Daily US Times: Amnesty International says it has been forced to halt its operations in India due to “reprisals” from the government.

The watchdog has also accused the Indian government of indulging in a “witch-hunt of human rights organisations”.

Amnesty says it’s been forced to lay off staff in the country, its bank accounts have been frozen and suspend all its campaign and research work.

The government of India is yet to respond to the allegations.

Rajat Khosla, the group’s senior director of research, advocacy and policy, said: “We are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner.”

“This is all down to the human rights work that we were doing and the government not wanting to answer questions we raised, whether it’s in terms of our investigations into the Delhi riots, or the silencing of voices in Jammu and Kashmir.”

In a report published last month, Amnesty said police in the Indian capital, Delhi, committed human rights violations during deadly religious riots between Muslims and Hindu in February.

Rebutting the allegations, the Delhi police told The Hindu newspaper that Amnesty’s report was “lopsided, biased and malicious”.

Earlier in August, on the first anniversary of the revocation of Indian-administered Kashmir’s special status, the group had called for the release of all detained activists, political leaders and journalists, and for the resumption of high-speed internet services in the region.

In 2019, the Amnesty testified before the US Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on human rights in South Asia, where it highlighted its findings on arbitrary detentions, and the use of excessive torture and force in Kashmir.

The human rights organization has also repeatedly condemned what it says is a crackdown on dissent in India.

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