Kuala Lumpur:
Hindraf, a coalition of 30 Hindu non-governmental organisations in Malaysia, has asked India to include the issue of human rights violations affecting the Indian diaspora in the agenda of next year's annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
In a letter to the Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Hindraf Chairman P Waythamoorthy said it is imperative for the conference to hear the complains of overseas Indians with regard to human rights abuses affecting them.
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.
<divid='ndtvrelcontent'></div>"Hindraf was disappointed that the issue of serious human rights violations affecting the Indian diaspora never found its way in the conference agenda," Waythamoorthy was quoted as saying by the Free Malaysia Today.
"The current BJP government in power should give the Indian diaspora a platform to be heard at the conference," he added.
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9 every year to mark the contribution of overseas Indians in the development of India.
Hindraf was founded in 2003 and representatives of the group have regularly attended the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference.