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India’s Rights Activists Worried over Visa Denial to Amnesty
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Gujarat still simmers: Rapid Action Force in Delol
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By
IOL South Asia correspondent
NEW
DELHI, July 23 (IslamOnline)- India’s human rights activists are
worried over the government’s denial of visas to a team of Amnesty
International, which wanted to visit the western state of Gujarat
following a massive anti-Muslim pogrom in March-April.
Amnesty
said in an official statement yesterday that “the team was planning
to carry out investigations into recent massacres and human rights
violations and monitor the progress made in bringing the perpetrators
to justice”.
India’s
leading human rights activist and editor of the prestigious Economic
and Political Weekly, Gautam Navlakha, told IslamOnline that the
denial of visas to the premier rights body team was
“reprehensible”.
He
termed the visa denial “strange” as the Union government had
allowed a team of defense attaches of several countries to visit
Kashmir.
“Whatever
has happened in Gujarat is an open secret, evident before the entire
world”, he said. The only motive behind the denial, he said, could
be that “the government did not want the Amnesty team to meet people
who could be critical of the happenings and the state government’s
complicity in it”.
Prof.
Iqbal Ansari, a veteran of many human rights battles over the decades,
deplored the government’s decision to deny visa to Amnesty team.
Prof
Ansari, who is a member of several international rights bodies, told
IslamOnline that an earlier government had similarly denied visas to
Amnesty, preventing it from visiting Kashmir from where human rights
violations have been reported frequently. However, the Center had
relented in the case of Mumbai riots and allowed Amnesty a visit.
The
denial of visas shows that there is a lot to hide - killings, arson,
denial of justice and government complicity”, Prof Ansari said.
Meanwhile,
Amnesty said, “A government which fully accepts its responsibilities
in protecting its citizens and upholds their constitutional rights
does not shy away from international scrutiny”.
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Criticizing
the Indian action, the international human rights watchdog said the
"refusal damages the image of both the Indian and Gujarat
governments before their citizens and the international
community."
The
denial of visas has not deterred Amnesty, which declared it was
“committed to exposing the truth on Gujarat massacres and
campaigning for justice for the victims”.
Amnesty
International added that "A government which fully accepts its
responsibilities in protecting its citizens and upholds their
constitutional rights to life and equality does not shy away from
international scrutiny."
India
today brushed aside Amnesty International's criticism for not allowing
it to visit Gujarat, and said that "events in the state were
already under independent scrutiny of its own organizations like the
National Human Rights Commission and other national commissions and
NGOs."
"We
did not see what value a visit by a few London-based members of
Amnesty International would add (to their findings)," Indian
Deputy High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal said according to the official
Indian news agency, PTI.
In
a related development, rediff.com portal today quoted the Indian
Ministry of External Affairs sources that India has made up its mind
to deny visas to a team of Labor Party MPs from Britain if they intend
to travel to Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir as "observers."
It was reported that such a team will travel shortly to India to study
the situation from close quarters. The British MPs told the press in
London that they intended to visit Gujarat and J&K "to get a
clearer picture of the situation on the ground." A number of
British nationals were killed and injured in the anti-Muslim pogroms
in Gujarat last March.
"We
have not been informed officially by the high commissioner about their
impending visit. But if they apply for visas to observe the situation
in the two states, we will say sorry. They are not welcome as
observers," a source in the ministry told rediff.com
In
March, India had made its displeasure known when a British Embassy
report on Gujarat riots was "leaked" to the Indian press.
The report claimed that over 2000 people were killed in the riots.
Official figures have put the toll at around 900. The British report
first published by Hindustan Times, later confirmed by the BBC, said
that the violence in Gujarat 'aimed at removing Muslim influence from
parts of the state.' The report adds that if the Sabarmati [train]
tragedy hadn’t happened, another flashpoint would have been created
to justify the pre-meditated violence as 'reaction.'
The
British report added that “the violence had all the hallmarks of
ethnic cleansing and that reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims is
impossible while the Chief Minister [Modi] remains in power.”
The
BBC quoted the document as saying that “the violence, far from being
spontaneous, was planned, possibly months in advance, carried out by
an extremist Hindu organization with the support of the state
government.”
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