Indian govt using 9 of 11 FBI-listed tactics of transnational repression: IAMC

A report by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) released this Thursday, June 16, states that agents of the Indian government have perpetrated nine out of the eleven listed forms of transnational repression compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

A quote from the report reads, “The climate of fear induced by the Indian government’s actions results in widespread self-censorship and directly challenges Americans’ First Amendment freedoms.”

The case of Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Zahra is cited as an example of the use of surveillance and intimidation. Zahra, who was covering protests in Kashmir, was in 2020 charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), a severe law that allows for incarceration without trial for up to six months without even a chargesheet being filed.

This law has been used to suppress a number of journalists, professors, activists and writers. Zahra fled to the US in the hope of continuing her coverage and escaping persecution.

In her absence, the Indian police beat Zahra’s brother and father for what the report presents as basically Zahra’s opposition to the Indian government’s revocation of Kashmir’s autonomy. This police intimidation has now also expanded to include Zahra’s neighbours. She has stated that the police repeatedly interrogate her family for information regarding her.

Report links India’s domestic crackdown to actions abroad

Since travelling to the US, she has had her travel privileges to India revoked. Despite being in the US, she fears for her safety and is wary of informers of the Indian government.

The IAMC report contends that “transnational repression committed by the Indian government in the United States represents an extension of the Modi regime’s authoritarian and Hindu nationalist domestic policy.”

The eleven forms of transnational repression as listed by the FBI include stalking, online disinformation campaigns, harassment, intimidation or threats, forcing or coercing the victim to return to their country of origin, threatening or detaining family members or friends in the country of origin, abusive legal practices, cyber hacking, assault, attempted kidnapping and attempted murder.

According to the IAMC report, the present Indian government is using all of these means apart from stalking and kidnapping.

The IAMC claims that the Indian consulate “serves as the long arm of the Indian government within the United States, infiltrating diaspora communities with undercover agents, undermining routine citizenship processes, and denying Indian Americans their constitutional rights.”