Afridi urges UN, rights groups to provide immediate security, assistance to Amnesty, other HR groups working in India

Islamabad: Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi has expressed grave concern over reports of ‘continuing crackdown’ and ‘harassment’ by Indian government of the Amnesty International officials leading to halting of its operations just because the Amnesty International had largely covered India’s systematic genocide of Dalits, Christians and Muslims and Kashmiri Muslims.

Amnesty and other groups have accused police of complicity in the riots in Delhi in which at least 50 people were killed, most of them Muslims, and also its reports have uncovered Indian forces atrocities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJ&K).

Shehryar Afridi, while talking to journalists here, said that the human rights watchdog has blamed the right-wing government of India for freezing the bank account of its India branch, forcing it to lay off staff and stop campaign and research work in India.

He said that it was alarming sign that Indian government was running an ‘incessant witch-hunt’ campaign against the human rights organisations over ‘unfounded and motivated’ allegations. Afridi said that the Amnesty officials claim that they have been facing a ‘crackdown’ over the past two years over ‘baseless allegations’ of financial wrongdoing.

Chairman of Kashmir Committee said that he was shocked to learn from Amnesty India officials that the constant harassment by Indian government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of its unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir.

Afridi urged the United Nations Human Rights Council and other international human rights groups to raise their voices over the ongoing witch-hunt of Amnesty International and other human rights watchdogs working in India asked them to take immediate measures to provide adequate and urgent security to the officials of the rights bodies and groups working in India.

“I fear that the officials of the Amnesty and other human rights groups may be targeted by Hindutva gangsters. The world needs to immediately provide security to them,” he said.