Gates Foundation to honor India's Modi despite concerns about Kashmir
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation isn’t backing down from honoring India Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite concerns about human-rights abuses in the disputed Kashmir region.
A dozen people, some wearing “Free Kashmir” T-shirts, with the Justice For All coalition delivered 100,000 petition signatures to the Gates Foundation’s Seattle headquarters Monday, asking the world’s largest private nonprofit not to honor Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission, a sanitation initiative that improved access to toilets.
Javed Sikander, a demonstrator in Seattle who said he is a former Microsoft employee, spoke of his admiration for the Microsoft co-founder, calling Bill Gates and his namesake foundation an inspiration.
“That is all the more reason we’re so disappointed that the foundation would honor a person who is clearly committing human-rights violations in India,” Sikander said.
Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/gates-foundation-to-honor-india-pm-narendra-modi-despite-concerns/