Latest news with #ElainePearson
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
100s expelled to Bangladesh sans due process: HRW
This is a representative image (Pic credit: AP) NEW DELHI: The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that Indian authorities have expelled hundreds of ethnic Bengali Muslims to Bangladesh without due process in recent weeks, claiming they are "illegal immigrants", though many of them are Indian citizens from states bordering Bangladesh. The New York-based rights body said the expulsions are continuing. The government of India, HRW said, should stop deporting people without due process and instead ensure everyone has access to procedural safeguards against arbitrary detention and expulsion. "BJP is fueling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens," alleged Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW.
Express Tribune
6 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
India expulsions to Bangladesh unlawful, target Muslims: HRW
India has pushed hundreds of ethnic Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, accusing the government of flouting rules and fuelling bias on religious lines. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration — particularly those from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh — with top authorities referring to them as "termites" and "infiltrators". Critics also accuse the government of sparking fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh. HRW, a New York-based nonprofit, said India forcibly expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, quoting Bangladeshi authorities. "India's ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens," Elaine Pearson, Asia director at the nonprofit, said. "The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorised immigrants, but their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims." New Delhi insists that people deported are undocumented migrants. However, claims by authorities that the expulsions were to manage illegal immigration were "unconvincing", Pearson added, because of "their disregard for due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards". HRW said it had sent the report's findings and questions to the country's home ministry but had received no response.
Business Recorder
6 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
India expulsions to Bangladesh unlawful, target Muslims: HRW
NEW DELHI: India has pushed hundreds of ethnic Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, accusing the government of flouting rules and fuelling bias on religious lines. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration — particularly those from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh — with top authorities referring to them as 'termites' and 'infiltrators'. Critics also accuse the government of sparking fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh. HRW, a New York-based nonprofit, said India forcibly expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, quoting Bangladeshi authorities. 'India's ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,' Elaine Pearson, Asia director at the nonprofit, said. 'The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorised immigrants, but their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims.' New Delhi insists that people deported are undocumented migrants. However, claims by authorities that the expulsions were to manage illegal immigration were 'unconvincing', Pearson added, because of 'their disregard for due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards'.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Stop unlawful deportation of Bengali Muslims, Human Rights Watch tells govt.
Criticising India's deportation of 'ethnic Bengali migrants' to Bangladesh, the Human Rights Watch on Thursday (July 24, 2025) said the exercise was being done 'without following due process'. Such acts done to 'garner political support' reflect the 'broader discriminatory policies against Muslims', it said in a statement. Citing various news reports of Bengali migrants being picked up from 'BJP-run States' such as Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: 'India's ruling party BJP is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens.' The statement said the government should stop unlawfully deporting people without due process, and instead ensure everyone's access to procedural safeguards against arbitrary detention and expulsion. The body further said that it had interviewed 18 people in June, including affected individuals who returned to India after being expelled to Bangladesh, their family members, and relatives of those who were detained and are still missing. Subsequently, the body alleged that it had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs with its findings but did not receive any response. '1,500 Muslims sent out' 'The Indian government has provided no official data on the number of people expelled, but Border Guard Bangladesh has reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, including about 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar,' the statement read. It further noted that the authorities of 'BJP-run States' of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, and Rajasthan have 'rounded up Muslims, mostly impoverished migrant workers', and turned them over to Indian border guards. In some cases, the border guards allegedly 'threatened and beat the detainees to force them to cross into Bangladesh' without adequately verifying their citizenship claims, the statement said. The body further said in its statement that India's detention and expulsion of anyone without due process violates fundamental human rights. 'India is obligated under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to ensure the protection of everyone's rights and to prevent deprivation of citizenship on the basis of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin,' it read. Citing examples of Bengali Muslims from various States being 'harassed' and Rohingyas being 'deported', the body said the Indian government is undercutting the country's long history of providing refuge to the persecuted as it 'tries to generate political support'. 'The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorised immigrants, but their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims,' Ms. Pearson further said.
DW
7 days ago
- Politics
- DW
India's illegal expulsions to Bangladesh target Muslims: HRW – DW – 07/24/2025
A new Human Rights Watch report has found that hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims in India have been forced into neighboring Bangladesh. They told HRW that they feared for their lives if they did not comply. Indian authorities have unlawfully forced hundreds of Bengali-speeking Muslims intoBangladesh, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its latest report on Thursday, accusing the Hindu-nationalist government of targeting Muslims for political gains. At least 1,500 Muslim men, women and children were expelled across the border — some of whom were beaten up and their Indian identity papers destroyed — between May 7 and June 15, HRW said, citing Bangladeshi authorities. India's government has not released any statistics on how many people it has deported to Bangladesh as illegal immigrants. "India's ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens," Elaine Pearson, Asia director at the NGO, said. "The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorized immigrants, but their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims," she said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has long taken a strong stance against irregular migration. In public speeches around elections, he has often focused on immigrants from Bangladesh, calling them "infiltrators." The Ministry of Home Affairs gave states a 30-day deadline to round up undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants in May, soon after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in which Islamic extremists targeted Hindu tourists. New Delhi claims all explusions were conducted to reverse irregular migration. The report slammed the rushed operations, saying the government's reason was "unconvincing" as it disregarded "due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards". "The government is undercutting India's long history of providing refuge to the persecuted as it tries to generate political support," Pearson said. In May, Indian media reported that authorities forcibly detained some 40 Rohingya refugees and dropped them into international waters using navy ships. While the Supreme Court has called it a "beautifully crafted story," the Modi government is yet to publically deny the allegations. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video New York-based HRW said that while some of those deported were Bangladeshi citizens, many Indian nationals who are Bengali-speaking Muslims from states neighboring Bangladesh. This was possible because authorities carried out swift deportations without due process which includes verifying the person's citizenship before expulsion, the report said. Of those expelled, 300 people come from the eastern state of Assam, which imposed a contentious citizenship verification process. Others were Bengali-speaking Muslims who had migrated from the eastern state of West Bengal to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odish and Delhi in search of work. The targeting of Bengali-speaking Muslims is characteristic of the Hindu-nationalist movement in India led by Modi's BJP and related fringe groups. The issue of Bangladeshi immigrantion is likely to take center stage in West Bengal— one of the few states that the BJP has failed to win — where elections are due in 2026. HRW said it interviewed over a dozen affected people and their families, including those who were returned to India after being expelled to Bangladesh. Nazimuddin Sheikh, a migrant worker from West Bengal who had been in India's financial capital Mumbai for five years, said the police raided his home, tore up his identity documents proving his Indian citizenship and flew him along with over 100 others to the Bangladesh border. "If we spoke too much, they beat us. They hit me with sticks on my back and hands. They were beating us and telling us to say we are Bangladeshi," he said. Another worker from Assam recalled his ordeal. "I walked into Bangladesh like a dead body. I thought they would kill me because they were holding guns and no one from my family would know."
