THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2003
Amnesty accuses India of 'undermining' minorities
RASHMEE Z AHMED
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
LONDON: Presenting a severe report card on the performance of the world's largest democracy, the Amnesty International has accused India of 'undermining' the rights of minorities to 'live in the country as equals'.
"Religious minorities, particularly Muslims, were being increasingly targeted for abuse by state and non-state actors," the international human rights organisation said in its annual report released here on Wednesday.
Repeatedly harking back to last year's violence in Gujarat, Amnesty said in its 311-page report that "access to (India) for a research visit to Gujarat in the aftermath of the massacres was de facto denied by the government in July".
Using the harshest words possible, it condemned the fact that "Muslims were victims of massacres allegedly masterminded by nationalist groups with the connivance of state agencies.
"The Indian authorities failed to protect people from communal violence which led to the deaths of hundreds of people and displacement of thousands. About 140,000 people fled their homes in the aftermath of the massacres and many remained homeless at the end of the year," Amnesty said.
Stating that Indian government and others around the globe have made the world a more dangerous, divided and unjust place because of the "war on terror", the Amnesty criticised POTA and other new laws worldwide that "erode human rights in the name of fighting terrorism".
It had thus contributed to an overall, global deepening of divisions among people of different religions and origins, Amnesty said.
> From New Delhi to Najaf to New York, the world is gripped by "genuine fear"
despite the "billions" spent by "governments to strengthen national security
and the war on terror," the report said.
"The overwhelming impact of all this is genuine fear - among the affluent as well as the poor", causing people to be more insecure today than at any time since the end of the Cold War, Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan said.
Commentators said the report, released here by Khan on Wednesday, continues the generally gloomy theme Amnesty takes in its annual report.
This year's report does not unduly highlight India but has hardly a good word to say about its record on human rights, the death penalty, extra-judicial killings, abuse of women and police torture.
An Amnesty spokesman told TNN there was no particular reason why the report's so-called "good news stories" did not feature any from India. "We had to pick and choose," she said.
Overall, it said, the "war on terror" had dangerously shielded governments from scrutiny.
It listed India among the seven Asia-Pacific countries where human rights abuses actually "worsened in the context of armed conflict, war against terrorism and crackdowns on crime" in 2002.
India was one of nine Asian countries where continued or possible extra-judicial/unlawful killings were carried out, it said. It was one 20 countries where there were reported victims of torture and ill-treatment by security forces, police and other state authorities.
India on a list of five Asian countries where gross human rights violations against women occurred. And it was one of a further regressive band of nine Asian countries still to pass the death penalty, Amnesty said.
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