(Courtesy: New York Times) To the Editor:
The Clinton Administration has engaged in much hand-wringing over its trade policy toward China, a country universally condemned for its atrocious human rights record. The Administration has, however, as you note in “Democracy in India: Now You See It…” (Week in Ro. View, January) said nothing at all in this regard about India, a country with its own egregious pattern of human rights abuses and with which the United States (syndicated by Commerce Secretary Ron Brown’s recent visit) is seeking to improve trade ties
You note that nearly 70,000 Indians have been held in preoperative detention under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act. What you do not mention is that hundreds of the detainees have died while in custody Amnesty International reports that in almost all of these cases the deaths occur due to excessive hen tings or other forms of torture, The Indian police attempt to cover up their involvement in these deaths by falsifying or destroying police records or by exercising their influence so that the texts of post meter or medical reports falsely com.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 24, 1995
