Human rights situation in India: KC-EU lauds EU's parliamentary body's concerns
Chairman Kashmir Council Europe (KC-EU) has praised concerns raised by European Parliament's Subcommittee on human rights over the violations of human rights of the minorities in India.
In her letter addressing Amit Shah, the Indian Minister of Home Affairs, Ms Maria Arena, the Chair of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) has expressed grave concerns over the severe situation of human rights specially rights of the minorities in India.
Expressing concerns, she said, "it is in this context that we are closely following the protection of human rights defenders in India and wish to express serious concerns about the recent arrests of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha by the National Investigative Agency. It is particularly alarming to note that human rights defenders cannot conduct advocacy activities, notably in favor of India's poorest and most marginalized communities, without becoming subject to intimidation and harassment, but equally worrying is the fact that terrorism charges, including under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), are used to silence them. As pointed out by United Nations Special Procedures, this clearly represents a violation of international human rights standards."
The letter of chair of EU's parliamentary body further said, "To date, the European Parliament has noticed that various forms of legitimate peaceful protests against laws, policies and governmental actions, including the Citizenship Amendment Act, have been portrayed as terrorist activities under this legislation, resulting in a number of arrests under this umbrella. This is notably the case for human rights activists such as Safoora Zargar, Gulfisha Fatima, Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Dr Kafeel Khan; Asif Iqbal and Sharjeel Imam who were recently arrested by the Police."
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