 Print
Canadian Parliament’s Moral Clarity on Uighurs, but not Kashmir
3-24-2021
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Not very much so for the Canadian parliamentarians. In February 2021 the Canadian parliament unanimously – well almost unanimously, minus the Trudeau cabinet, 266-0 – declared China’s treatment of Uighur minority as genocide. What about India’s treatment of Kashmiris by the Indian government?
We commend the Canadian parliamentarians for finally speaking out on atrocities committed by large authorial governments against minorities in a “non-binding” Conservative motion. However, as parliamentarians they also need to remain even-handed and fair to everyone. The Canadian parliamentarians are going to take a stand for one minority in another country than they should do the same for another oppressed minority group in another country.
At a press conference “Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said the evidence of China's crimes is overwhelming. He cited survivor testimony, satellite images, video, documents and media reports from major U.S. and international news outlets.” Reported CBC, "Today is a time for moral clarity," said Chong. "We can no longer ignore this. We must call it for what it is — a genocide."
We believe, the atrocities committed by the Indian government on Kashmiris also deserves equal level of “moral clarity” as it did for the Uighurs.
Most recently, the Indian government have openly admitted on an eighteen month “security lockdown and communication blackout” of entire Kashmiri population in an Indian Occupied Kashmir from August 5, 2019 until February 5, 2021, shortly after India revoked Article 370, stripping Kashmiris of their longstanding rights, which prevented non-Kashmiris to own land in Kashmir, and importantly, against multiple UN resolutions.
It was only after Pakistan who lodged complaint and drew other nations attention to the Indian atrocities against Kashmiris, that India finally caved in and “on 5 February 2021, Jammu and Kashmir's Principal Secretary of Power and Information, Rohit Kansal, announced that 4G internet services would be restored in the entire union territory. Subsequently, the ban of 4G and 3G services ended.”
Although US, China, Turkey, UAE, and Iran did register their protests in support of Pakistan’s complaint. The rest of the world, including Canada remained silent.
We have a reason to raise the eyebrow on current move by the Canadian parliamentarians. Do they really believe in this “moral clarity” or is it just theatrics as the federal parliamentarians position themselves for the next federal elections?
In addition, what weight does it carry when the entire Trudeau cabinet, i.e. “The Government” did not attend the session. Mr. Marc Garneau was the only cabinet minister who was present, and at his turn stated, abstained “on behalf of the Government of Canada.”
So, this apparently “loud and clear message” on having “moral clarity” is neither “loud” nor “clear” and let’s not get nitty gritty about politicians’ definition and understanding of “morality.”
One of the best online commentary about Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet abstaining on such an important motion could be read at tfiglobalnews.com, “You need no adjectives to describe the Canadian Prime Minister. Justin Trudeau is himself an adjective that illustrates hypocrisy of the highest order. And Trudeau has pulled a Trudeau all over again.”
The website further questioned, a valid one to say the least, “So, why did Trudeau, the global champion of human rights and the omnipotent opponent of arbitrary State action, choose to abstain when it came to condemning China’s genocide against Uighur Muslims? And the Trudeau cabinet decided to abstain even though all other members of the ruling Liberal Party of Canada, except one Marc Garneau, voted in favour of the motion.”
What is even more confusing that Prime Minister Trudeau despite the motion being passed by the Parliament unanimously, including Liberal backbenchers support, the PM refuses to condemn China’s Uighurs genocide. “When it comes to the application of the very specific word genocide, we simply need to ensure that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed before a determination like that is made,” Trudeau said, according to the Associated Press, which also noted that Trudeau called genocide a “loaded term.”
Despite all evidence, data and intelligence gathering by many western nations, and declared genocide by US and including Canada, where “Last fall, a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee, which heard directly from camp survivors, declared China’s actions constitute genocide as laid out in the Genocide Convention. China dismissed the conclusion as “baseless.”
“The convention notes that, beyond killing specific members of a group, genocide includes “imposing measures intended to prevent births” with the intent to “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
PM Trudeau continues to skate around this issue and calling spade a spade. “That’s why it is a word that is extremely loaded and is certainly something that we should be looking at in the case of the Uighurs,” he said, adding Canada is among the countries still examining alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province.”
“We will continue to work with the international community and move forward on making the right determinations based on facts and evidence as appropriate,” he said.
It does make us wonder about PM Trudeau’s commitment to “Human Rights.” Talk is cheap. Look like he can talk the talk, but certainly he cannot walk the walk, whether its atrocities against Uighurs or Kashmiris by authoritarian and fascist regime. I guess it all boils down to his vote base here in Canada which he does not wish to upset of course or else.
Its about time the Prime Minister Trudeau stop riding two horses and decide which horse he wants to ride – the diplomatic politician who weighs out everything and does not jump the guns, always keeping an eye on his vote bank, or humanistic, caring individual he portrays himself to be to the world.
The choice is certainly his. It may have worked the first time around but the onion is peeling layer by layer and its bringing tears to everyone’s eyes.
Footnotes:
|