Dubious NGO Amnesty International India that has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons lately, has halted its operations in India on 29th September 2020. The organization has blamed the government of India for witch hunt on “Human Rights” organizations, like themselves.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate had frozen all bank accounts of the organisation. Amnesty has stated that it has now let all its staff members go, 150 of them. A statement by Amnesty has stated that they came to know of the freezing the bank accounts on September 10.
#NEWS: Amnesty International India Halts Its Work On Upholding Human Rights In India Due To Reprisal From Government Of Indiahttps://t.co/W7IbP4CKDq
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) September 29, 2020
In the Twitter thread the organization posted, it has alleged that they have halted the operations in India “due to reprisal from Government of India.” On 10th September 2020, the Government of India froze all accounts of the organization. It had to let go of all the employees who were working on different projects. The organization said more than four million people had supported their organization, and over 100,000 people have donated to them for their “good work”.
Amnesty never registered under FCRA
However, the government has stated that Amnesty International was never registered in India under the FCRA which is needed for receiving foreign donations. Amnesty, however, has been claiming that all the foreign fundings were their ‘legal fundraising efforts’ that are being termed as money laundering by the government because they had been critical of the government.
Amnesty claims ‘witch hunt’ because they were critical of the govt
Amnesty had participated in a US Congressional hearing on the alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, an issue that the US Democrats have been raking to appease radical Islamists and criticise India’s Modi government. Amnesty has also been constantly trying to bring international attention to the anti-Hindu Delhi Riots, peddling the leftist narrative that the riots were a ‘progrom’ against Muslims. Despite the many Hindu casualties, targeted attack on Hindu businesses and lynching of police officials, Amnesty in its reports had claimed that the Muslim rioters were the ‘victims’. The organization has claimed that its reports are the reason why the government froze its accounts.
Amensty’s history of anti-India activities
In a report published in India in 2019, we explored the connections between Amnesty International India, the British government, and radical Islamists. The organization has a history of meddling with the internal affairs of India. It has constantly been trying to falsely project India as a violator of human rights and ‘oppressor’ of Muslims.
On several occasions, Amnesty India and its former head Aakar Patel kept peddling blatant lies and fake news to portray India negatively. It also campaigned for the arrested Urban Naxals in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Amnesty International received funding from governments though they had refused any such donations. As reported by NGO Monitor, in 2009, Amnesty received €2.5 million (approximately 1% of its donations) from governments that they used for its operations in India. You can check out the 2019 report here.
In 2018, the organization’s offices were raided by ED over FCRA violations. A few days ago, former Amnesty India head Aakar Patel was arrested for his defamatory tweets on PM Modi, BJP-RSS, and Ghanchi caste. Earlier Patel’s Twitter account was withheld due to tweets instigating caste and communal violence in India.
