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Muslim Brotherhood-linked US Congressman laments about Kashmir

New Delhi/Washington  A US Democrat Congressman who has links with radical Islamist group Muslim Brotherhood and wants American schools to be modelled after Islamic seminaries, on Saturday bashed India over Kashmir on social media.

Andre Carson, the representative for Indiana’s seventh Congressional district tweeted, “My heart remains with the people of Kashmir during this challenging time. The draconian restrictions placed upon them by PM Modi are not only taking away their basic human rights, but also making it more difficult to protect against Covid-19. These unjust restrictions must end!”

Over 13,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and over 700 people have died due to the contagious disease in Indiana so far. The US, which is the most affected country due to the pandemic, has lost around 54,000 people due to the virus and is nearing 1 million cases who tested positive for the infection, till now.

In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is placed under the same lockdown restrictions as the rest of India, over 450 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and six people have died so far.

Carson, seemingly more worried about Kashmir, was however, called out by several Twitter users. The Congressman had courted a major controversy in 2012 when he at an Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) convention — a nonprofit group which has ties to extremist Islamist groups — said that American schools should be set up on the foundations of the Quran the way madrassas are.

According to a 2015 dossier published by Center for Security Policy, a Washington DC-based public policy group set up by former Pentagon officials and US security officials, Carson has had a “long history of associating with organizations known to be front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“The Carson-tied Muslim groups have a documented history of serving as unregistered foreign agents, engaging in material support for terrorism, and possessing direct ties to the Brotherhood’s Palestinian franchise, Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” the dossier said, adding, “his political campaign has benefited directly and financially from such entities.”

Publicly available records indicate that he received at least $33,911 in campaign donations from individuals associated with Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations over a period of several years, the dossier said.

The Center has documented his association with radical Muslim groups in the US like Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim American Society (MAS), Unites States Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), Muslim Michigan Community Council (MMCC), Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) and Egypt Freedom Foundation (EFF) — all linked to Muslim Brotherhood.