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| Nehru’s grandniece suspended from Amnesty | | | ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, FEB 9: Global human rights watchdog Amnesty International that also takes keen interest nearer home is somehow caught in an unlikely row. It centres around a person whose presence in the global body’s London office has generally thus far been thought uneventful despite her being grandniece of the late Jawaharlal Nehru.
According to reports reaching here Gita Sahgal who is daughter of Nayantara Sahgal has been suspended from the London-based Gender Unit of Amnesty that she headed until the last weekend.
The reason for this being her criticism of Amnesty for its enthusiastic support to an alleged pro-Jehadi who demanded closure of Guantanamo Bay detention centre set up by the US after NATO’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Moazzam Begg was detained in what London papers call quoting Amnesty as “cage-prison” of Guantanamo Bay. Yet Amnesty officials according to reports accompanied Begg when he went after his release to 10, Downing Street to give a memorandum to Britain’s Prime Minister.
Though Gita Sahgal did not oppose Amnesty campaign for the closure of cage-prisons so as to allow the due process of law against those detained, including their release and rehabilitation in case of being absolved by courts, she did not like supporting the “pro-Taliban and pro-Jehadi” views of a former prisoner like Begg and Amnesty official’s sharing of platform with him.
Obviously, this stand by Sahgal was not taken kindly by Amnesty bosses leading to her suspension, pending an inquiry. Amnesty, however, denies the charge of being soft on extremists in the wake of Gita Sahgal’s dissent.
Her suspension has brought her in news all over Britain though not much attention has thus far been given in India to this despite the fact that she is granddaughter of the late Vijayalakshmi Pandit who was sister of the late Jawaharlal Nehru. Gita Sahgal’s mother is novelist Nayantara Sahgal who stays in Dehradun.
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