baseless report prepared by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The report alleged human rights violations in Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Indian government had strongly reacted to this absurd and biased report published by the UNHRC and also termed it as a selective “compilation of largely unverified information.” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had questioned the intent behind the publication of this report by the UN, “India rejects the report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated,” he added that the report violated “India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” 

Many organizations questioned the credibility of the report released by the UNHCR. European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), a European think tank, has questioned the credibility and neutrality of a recent report on Kashmir prepared and published by High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. Al Hussein was recently photographed with members of the Hurriyat Conference as well as the ISI. 

During the ‘General debate on the overall update of the High Commissioner on the situation of Human Rights worldwide and on the activities of his office’ at the Human Rights Council, India found welcome support against the UNHRC report on Kashmir. When the report was discussed, a total of six countries rejected the report authored by Zeid Raad Al Hussein.

A legal representative of South African groups which pitched the demand for the arrest and prosecution of PM Modi, Yousha Tayob, said, “It is simply unthinkable that Modi could be invited to this country and enjoy immunity.” He also claimed, “We believe there is sufficient evidence for Modi’s arrest.” Yousha Tayob also said that National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had jurisdiction on several grounds to prosecute Modi, which included the country’s constitution and directives on case law from the Geneva Convention and Nuremberg trials pertaining to war crimes.

However, their attempt has fallen flat when four Muslim organizations, apparently in a charge led by the Muslim Judicial Council in a press release said, “the Muslim community of South Africa joins fellow South Africans in welcoming the arrival of the BRICS delegates to our shores and our country”, as reported by Daily Maverick. The statement further added, “We are fully committed to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment initiative to build an economic powerhouse in the southern tip of Africa that will spill over into the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.”

Earlier, NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku also said: “After evaluating the evidential material, information received and the applicable law, the NPA decided there was inadequate evidence to sustain a successful prosecution and to support an application for a warrant of arrest. The NPA thus declines to obtain a warrant of arrest for the prime minister of India.”

Daily Maverick further reported that in order to save the summit, Energy Minister of South Africa Jeff Radebe travelled to India to clear the dust and make things normal again. He informed the Indian authorities about NPA’s decision to not to arrest and prosecute PM Modi. A South African government official had said, “All the heads of state of the BRICS countries always attend the summits, and if Modi didn’t come, it would have been an embarrassment.”

According to the reports, Muslim groups also tried to get arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping.