Raise Rohingya, pellet guns with Modi, Amnesty urges Trudeau

Human rights organisation Amnesty International has urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to raise the threatened expulsion of Rohingyas from India during his upcoming visit here, along with issues like use of pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir and justice to 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims.

Ahead of Trudeau's week-long India visit from Saturday, Amnesty has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to raise certain points related to human rights violation in Canada.

According to a statement, Amnesty International India and Amnesty International Canada are raising key human rights concerns in both countries, and have called on both leaders to recognise that progress toward ensuring justice, liberty and equality for all must be placed at the core of bilateral engagement and cooperation.

The issues mentioned in the letter to Trudeau include possible forced mass expulsion of Rohingya people from India, justice and accountability for 1984 Sikh massacre, use of pellet-firing shotguns in Kashmir, demonisation of religious minorities, and for criminalisation of marital rape. It also asked him to press for decriminalisation of consensual gay sex between adults.

The letter to Modi urges him to raise issues like developing a National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence in Canada, issues of indigenous groups like First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people among others.

--IANS

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