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Move famous “at the highest levels” of the American authorities, says State Department
Responding sharply to the U.S. and the European governments for expressing their issues in regards to the investigations into the Amnesty International, the federal government mentioned overseas governments should not condone NGOs that break Indian legal guidelines.
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“The NGOs are expected to adhere to all our laws, including with respect to foreign funding, just as they would in other countries like the U.S. and the European Union. We also expect that other governments would not condone the contravention of Indian laws by any entity,” mentioned Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava on Thursday.
Over the previous few days, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the United Kingdom Foreign Office and the European Union have issued statements expressing concern over the federal government’s choice to freeze the Amnesty’s funds that led the worldwide human rights company to shut its India workplace on September 29. Both the U.{K}. and the E.U. mentioned they’ve raised issues by way of bilateral diplomatic channels as properly.
“The U.K.’s Minister for South Asia [Tariq Ahmed] and our Acting High Commissioner in New Delhi met Indian government representatives after Amnesty International India’s accounts were frozen, to emphasise the importance of organisations like this being able to continue their important work,” mentioned a British High Commission spokesperson, including that “the U.K. is seeking further information on recent decisions affecting Amnesty and believes the freedom of civil society organisations to operate underpins any functioning democracy”.
The U.S. State Department additionally issued an announcement saying the strikes on Amnesty International had been famous “at the highest levels” of the U.S. authorities in addition to by members of the U.S. Congress, including that the U.S. is “concerned about obstacles to the work of civil society, whether in India or anywhere else in the world”. The E.U. had issued an analogous assertion on Tuesday.
In an in depth be aware earlier this week, the Ministry of Home Affairs had defined that its actions to freeze the funds of the Amnesty International India’s workplace associated to a number of investigations carried out by completely different companies together with the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI over the previous decade. The authorities mentioned having did not obtain registration below the Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act (FCRA) meant for Non-Governmental Organisations, the Amnesty had taken the “commercial route” and accepted funds by way of Foreign Direct Investment, which is a violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Comment | A authorities that chooses its critics
However, the Amnesty International has repeatedly denied the cost claiming its actions had been “entirely legitimate”. “This decision was not motivated by any question of law as the Indian authorities now claim. It is not about Amnesty India’s sources of funding, which are entirely legitimate and involved no lawbreaking. This is punishment for standing up for humanity’s core values in the world’s largest democracy,” wrote a Senior Director of Amnesty International within the U.{K}. newspaper The Guardian on Thursday.
(With inputs from Sriram Lakshman/Washington)
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