In its annual report on religious freedom, the USCIRF asked the US State Department to designate India as a "country of particular concern" on the status of religious freedom along with several other nations.
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
Coming on the heels of two successful bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden -- the Official State Visit of the Indian leader here in June and a bilateral meeting in New Delhi in September -- USCIRF in its announcement of the meeting said the Congressional hearing is on how the US government can work with the Indian government to address violations.
Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country.
India says the USCIRF has no locus standi to pass its comment on Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights.
In the 2020 edition of its annual report on International Religious Freedom, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) alleged that religious freedom in India witnessed a drastic downward turn.
Putting India on the 'watch list' for the second year in succession, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its report said the Indian government at various levels recognised the problem of communal violence and created some structures to address these issues.
Religious freedom in India was on a "negative trajectory" in 2015 as religious tolerance "deteriorated" and religious freedom violations "increased", a United States report on international religious freedom said
External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the government does not see the locus standi of a foreign entity like US Commission on International Religious Freedom to pronounce on the state of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights.
In a missive to Bush, USCIRF chair Felice D Gaer urged him to 'ask Prime Minister Singh to ensure the immediate security of Indian citizens -- security that is undermined by recurrent attacks on religious minorities and communities.'
A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body on Monday recommended to the Biden Administration to designate India, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and 11 other nations as "country of particular concern" in the context of status of religious freedom.
The announcement came as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided to re-designate about 10 countries as 'Countries of Particular Concern'.
Accusing China of repressing dissent, the US commission on global religious freedom has appealed to President Barack Obama to take up the issues of human rights and religious freedom during his meeting with his visiting Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at the White House.
While the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay on the operation of the bail order so as to appeal before the Supreme Court, the HC refused the request, stating that Babu has been in jail for over five years.
'Your constant reiteration on the lack of religious freedom in India has sown doubts about the kind of information that you are being fed and based on which you seem to be making adverse references to India and its tradition of religious tolerance.'
'In India, legal advocates and faith leaders from across the country's diverse religious communities condemned a case of extreme hate speech against Muslims in the city of Haridwar, calling for the country to uphold its historical traditions of pluralism and tolerance'
A three-member delegation of US Commission on International Religious Freedom wanted to make a one-week visit starting on Friday to meet government officials, religious leaders and activists in India.
A US federal government commission has flagged the alleged worsening of religious freedom in India and called for it to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern".
India has previously rejected the US state department's annual human rights report on the country, saying they continue to be based on "misinformation and flawed understanding".
India witnessed religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions and the police in some cases failed to respond effectively to communal violence, according to the US State Department report on International Religious Freedom.
"India risks becoming one of the world's main generators of instability, atrocities and violence because of the massive scale and gravity of the violations and abuses targeting mainly religious and other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others. It is not just individual or local, it is systematic and a reflection of religious nationalism," he said.
A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body on Wednesday asked the Joe Biden Administration to designate four nations, including India, as "countries of particular concern", alleging that religious freedom conditions there in 2020 continued their negative trajectory.
Religious tolerance in India is "deteriorating" while religious freedom violations are "increasing", a rights expert has told American lawmakers.
In a statement issued on Monday, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom said that it was deeply troubled over the passage of the bill in Lok Sabha.
A key United States Congressional committee has called for a public hearing on the rights and freedoms of religious minorities in India to be held early next month.
The decision by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to place India on its 'Watch List,' for what it said was "the government's largely inadequate response to protecting religious minorities," will not impact in any way on the growing US-India strategic partnership, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake has said.
Katrina Lantos Swett, chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, tells Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa that the USCIRF will be uncompromising about denying Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi entry into the US.
A resolution calls the US Secretary of State to designate India as a country of particular concern for alleged violation of religious freedom.
Sullivan indicated that President Biden would raise his concerns on human rights with Modi.
'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Describing India as an important member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) and a crucial partner for stability in the Indo-Pacific, the letter said that the lawmakers support the deepening strategic partnership between the two countries.
Strongly condemning a series of terror attacks this week targeting Pakistani Shia Muslims, a US Congress-established body on religious freedom today asked the Obama Administration to impress upon Islamabad to ensure protection of minorities in the country.
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
'What is going on is the under counting of the migration population in urban areas.' 'It has been going on in the last few censuses.'
Though MEA did not clarify the individuals being referred to, it is being seen as a reference to US lawmakers critical of India on the issue of the Delhi violence.
If peace and stability is to come to South Asia, links between Pakistan's military, Inter-Services Intelligence and the violent extremist jihadi groups the ISI created, must be severed, said Steve Coll, president and CEO of The New America Foundation and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars.
Obviously incensed after being denied visas to visit India, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom -- a US Congress-mandated body that monitors religious freedoms and rights worldwide and then provides independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State and the Congress -- has released it 2009 country report on India, which it had earlier held back and placed India on its "Watch List".
"USCIRF's decision to club India in with a dozen or so of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world, while overlooking others, again raises questions of bias and flawed methodology," Prof Ramesh Rao of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) alleged.
Observing that the final NRC list, which validates bona fide Indian citizens of Assam, has excluded 19 lakh residents, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom on Friday said that a number of domestic and international organisations have expressed concern that the NRC is a "targeted mechanism to disenfranchise Assam's Bengali Muslim community, implicitly establishing a religious requirement for citizenship and potentially rendering large numbers of Muslims stateless."
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