Amnesty says its employees did not raise anti-India slogans

Amnesty India said allegations mentioned in a complaint by an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad  (ABVP) representative against it were ‘without substance’ and that only discussion at the event on Saturday was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir. Local police had slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India on Monday following allegations that anti-India slogans were raised at the event, organised by it, during a discussion on Kashmir issue. 

“No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point,” the human rights organisation said in a statement referring to allegations that slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan. To charges that the event indirectly supported terrorists, Amnesty said the only discussion that had taken place was about allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice to families in Kashmir. 

“These are issues that have regularly been discussed in the media. They have been written about at length by members of Parliament, politicians, judges and civil society,” it said. The event was held as part of a campaign based on the report ‘Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’, published in July 2015, it said.