Seattle (US): Bill and Melinda Gates aren't backing down from honouring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite concerns about the alleged 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 on Monday, asking the world's largest private nonprofit not to honour Modi's Swachh Bharat Mission, a sanitation initiative that improved access to toilets.
Javed Sikander, a demonstrator in Seattle who said that 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 honour a person who is clearly committing human rights violations in India," Sikander said.
Modi's Hindu nationalist-led government presented an order in Parliament on August 5 revoking the autonomy of India's only Muslim-majority state.
It has imposed tighter controls on India's side of Kashmir, including limiting internet access, mobile and landline phones and cable TV in the disputed region home to 12.5 million people.
The Gates Foundation in a statement said that it respects the petitioners' views, but Modi will receive its annual Goalkeepers Global Goals Award for providing 500 million people in India safer sanitation.