Amnesty takes a dig at BJP policies

WASHINGTON, MARCH 25. The Hindu nationalist policies espoused by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliate organisations have undermined India's historical commitment to secular democracy, says the Amnesty International's human rights watch world report on India's human rights development for 2001.

Expressing concern over the ``violence against the Christians, Muslims and Dalits,'' the report said it was the result of the policies pursued by the ruling coalition. A major campaign on Dalit rights gathered strength in India, but some human rights defenders were targets of state-sponsored backlash against their activism.

``Areas of separatist violence in Kashmir and north east India were marked by grave human right abuses on the part of Indian security forces and armed rebel groups.'' Emboldened by the successful hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in December 1999, the militants stepped up their attacks on civilians and Government forces, it said.

``Abuses by all parties to the conflict is a critical factor behind the fighting in Kashmir,'' the report said.

National and state human rights commissions, however, were barred from investigating human rights violations in the valley.

- UNI

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Section  : International
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