Sameera Fazili, who is of Kashmiri descent, now holds important government positions in the United States. She was appointed deputy director of the White House National Economic Council (NEC) by Joe Biden. Diplomatic experts believe that she is going to play an important role in India-US bilateral relations in the coming days.
Sameera’s father Yusuf Fazili and mother Rafika Fazili, both lawyers and economists by profession, are both residents of Kashmir and doctors by profession. They left for America in 1970-’71. Sameera was born there. She holds degrees from Harvard and Yale Law Schools. She was also the Deputy Director of the NEC in the Barack Obama administration.
Sameera and her family are fierce critics of the central government’s Kashmir policy. On August 5, 2019, when the Modi government degraded the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, on August 7, Sameera’s brother Mubin Shah was arrested under the Public Security Act. At that time, they confirmed the release of Mubin by burning a lot of wood in Washington.
Mubin has a handicraft business in Malaysia. He returned home to Kashmir in 2019 with his wife. Coincidentally, at that time, the central government repealed Article 370 reserved for the Valley. The center detained all influential politicians and businessmen in the valley to prevent any protests. Mubin was also on that list. It is alleged that Mubin was detained without giving proper reasons.
In addition to being a member of an influential family, Mubin has led the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry more than once. He was also instrumental in initiating trade relations between India and Pakistan in 2006. Since 2019, however, all transactions between the two countries have been closed.
Sameera and Mubin’s father are two brothers. So the whole family rushed for the release of him. Sameera’s sister Yusra Fazili is a human rights lawyer by profession. He raised the issue in the US Congress in November 2019. He claimed that the family had no idea where Mubin had been taken. Everyone is wandering from one jail to another. She requested the US State Department to contact Delhi on the matter. It was later learned that he had been detained in Agra.
After that, Yusra went to the US Congress to demand Mubin’s release. “The Indian government’s treatment of Mubin is a warning to Kashmiris,” he said. Understandably, in the face of this instability, money, nobility, dignity are meaningless. ” Yusra said her grandfather was not a politician, not anti-government, not a separatist. He did not throw stones at the army on the road. Rather, his job is to provide for the Kashmiris. He asserted that his confession had been obtained through torture, and that his confession had been obtained through torture.
Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jaipal was also vocal in her demand for Mubin’s release. They were reassured by Alice Wells, the then acting assistant secretary for South and Central Asia. After that, Mubin was released on December 6. Which did not happen in the case of the others in the valley. Coincidentally, on the same day, Premila recommended to the House of Representatives that the ban be lifted in the Valley. Two days later, the Center told the Supreme Court that the public safety law had been lifted from Mubin.
In October 2020, Mubin became embroiled in a controversy over a Facebook post. A case has been filed against him in this regard, said Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singh. He also said that all the properties of Mubin will be confiscated. But so far the government has not taken any action against Mubin. Diplomatic experts believe that it is possible only because of family connection. So they are also considering the inclusion of Sameera in Biden’s government. In particular, 20 Indians were included in his government, but Biden dropped two people with links to the RSS and the BJP.