Hindraf asks Delhi to address Indian diaspora grouses

Human rights issues should be included in the Pravasi conference next year, says Waythamoorthy.

GEORGE TOWN: Hindraf has asked the Indian government to include human rights issues affecting the Indian diaspora on the agenda of next year’s annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference to be held in New Delhi.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-Resident Indian Day) is celebrated on Jan 9 every year to mark the contribution of overseas Indians to the development of India.

In a letter to the Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Hindraf Chairman P.Waythamoorthy says it is imperative for the conference to hear out the grouses of overseas Indians with regard to human rights abuses affecting them.

He told FMT that the previous Congress government ignored Hindraf’s numerous pleas for the New Delhi administration to protect and care for overseas Indians.

But he is optimistic that the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay attention to his letter.

Waythamoorthy said violations of human rights, discrimination and marginalisation of Malaysian Indians were well documented.

Similarly, he added, discrimination and marginalisation of Indians were happening in Fiji, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Surinam.

“Regrettably the Congress government ignored our appeals,” he said.

“Hindraf was disappointed that the issue of serious human rights violations affecting the Indian diaspora never found its way in the conference agenda.

“The current BJP government in power should give the Indian diaspora a platform to be heard at the conference.”

Since Hindraf was founded in 2003, its representatives have regularly attended the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference.