USCIRF recommendation to designate India as a 'Country of Particular Concern' dismissed
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New Delhi: The US government has designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as 'Countries of Concern' under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for "engaging systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations".
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today the U.S. designates Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, the DPRK, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as countries of concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for engaging systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations.</p>— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1336046221077733376?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">December 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a commission mandated to monitor religious freedom globally, in a report submitted to the State Department, had asked to designate 14 nations, including India, as "Countries of Particular Concern." The report cited the increasing assault on the religious minorities in the countries.
In the 2020 edition of its annual report on International Religious Freedom, the USCIRF alleged that in 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault.
The report said that the national government in India used its strengthened parliamentary majority to institute national-level policies violating religious freedom across the country, especially for Muslims.
"Most notably, it enacted the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which provides a fast track to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan already residing in India, it alleged.
"According to government officials' statements, this law is meant to provide protection for listed non-Muslim religious communities but not for Muslims against exclusion from a nationwide National Register of Citizens and the resulting detention, deportation, and potential statelessness, the report had said.
The report also mentioned about communal riots in Delhi in February 2020 alleging that there were reports of Delhi Police, operating under the Home Ministry's authority, failing to prevent attacks and even directly engaging in the violence.
The report also had recommended to the US State Department to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom.
