In a massive development, Amnesty International India has halted its work on its controversial claims of upholding human rights in India due to Indian government’s reprisal.
The union government has completely frozen Amnesty International India’s bank accounts since 10 September.
The organisation has been compelled to let go of its staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work, a press release issued by the human rights organisation.
This stern action from the government was very much awaited.
The organisation, in March 2018, has been guilty of violating foreign funding laws. This forced the Enforcement Directorate, as per law, to conduct raids on its parent body, headquartered in Bengaluru for violation of FDI guidelines.
The NGO has been accused of violating borrowing and lending regulations of FEMA by getting remittances from Amnesty International UK in the name of export services.
The violations were to the tune of Rs 51.72 crore for rendering civil society activities in India.
THESE funds were used to prepare reports on Kashmir with pre-determined reports to spread propaganda globally through Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd, its commercial entity.
Since this entity was denied approval under FCRA in 2010, the NGO floated Amnesty International India Foundation Trust to receive foreign funds bypassing FCRA rules.
In response, the NGO had not furnished any documentary evidence of price negotiations and cost breakup with their only client Amnesty International, UK.
It also did not furnish documentary proof of Rs receiving Rs 51 crore plus as export services.
AMNESTY International India is also accused of meddling in internal affairs of India by peddling lies. Its ex-head Aakar Patel spreading lies about communication blockade affecting the ’emotional’ and ‘mental’ well-being of Kashmiris, besides hampering their access to ‘necessary’ and ’emergency’ services.
These actions are directed at undermining India’s sovereignty. They had roped in actor Naseeruddin Shah to influence India’s Lok Sabha elections by releasing a video.
The NGO faked about Indian constitution being under threat and dissent being suppressed in India. And also painted the Indian government of violating human rights of the people.
Amnesty conveniently ignored hard facts about urban naxals plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Once, it used the statement of urban naxal Arun Ferreira’s statement that India was a dangerous place for human rights champions, ignoring the fact that he was arrested in connection with plotting PM’s assassination and Koregaon Bhima violence.
THE activists associated with the NGO have malafide intentions. One activist had called for violence against Brahmins on social media.
AMNESTY also is accused of a toxic working environment. The KonTerra Group had discovered bullying and public humiliation tactics of its management following the suicide of two of its employees.
THE NGO is also accused of having links with Taliban. This was revealed by the ex-head of the gender unit at Amnesty’s international secretariat Gita Sahgal in 2010.
She had flayed the organization for collaborating with Moazzam Begg, a former British inmate at Guantanamo Bay, a US detention camp for terrorists.
Begg is the same terrorist, who hesitated to believe Osama bin Laden masterminded 9/11 terror attacks, in an interview to the media.
In the same interview, he had advocated setting up of an Islamic Caliphate along the lines of the European Union where the Sharia Law will be implemented authentically.
Amnesty is also accused of backing another terrorist friendly and Cage Director Asim Qureshi, who had refused to condemn stoning, claims of Jews being descended from pigs.
Cage was flayed by politicians and intellectuals alike for acting as apologists for Radical Islamic terrorism, due to which Amnesty broke relations with it in 2017.
Amnesty International also is accused of receiving government funding. In 2009, it received €2.5 million from governments. The British government was the third largest donor (€800,000).
It also received government funding in 2008 (€1million), 2007 (€1 million), and 2006 (€2 million). In addition, it received £842,000 in 2011 from the UK Department for International Development as part of a four-year award commencing in 2008 and totaling £3,149,000.
These funds were received when the NGO was collaborating with Cage and Begg. The latter had been to Syria with permission from Mi5, a British security service.
Press Release Issued By Amnesty International India
The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt. The organisation has been compelled to let go of its staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations, Amnesty International India said today.
“The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental. The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our 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 the Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.
Amnesty International India stands in full compliance with all applicable Indian and international laws. For human rights work in India, it operates through a distinct model of raising funds domestically. More than four million Indians have supported Amnesty International India’s work in the last eight years and around 100,000 Indians have made financial contributions. These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
The fact that the Government is now portraying this lawful fundraising model as money-laundering is evidence that the overbroad legal framework is maliciously activated when human rights activists and groups challenge the government’s grave inactions and excesses.
The attacks on Amnesty International India and other outspoken human rights organizations, activists and human rights defenders is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power. “Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the Enforcement Directorate and Government of India to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India. It reeks of fear and repression, ignores the human cost to this crackdown particularly during a pandemic and violates people’s basic rights to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, and association guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and international human rights law. Instead, as a global power and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, India must fearlessly welcome calls for accountability and justice,” said Avinash Kumar.
As part of the Nobel Prize winning movement, Amnesty International India holds itself to the highest evidentiary standards. Our work in India, as elsewhere, is to uphold universal human rights and build a global movement of people who take injustice personally. These are the same values that are enshrined in the Constitution of India and flow from a long and rich Indian tradition of pluralism, tolerance and peaceful dissent.
CONGRATULATIONS TO MODI GOVT FOR FORCING AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL TO QUIT INDIA .WE HOPE THEY DO NOT DARE ENTER INDIA AGAIN TO DESTROY THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE .THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE LONG AGO ,BUT ANYWAY BETTER LATE THAN NEVER .HOPE THE GOVT STARTS SIMILAR ACTION AGAINST OTHER CATHOLIC SPONSORED NGO DOING CONVERSIONS.