HRW: Human Rights or anti-India Propaganda?

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"IndiaCausevrinparker (AT) (DOT) co.in" HRW: Human Rights or

anti-India Propaganda?Wed, 28 Jan 2004 21:23:18 -0600Newsletter at

IndiaCause-------------------------“Human Rights Watch (HRW) is a prominent New

York based organisation wielding considerable influence on American policymakers

and on western perceptions of India (http://hrw.org). Unfortunately, their

reports on events in India have been one-sided and biased. Rather than making

an objective assessment of communal violence and human rights violations, the

reports generally are based on half-truths, distortions and sometimes outright

falsehoods. For too long these reports have gone unchallenged. Here is a

detailed analysis of some of the recent reports of Human Rights Watch and an

attempt has been made to set the record

straight.” Saag report.The report summary and the url are provided below. If you

agree with it, please send your comments to the HRW Chairman. You may use the

following email ids and the sample letter: HRW Email ids: hrwnyc (AT) hrw (DOT) org,

hrwdc (AT) hrw (DOT) org, hrwla (AT) hrw (DOT) org, hrwuk (AT) hrw (DOT) org, hrwatcheu (AT) skynet (DOT) be,

hrwgva (AT) hrw (DOT) org Start of the Sample letter --------------------------------To:

Chairman, HRWDear Mr.Jonathan Fanton,Please read the report exposing HRW:

“Politics By Other Means: An Analysis of Human Rights Watch Reports on India”

at:http://www.saag.org/papers9/paper891.html After reading this exposure about

the systematic bias by (so-called) Human Rights Organization, you should

consider changing your mission statement from “Defending Human Rights

Worldwide” TO “Defending Human Rights Worldwide - Excluding India”. Your

Management is probably NOT aware about the following statement on your website

– “Human Rights Watch believes

that international standards of human rights apply to all people equally” -

http://hrw.org/about/whoweare.html. You may agree with……..“The task of the

propagandist is not the scientific education of everyone, but the indication to

the masses of the facts, events, necessities etc. whose significance and

morality enter into the field of interest." I wish the HRW Management will

concentrate more on the Human Rights in future.Thanking you.Sincerely,Your

NameEnd of the Sample letter --------------------------------Report at SAAG:

Politics by Other Means: An Analysis of Human Rights Watch Reports on

IndiaExecutive Summary: After the Godhra incident of February 2002, Human

Rights Watch (HRW) in a widely publicized report titled, “We Have No Orders to

Save You: State Complicity and Communal Violence in Gujarat,” published in

April 30, 2002, claimed that the post-Godhra violence was planned even before

the Godhra

incident occurred and the attacks on Muslims in Gujarat were “state sponsored.”

HRW has authored many reports on communal violence and human rights in India

such as a 1999 report on anti-Christian violence and two reports on the Mumbai

riots of 1992-1993 in addition to its annual reports on human rights practices

worldwide. Upon closer examination, it is seen that extensive and systematic

bias exists in these reports. Their most glaring defect is the lack of concern

for the rights and lives of the majority community- the Hindus. Incidents of

communal violence in which both the Hindu majority and a particular minority

community were involved in and share the blame for are portrayed as one-sided

attacks by Hindus against “innocent minorities.” Human rights abuses against

Hindus are either ignored or downplayed as compared to abuses suffered by

minority groups. In the 1995 report on the Mumbai riots, HRW sought to place

the blame for the violent events exclusively on

the Hindu community and completely ignored the role of Muslim communalism in the

riots. This should be compared with a more objective report on the occurrences

by the Srikrishna Commission. There was not a single eyewitness account of

attacks on Hindus in the HRW report even though Hindus had also suffered many

casualties! Again, the 1999 HRW report on attacks on Christians in India blamed

Hindu nationalists for all the violence, totally ignoring news reports and

individual testimonies which go against such generalizations. Even more

disturbing, this report demonstrated hostility towards the Hindu religion

itself. It also attributed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following the assassination

of Indira Gandhi to the right-wing Hindu groups, while it is common knowledge

that the riots were instigated by Congress Party goons! HRW’s most extensive

publication on India was its 2002 report on the Gujarat violence. The report

claimed that the attacks on Muslims were all state

sponsored and planned in advance of the Godhra incident. Virtually all the blame

for the violence is placed on the Sangh Parivar and BJP government. A detailed

examination of the events shows that elements of both planning by Hindu

extremists and a spontaneous uprising of the populace at the outrage of Godhra

were present in the Gujarat violence. HRW, however, did not provide one iota of

evidence in the report to back up its assertion of the state having planned the

violence in advance. It also dramatically distorted the role of the police in

the Gujarat violence. The bias is further confirmed when the report titled the

chapter on attacks on Hindus as “Retaliatory Attacks on Hindus” while the

chapter on attacks on Muslims was titled, “Overview of the Attacks Against

Muslims.” While the Hindu mobs were said to have chanted “Jai Sri Ram” when

attacking Muslims, the report conveniently avoided incidents where the Muslim

mobs shouted “Kill Hindus. Allah is with us” when

attacking Hindus. The purpose of this paper is not to ignore the role played by

Hindu extremist groups in promoting communal conflicts. Hindu extremists were

unquestionably involved in the attacks against Muslims in Gujarat. Furthermore,

the Modi government willfully neglected its duty to protect the rights and lives

of its citizens and promoted further communal polarization in a state with

already tense communal relations. Rather, this paper is an attempt to

objectively analyze the complexity of communal conflict in India and avoid the

generalizations associated with HRW reports. Politics by Other Means: An

Analysis of Human Rights Watch Reports on

Indiahttp://www.saag.org/papers9/paper891.html ------ End of message

-------Thank you. Mahendra JoshiIndiaCause (India News, NRI Services and

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