Participants at a prominent anti-Beijing conference expressed “dismay” at India’s decision to cancel or deny visas to members of China’s Uyghur minority community and noted that India “seems to be trying to accommodate the bullying behaviour of China,” according to an attendee, who is also a representative of a major human rights group in the U.S.
Speaking to The Hindu via telephone Katrina Lantos Swett, founder of the Tom Lantos Foundation, however, added that while things were not perfect in India, the strength of its democratic institutions meant that it was even possible to hold such a conference in the country and “such a conference could never take place in China.”
The conference “Strengthening Our Alliance to Advance the Peoples' Dream: Freedom, Justice, Equality and Peace” was held in Dharmasala last week.
Abusive practices Dr. Lantos Swett emphasised that China had engaged in “abusive practices towards religious and ethnic minorities” and used external propaganda to this end. In this context, the conference had discussed India’s decision to cancel the e-visa granted to Dolkun Isa, a Uyghur and German national, and also deny visas to two other Uyghurs.
Mr. Isa >had told The Hindu that since the 9/11 terror attacks, “China has used the War on Terror as a justification for repressive measures in East Turkestan and tries to get the international community to see all Uyghurs as violent — a claim that clearly does not hold up to scrutiny if reliable information is available.”
In this case Beijing got Interpol to issue a Red Notice against Mr. Isa and this was cited by Indian authorities to cancel the e-visa.
While Ms. Lantos-Swett had only attended the conference on behalf of the Lantos Foundation she is also a Commissioner and former Chair of the U.S. Congress-established Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Nevertheless, Ms. Lantos-Swett reiterated her remarks from >a prior interview noting that the USCIRF did “regret" India’s decision not to grant its members a visa to enter the country and hold deliberations on religious freedom rights.
