NEW YORK – Amnesty International, a prominent human rights watchdog, hascondemned what it described as an assault on civil society in India afterits Bangalore headquarters was raided by tax authorities.
Amnesty India’s bank accounts have been frozen after tax investigatorsspent more than 10 hours searching the office on Thursday.Staff were ordered to remain in the office, shut their laptops and not usetheir mobile phones during the search, an the London-based organization’sstatement said.
Amnesty has been regularly documenting India’s human rights violations inoccupied Kashmir. “Government authorities are increasingly treating humanrights organizations like criminal enterprises,” Aakar Patel, AI’s Indianhead, said in a statement.
“Our operations in India have always conformed to our nationalregulations,” he said.Patel said India was undergoing a period of repression similar to the 1975Emergency when the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, suspended manyconstitutional liberties.Sadly, those dark days are now casting a shadow over India again. Insteadof protecting human rights, as it vowed to do, the government is nowtargeting the people who fight for them, Patel said.
A spokesman for India’s Home Ministry confirmed that Amnesty India’saccounts had been frozen pending further investigation on foreign fundingregulations, according to media reports.“Action has been taken against other NGOs too who have violated theserules,” the spokesman told media.
The Enforcement Directorate, a government agency that deals with financialcrimes, carried out a raid at AI’s Bangalore office for 10 hours onThursday, according to the reports. In 2014, the Indian government put theoperations of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) under surveillanceafter an official intelligence agency accused certain rights groups ofcampaigning against some government projects.
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It is not the first time that AI has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting its operations.
In August, 2016, AI temporarily shuttered offices across India over safetyconcerns. The group also faced criminal charges over allegations by Hindunationalists that it gave a platform to Kashmiri secessionists.
Police also filed charges against Amnesty for “sedition” and other offensesafter a BJP student wing objected to an event held in Bangalore to discusshuman rights violations in the disputed region of Kashmir. – APP
