In touch with India on democracy, human rights: US official’s response to report on Manipur issue

WASHINGTON: India and the United States regularly consult at the highest levels on democracy and human rights issues, a senior US State Department official said, after an official report claimed that there were significant human rights abuses in Manipur last year.

“The US and India regularly consult at the highest levels on democracy and human rights issues,” Robert S Gilchrist, senior official from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, told reporters after the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices was release by Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

“We strongly encourage, urge India to uphold its human rights obligations and commitments. We also regularly meet with civil society representatives both in the US and India to hear their perspectives, and those sorts of perspectives inform the human rights report, and we encourage the government of India to consult and meet regularly with civil society organisations representing a diversity of people,” Gilchrist said.

“So, there are a number of steps. It remains a key component of our–not just our dialogue–but in terms of our engagement with India,” he asserted.

The annual report of the State Department, which is mandated by the US Congress, also mentions the raids by Indian tax authorities on the office of British Broadcasting Corporation

(BBC) and the conviction and sentencing to two years of prison of Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the opposition Congress party, by a court in Gujarat.

In his opening remarks on the report, Blinken said the US is imposing visa restrictions on more than a dozen individuals who contributed to human rights abuses by helping develop and sell these tools.

The India section of the report said local human rights organisations, minority political parties and affected communities criticised the country’s government for delayed action to stop violence and provide humanitarian assistance in Manipur state.

The report cited criticisms over delayed action to stop violence and provide humanitarian assistance in Manipur