India must stop harassing Amnesty International.
We express our deep concern on the Amnesty International India who says it has been forced to halt its India operations due to “reprisals” from the government.
The watchdog has accused the government of indulging in a “witch-hunt of human rights organisations”.
This is unwarranted and shows the high handedness of the Indian authorities in dealing with the watchdog which is trying to investigate the Delhi riot.
We are perplexed by the report of the freezing of the Amnesty account which lead to the lay off staff in the country, and suspend all its campaign and research work.
“Amnesty International India claimed it has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner,” Rajat Khosla, the group’s senior director of research, advocacy and policy, told the BBC.
The Amnesty investigations into the Delhi riots, or the silencing of voices in Jammu and Kashmir are legitimate, We cannot comprehend why India is hampering this.
We opined that the allegation of the police in the Indian capital, Delhi, have committed human rights violations during deadly religious riots between Hindus and Muslims in February.
Though the Delhi police told The Hindu newspaper that Amnesty’s report was “lopsided, biased and malicious”., the action taken to suppress Amnesty is a blatant violation of human rights.
We extend our voice of support to the call by Amnesty International for the release of all detained political leaders, activists and journalists, and for the resumption of high-speed internet services in the region in Jammu and Kashmir.
We demand the Indian goverment to stop the harassment of the watchdog agency to function in its job of seeking the truth to the Delhi riot.
Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
President MAPIM
