India Fiercely Rejects UK Parliament’s “Baseless” Repression Claims, Citing “Dubious Sources”

Ministry of External Affairs Slams UK Committee Report Accusing India of Silencing Critics, Calling Allegations “Unverified” and Linked to Anti-India Elements.

New Delhi [India]: India has reacted with strong indignation to a recent UK Parliamentary Committee report that daringly suggested New Delhi, among 11 other nations, is trying to silence or intimidate individuals and communities living within the United Kingdom. On Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) didn’t just reject the claims; it did so “categorically,” calling the allegations utterly “baseless.”

Speaking firmly, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We have seen the references to India in the report and categorically reject these baseless allegations.”

Jaiswal went a step further, directly challenging the foundation of the accusations. He asserted that these claims are derived from “unverified and dubious sources,” explicitly linking them to entities and individuals with a “history of anti-India hostility.”

“These claims stem from unverified and dubious sources, predominantly linked to proscribed entities and individuals with a clear, documented history of anti-India hostility,” the MEA spokesperson emphasized, leaving no room for ambiguity. He then critically questioned the very credibility of the report itself, stating that “the deliberate reliance on discredited sources calls into question the credibility of the report itself.”

The report in question, titled ‘Transnational Repression in the UK,’ was published on July 30 by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR). It specifically named India alongside 11 other countries from which it claimed to have received evidence of “transnational repression (TNR).” The list included nations like Bahrain, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, all accused of perpetrating TNR within the UK.

While India was mentioned, the report highlighted others as more “flagrant” perpetrators. “A substantial number of submissions we received were personal accounts of TNR perpetrated by Eritrea. China, Russia and Iran were highlighted by witnesses as the three most flagrant TNR perpetrators in the UK,” the JCHR report detailed. Notably, these three countries – China, Russia, and Iran – have even imposed sanctions on UK Parliamentarians, including two members of this very Committee, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to deter scrutiny and suppress criticism against them. Witnesses described a wide array of tactics employed by China, including surveillance, online harassment, and threats directed at family members living abroad.

Regarding Russia, the Committee’s report specifically highlighted “evidence related to the misuse of INTERPOL Red Notices and Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation to intimidate and silence journalists, activists, and other critics.”

The report also delves into the definition of transnational repression. It notes that “common elements identified across most definitions of TNR include the involvement of a foreign state actor and the act occurring outside of the territory of the perpetrating state.” Many definitions, including the one adopted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), typically limit TNR to actions aimed at individuals from diaspora or exile communities. However, the JCHR received evidence suggesting a broader interpretation. “Witnesses emphasised that many of those targeted by hostile states, such as journalists, lawyers, parliamentarians, and human rights defenders, could be excluded by a definition that focused solely on diaspora communities,” the report added, arguing for a wider scope.

Interestingly, the report concludes by mentioning that the UK Government itself has opted not to adopt a formal definition of TNR, choosing instead to describe it as “certain foreign state-directed crimes against individuals.”