New Delhi, January 13, 2023 (PPI-OT):The latest annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has raised hackles in South Block after it asked the West to be circumspect in shifting supply chains from China to India. The HRW, criticising India and its entire neighbourhood, opted to warn Australia, Japan, Canada, the UK, the European Union and the US only regarding India. The HRW said deepening ties with India without pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respect rights “squanders valuable leverage to protect India’s increasingly endangered civic space”.
In some portions, HRW’s language was identical to that of the US State Department, including a flawed assessment of the “world’s mobilisation’’ around Russia’s war in Ukraine or the observations on Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh. The HRW said the Indian Government had in 2022 intensified and broadened its crackdown on rights activists and the media while harassing rights groups through tax raids, allegations of financial irregularities and use of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The authorities in several BJP-ruled states demolished Muslim homes and properties without legal authorization or due process as summary punishment for protests/alleged crimes, it noted.
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