South Asians in US bat for bashed aide of Hillary Clinton

Rallying behind Huma Abedin, South Asian Americans have slammed a Hindu American Republican group to malign and attack the close aide of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her ethnicity and religion.

“Condemning anyone simply because of their religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation is against the pluralistic ethos of Hinduism and has no place in a democracy,” said Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, a top US body being run by second generation Hindu Americans.

“This needs to be opposed by all South Asians,” said Rajwant Singh, a Sikh American as he slammed a television commercial produced by Republican Hindu Coalition.

“Her (Clinton’s) current aide Huma Abedin is of Pakistani origin and will become chief of staff if she wins. Her husband Bill Clinton wants to give Kashmir to Pakistan. Vote Republican — great for you, great for US-Indian relations and great for America,” the video advertisement said.

“The current attack on Huma and tying her emails to Hillary is a destructive and vile move of Donald Trump, who is targeting her because she is a woman, she is an immigrant and she is a Muslim,” said Kaleem Khwaja, executive director of the Association of Indian Muslims of America.