Pegasus row: Himanta demands ban on Amnesty in India

July 20, 2021 21:05

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday demanded a ban on human rights organisation Amnesty Internationals activities in India for

its role in the Pegasus snooping controversy.

The BJP leader also claimed that the entire controversy was an "international conspiracy by the Left-wing organisations, including Amnesty International," to defame the Narendra Modi-led Central government.

Controversy has erupted in the wake of an international media consortium reporting on Sunday that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including those of two ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of businesspersons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through the Pegasus spyware.

These numbers were from a list of more than 50,000 cellphone numbers obtained by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International.

With the Opposition latching up the issue to attack Modi government, several BJP leaders on Tuesday rushed to defend the Centre and launch a counter-attack on the rival Congress and others.

"Various Left-wing organisations throughout the world, including Amnesty International, are part of the conspiracy theory", Sarma said while addressing a press conference.

"It is clear that they want to defame Indias democracy. I demand that activities of Amnesty International be immediately banned within India", he said.

-- PTI

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