"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Monday, August 17, 2015

WHY MUST INDIA'S PRIME MINISTER VISIT UAE?

The current premier of India, Narendra Modi, paid a visit to the UAE, all for the sake of trade relations:
India's prime minister began a two-day tour of the United Arab Emirates with a visit to its largest mosque on Sunday in a gesture of outreach to Muslims ahead of a planned speech to tens of thousands of Indian expatriates and bilateral meetings aimed at improving already strong trade links.

Narendra Modi is the first Indian premier to visit the country in 34 years. He will hold talks on Monday with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who greeted Modi at the airport, and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Modi, who has come under fire for his party's links to hard-line Hindu groups, kicked off his visit with a tour of Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Modi, a Hindu like most of India's 1.2 billion people, has long had an uneasy relationship with his country's roughly 120 million Muslims. His nationalist Hindu party swept elections and he was sworn in as prime minister in May of last year.

Modi also visited the grave of the UAE's founder Sheikh Zayed, who is buried in the mosque compound. Dozens of Indians gathered at the gates of the mosque to catch a glimpse of the prime minister, who took a selfie with two Emirati officials outside the mosque and posted the picture on his Twitter account.
Boy, for somebody said to have an uneasy relationship, he's not making things any better by supporting the UAE and approving of fellow Indians going to work in an area known for abuse of its employees, as told in the following:
However, half of the 2.6 million Indians living in the UAE are migrant workers, according to the Indian Embassy. Many work in lower paying construction jobs, building the UAE's dazzling skyscrapers and shopping centers.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have criticized the UAE's treatment of migrant workers, saying that despite government efforts, some employers continue to withhold wages, confiscate passports and provide substandard housing.
All of which will probably be ignored by the Indian premier, I sadly guess. What he should be doing is helping any innocent soul who's been abused by the Islamofacists in the UAE to escape from such a repellent predicament. But that's probably not going to happen.

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