Featured Rights group Amnesty halts India operations, says faces harassment

[pikkuboss]

One down, few more to go.

 

[jamahir]

One down, few more to go.

Why ? And which others ?

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

Looks like the Indian Nazis are now attacking Amnesty International ..... @Dalit @Thorough Pro @I S I @Pan-Islamic-Pakistan @PAKISTANFOREVER

Not surprised. indians love to abuse their own people.

 

[I S I]

Looks like the Indian Nazis are now attacking Amnesty International ..... @Dalit @Thorough Pro @I S I @Pan-Islamic-Pakistan @PAKISTANFOREVER

mission accomplished for RAW.

 

[Dalit]

You should read RSS Indian comments in Dawn news section LOL Every RSS Indian is hailing it as a major success of Modi LOL

 

[kingQamaR]

Great news

for your rapists & murderers policies you openly agree with not a shocker as that is your norm culture practices

so we will obviously conclude you have no human decency in side you your just a worthless Indian

 

[khansaheeb]

Amnesty to halt work in India due to government 'witch-hunt'

Amnesty to halt work in India due to government 'witch-hunt'



Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Ben Doherty

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© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP
Amnesty International has been forced to shut down operations in India and lay off all staff after the Indian government froze its bank accounts.
The Indian enforcement directorate, an agency that investigates economic crimes, froze the accounts of Amnesty’s Indian arm this month after the group published two reports highly critical of the government’s human rights record.
Amnesty said the move was the culmination of a two-year campaign of harassment by the home affairs ministry, and more broadly part of an “incessant witch-hunt” of human rights groups by the Hindu nationalist government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Amnesty’s departure starkly illustrates the shrinking space for dissent in India, where critics of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party face investigation and detention, often under draconian terrorism laws. It also comes at a time when human rights violations, particularly against India’s 200 million Muslims, are on the rise.
This crackdown on critics – including lawyers, activists and students – has increased during the coronavirus pandemic. Courts are only partly functioning and protest gatherings have been banned.
Avinash Kumar, the executive director of Amnesty International India, said: “Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the enforcement directorate and government of India to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India.”

© Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP Amnesty has halted its operations in India, claiming a crackdown by the government.
He added: “It reeks of fear and repression, ignores the human cost to this crackdown, particularly during a pandemic, and violates people’s basic rights.”
Amnesty International India’s bank accounts were frozen this month by the enforcement directorate without any prior warning. The human rights organisation has had to lay off 140 staff and cease operations immediately.
Authorities have been pursuing Amnesty for two years for alleged money laundering, a process described as an “incessant witch-hunt” by the group. Since 2018, a number of raids have been carried out on its offices and the homes of its executives by several government agencies.
Amnesty has denied all allegations of financial misconduct and said it stood in full compliance with all applicable Indian and international laws. No charges have been filed against the organisation.
In a statement, the ministry of home affairs said that the “stand taken and the statements made by Amnesty International are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth”.
The ministry accused Amnesty India of bringing foreign funding into the country illegally and failing to comply with regulations, adding: “All the glossy statements about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are nothing but a ploy to divert attention from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws.”
Related: Amnesty India staff complain of harassment and discrimination
Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, which has also produced reports on the mounting human rights abuses under the BJP, condemned the crackdown on Amnesty India and said it was “yet more evidence that prime minister Modi’s government is failing to uphold freedom of speech and association”.
Shashi Tharoor, a politician from the opposition Congress party, said: “India’s stature as a liberal democracy with free institutions, including media and civil society organisations, accounted for much of its soft power in the world. Actions like this both undermine our reputation as a democracy and vitiate our soft power.”
Most recently, Amnesty published two reports critical of Indian authorities: one alleging rights violations and involvement of police in communal riots in Delhi, and another condemning restrictions on civil liberties in Jammu and Kashmir a year after the government revoked the region’s political autonomy.
“The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental,” the organisation said in a statement.
Russia is the only other country where Amnesty has been forced to completely close down after government interference.
There has been a particular focus from the Indian government on organisations perceived to be funded from overseas. This month, it tightened restrictions on foreign-funded charities and has previously frozen the bank accounts of Greenpeace and raided the offices of human rights lawyers.
Julie Verhaar, Amnesty International’s acting secretary general, said: “This is an egregious and shameful act by the Indian government, which forces us to cease the crucial human rights work of Amnesty International India for now.”
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[Chakar The Great]

Shameful.



The world is now slowly but surely seeing the ugly face of India as the fake propaganda is vanishing. India is a threat to peace in the region and beyond.

 

[rishav]

Good riddance . With the passing of the new amendments to FCRA more such "NGOs" will be strangled and forced to leave .

 

[Trango Towers]

Good riddance . With the passing of the new amendments to FCRA more such "NGOs" will be strangled and forced to leave .

Looool...spot the hindu fascist

 

[gulli]

Shameful.



The world is now slowly but surely seeing the ugly face of India as the fake propaganda is vanishing. India is a threat to peace in the region and beyond.

LOL, Pakistani dehati aurat at work

 

[gulli]

Well done Indian Government, no one will miss amnesty but the investigation must be completed and guilty should be punished with death sentence to make an example for future applicants.

 

[rishav]

Looool

 

[xeuss]

 

[Mujahid Memon]

mission accomplished for RAW.

It seems that RAW has been secretly bought by ISI