Amnesty International Halts Operations In India, Alleges Govt Harassment

New Delhi: Human rights watchdog, Amnesty International has suspended its operations in India due to alleged reprisals from the government.

The global NGO has accused the government of being part of a “witch-hunt of human rights organizations”.

The organization, which had been carrying its work for eight years in the country, said it had to let go of its employees after its accounts were frozen earlier this month. It also had to halt all the campaigns and research work in the country.

“The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the government of India, which it came to know on September 10, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt,” Amnesty India said in a press statement.

Rajat Khosla, senior director of research, advocacy and policy, informed BBC, “We are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner.”

Amnesty has defied the government charges of receiving illegal funds and linked the government’s “crackdown” to its reports on the “grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu and Kashmir.”

The report on Delhi riots had indicted the Delhi police in committing human rights violations. However, The Hindu reported that the police had labelled the claims as “lopsided, biased and malicious”.

Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India, said, “For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent.”

The government has alleged that the organization has been receiving foreign funds illegally and that it never registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. Top government officials, rejecting all the allegations of the watchdog, said that Amnesty is under probe by the Enforcement Directorate over alleged irregularities in receiving foreign funds.