The government of India has completely frozen the Amnesty International Bank accounts by alleging them for money laundering which has brought all operations of the company at a complete halt.
Moreover, the organisation was forced to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing research project and campaigns on human rights.
The official statement posted on the website of the organisation claims government actions to be the “latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organisations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations.”
Furthermore “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 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.
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.
