{"id":68625,"date":"2019-09-25T17:12:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T11:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=68625"},"modified":"2020-11-02T12:29:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T06:59:28","slug":"sabah-hamid-resigns-gates-foundation-protest-global-goalkeeper-award-conferred-pm-modi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/world-news\/sabah-hamid-resigns-gates-foundation-protest-global-goalkeeper-award-conferred-pm-modi\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabah Hamid resigns from Gates Foundation in protest against Global goalkeeper Award conferred to PM Modi"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Sabah Hamid, Communications specialist at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation resigned on Tuesday, September 24, in protest against the organisation\u2019s decision to honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Global Goalkeeper Award for the Swachh Bharat Mission, reported TRT World, a Turkish international news channel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sabah Hamid said it was a grave error to honour Modi at a time when Modi has imposed restrictions on communications and movement in Kashmir.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince the foundation seemed set on its course of action to go ahead with the award \u2013 which as a private foundation it is entitled to \u2013 I could do just one thing: leave,\u201d Hamid told TRT World. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, any organisation that works to improve the lives of the vulnerable, and to reduce inequality in the world, should not honour a person whose decisions inflict irreversible harm on the vulnerable and whose reign has increased inequality in an already unequal country manifold.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hamid, who has been affiliated to the Gates Foundation for three and a half years, said that being a Kashmiri made her decision a personal one. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Kashmiri makes it personal. Eight million of my people have been under an undeclared curfew for 50 days now, with minimal access to medical care, and there is a humanitarian crisis underway in the valley.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Modi-led government has not only designed and implemented this crisis, their untruths and the complicity of a large part of the media means they are also trying to hijack the narrative,\u201d she added. \u201cBeing feted at large international gatherings, and winning awards plays right into that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Not just because of the occupation in Kashmir, but for what the Modi regime is responsible for in India itself \u2013 the lynching of Dalits, Christians and Muslims, the NRC in Assam (and potentially elsewhere), the 2002 Gujarat pogrom \u2013 any of these even by itself should be the reason enough,\u201d she said stating her other reasons in quitting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had no choice but to protest, and it was the only honest way I could express by protest,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ever since the foundation decided to honour Modi for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, several public figures have opposed it, citing alleged human rights violations against minorities in India and the security clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also Read: Global Goalkeeper Award conferred to PM Modi for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Three Nobel laureates \u2013 Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi, Northern Irish peace activist Mairead Maguire and Yemini journalist Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Karman and a group of civil societies including one that partners Goalkeepers Youth Action Accelerator wrote open letters asking the foundation to reconsider the decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gates Cambridge scholars and alumni also said that the decision to reward Modi \u201cwhile ignoring the gross violation of human rights under his regime is reprehensible\u201d. An online petition seeking a revocation of the award has more than 100,000 signatures.<\/span><\/p>\n

British Asian actors Jameela Jamil and Riz Ahmed scheduled to be present at the ceremony also pulled out of the ceremony after the Indian government\u2019s actions in Kashmir, though they have not publicly admitted the reason for doing so. The foundation also confirmed that two participants had pulled out of the award ceremony, though the reason is not clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Renowned feminist author and activist Gloria Steinem and noted philosopher Akeel Bilgrami co-authored an article in the Guardian on Tuesday, September 24, saying that the award highlighted \u201cthe collapse of any sense of international political morality\u201d. \u201c\u2026the Gates Foundation\u2019s award to Modi for starting a sanitation scheme in India seems rather like giving a prize to Mussolini for making the trains run on time,\u201d they said.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Gates Foundation said it respects the petitioners\u2019 views, but Modi would receive the award for providing 500 million people in India safer sanitation. \u201cWe work on the specific issues where we believe we can have the greatest impact for the world\u2019s poorest,\u201d the foundation said.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"