Honoring Ajit Sahi, a Voice of Courage
By Salam Al-Marayati
MPAC President
Religious Freedom is a foundational idea which our great nation was founded upon and it’s a foundational part of the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s policy work here in Washington DC.
Sadly, right now Muslims in India are being hunted down and are mercilessly targeted. All of it being done through the Hindutva ideology and with the backing of Prime Minister Modi and the ruling party– the BJP, who recently posted on social media an image of Muslims being hanged.
Let that sink in for a moment.
This is the ruling political party that posted this.
Tragically, the story of what Muslims are facing is just not being told. The journalists who are attempting to have faced grave threats. One of those journalists is Mr Ajit Sahi. He, a Hindu, was forced to flee his homeland and move to the United States just because he was reporting on the atrocities that Muslims in India have faced. But his resolve has remained unwavering.
It is for that reason that we at MPAC hosted an award ceremony to honor his work. The award is titled The Voice of Courage and Mr Sahi’s work is the embodiment of that.
At the award dinner, we were able to bring together a diverse group of guests– Congressional staffers, executives of major policy institutions, and professionals who work on this issue each and every day.
Our dedication to supporting the bravery and courage shown by journalists in the pursuit of truth is long-standing, including recognizing and honoring Rana Ayyub who self-published “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up,” which exposed Prime Minister Modi’s ties to the mass killings of Muslims. Additionally, we posthumously honored slain Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi for continuously speaking the truth through his courageous editorials.
One of our core policy objectives is ensuring religious freedom and human rights at home and abroad. Part of that work involves meeting with members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, explaining the importance of this most basic right and insisting they take tangible action.
To increase our capacity on the specific issue of supporting Muslims in India, I’d like to share with you that we’re going to bring on a senior policy fellow. This will ensure we can create expert-level recommendations and that our voice is heard.
Muslims in India are facing unimaginable suffering and we must help. Supporting the work of journalists like Mr Ajit Sahi and hiring a dedicated member to our DC policy who will work exclusively on this issue is how we’re doing it.
Thank you for your support, it allows us to carry out this important mission and continue to represent the voice of our community.
