Terming as unfortunate the agreement between India and the United States not to extradite each other's nationals to any international tribunal without express consent of the two countries, the Amnesty International on Friday said the pact will "undermine India's sovereignty".
"The signing of an Indo-US bilateral pact sends a clear signal that the Indian government lacks that commitment to bring to justice even those accused of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. It is however, extremely unfortunate that India has succumbed to US pressure to sign this impunity agreement," Amnesty International said in a statement.
Dismissing as "spurious" and without any basis the arguments that national jurisdiction and sovereignty were undermined by multilateral human rights protection instruments like the International Criminal Court, the global rights body said, "As of December 10, 2002, 139 states have signed and 87 states have ratified the Rome Statute of ICC."
"It is farfetched to suggest that all these countries or government's do not care for their sovereignty or national jurisdiction," it said. "On the contrary this agreement (Indo-US pact) will actually undermine India's sovereignty."
"India loses the right to determine which court -- its own or that of an international criminal court to which it has delegated its authority under a multilateral treaty -- will investigate and prosecute crimes committed in its territory or by persons found in its territory," it said.