LONDON: Amnesty International has sent an urgent message on Thursday to the Indian Home Minister urging the Indian government to allow the organization to visit all areas of India where it suspects human rights violations.
“The organization’ request to visit Punjab is a long standing one, but Al would equally like to have direct access to states such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the issue of organized armed opposition has not arisen.”” But it stated that Assam is also one of the key states for investigations.
Al wants to meet J&K in view of the numerous allegations large scale violation of human rights such as the killing in Sopore in January, and the extra judicial executions of human rights activists which have increased in recent months.
Amnesty has been seeking permission for many years to conduct independent research in India but it regretted that despite promises made. To an Al delegation in November last year, no permission has yet been given.
The Al Stated that it was also refused permission to send a delegate to visit Bombay in connection with the Hindu Muslim riots that took place there after the destruction of Babri Mosque in December last year.
Amnesty’s delegate to forthcoming Inter Parliamentary Union Conference in New Delhi would be meeting government officials there to continue the dialogue initiated in November, 1992.
The Indian government’s denial of police responsibility in torture cases, Amnesty points out, lacks credibility as in 400 specific allegations of human rights violations made by Amnesty in its March ’92 report the government itself admitted that at least in more than a third of the cases it has so far been able to verify there was prima facie evidence necessitating, further action against those responsible for deaths ‘occurring in police custody, However, it was disappointed at the lack of determination on the part of the government to punish the perpetrators of such grave human rights violations, the letter said.
Amnesty has in its letter to the Indian Home Minister given instances of deaths in police custody which were denied by the authorities or merely ignored by them saying that these occurred from suicide.
“It is unfortunate,” said the Al “that the government continues to refuse us permission to carry out independent on the Spot research in India, As long as this is the case such conflicting evidence would not be satisfactorily explained and the Indian government’s willingness to address the problem of torture must remain in doubt” The British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, has also recently Supported the idea of Sending an all parties parliamentary delegation of the House of Commons to Jammu and Kashmir. But the Indian government is not likely to be favorable to such a Suggestion being put into practice.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 7, 1993
