Amnesty India on Wednesday expressed concern as the United Kingdom’s (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson inaugurated a JCB factory in Gujarat during his two-day visit to India amidst the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in New Delhi.
The human rights body also questioned the PM’s silence over the plight of Muslims due to the municipal corporation’s decision to demolish houses and shops owned by the minority community.
Amnesty India put up a series of tweets expressing concerns over Johnson’s participation in the inauguration of the factory in Gujarat and said, “In the backdrop of Municipal Corporation of Delhi using JCB bulldozers to raze down shops of Muslims in Northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri yesterday, UK Prime Minister’s inauguration of a JCB factory in Gujarat is not only ignorant but his silence on the incident is deafening.”
In the following tweets the organisation urged Johnson to initiate the discussion on the state of human rights in India. “As Indian authorities clamp down on human rights daily, the UK government must not remain a mute bystander. It must bring human rights to the discussion table. India cannot wait another day for justice,” it said.
It is to be noted that the Delhi civic body went ahead with the demolition of Muslim owned properties despite the orders of the Supreme Court, which directed the former to halt the operation. The demolition drive did not even allow the residents to salvage their belongings.
The organisation also expressed concerns over the bleak future and security of the displaced people. It also called out the Indian administration for its brazen attacks on the Muslim community.
UK minster Naz Shah asks PM Johnson to raise the issue of anti-Muslim violence.
Apart from Amnesty India, UK shadow minister Naz Shah also urged Johnson to confront the Indian government over the deteriorating state of human rights in the country. Shah had a message for the British Premier with regards to the grave situation of Muslims in India.
She took to Twitter to share the message and said, ” My message to @BorisJohnson on his visit to India is that our nation’s foreign relations must not just be based on trade & internationalism but also on human rights. My plea to the @10DowningStreet is to raise the growing issue of Islamophobia with the Modi Government. (1)”
Shah further stressed on the human rights violation in India as she referred to a recent report by doctor Gregory Staton who sensed that India is fast moving towards a genocide.
The minister further expressed concerns over physical and mental torture Muslims are bein subjected to in India and said, “Muslims beaten, threatened of rape and lynched has become a norm in India. In 2019, a fact-checker website (2019) that counted “hate crimes” in India reported that more than 90% of victims in the past 10 years were Muslims.”
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