NEW DELHI: An Amnesty International delegation is likely to visit New Delhi towards the end of October for consultations with Indian Government officials. However, the human rights organization is unlikely to receive permission to conduct any investigations,
The visit is in keeping with the Government policy since 1990 to permit the international human rights organization to visit India for discussions; In May 1990 the Government had changed its policy of refusing to have any official contact with Amnesty International.
Under the new policy, Amnesty International was permitted to send delegations to New Delhi for consultations with the Government. Amnesty officials were allowed to visit India on private visits. However, permission for an investigative team to visit the country would be given “depending on the merits of each individual case.”
Union Home Minister S.B.Chavan during his recent visit to London for signing treaty had said that the London-based human rights organization was welcome to send a delegation to New Delhi for meaningful discussions,
The last visit by an Amnesty International official took place in December 1990. There has been no further change in Indian policy with regard to human rights groups since 1990, According to reliable sources, Amnesty International has made a number of requests for investigative visits but the Government has been withholding any decision on the subject.
This invitation does not imply that Amnesty International could send an investigative team. Any investigative team would still require separate permission from the Indian Government. While some human rights organizations, such as Asia Watch, visit a country in a private capacity to investigate human rights violations, Amnesty International teams travel as official teams while conducting any investigations,
Since the last round of talks between Indian officials and Amnesty International in New Delhi, the human rights organization has reviewed its position of blaming the state for what it calls “extrajudicial killings” whether by state authorities or by militant groups.
This position had been the main contentious point which the Indian Government had held against Amnesty. While civil rights groups have consistently criticized the Government for draconian laws, such as the special power laws and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act at the same lime, groups like Amnesty have blamed the Government for the activities of the terrorist groups as well.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1992
