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.
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.
Sullivan indicated that President Biden would raise his concerns on human rights with Modi.
"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.
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.
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the highest civilian awards from 13 countries, including six with predominantly Muslim population.
A resolution calls the US Secretary of State to designate India as a country of particular concern for alleged violation of religious freedom.
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.
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.
The study is a validation for scores of Pakistani Hindus who face discrimination and violence because of the hatred towards Hindus that continues to be stoked in children through the education system, says the Hindu American Foundation. Aziz Haniffa reports.
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".
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.
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.
They opposed designating India as a 'Country of Particular Concern'.
India says the USCIRF has no locus standi to pass its comment on Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights.
Sanders is the second Democratic presidential nominee after Senator Elizabeth Warren to speak against the violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi.
B'desh minister termed as "untrue" the allegations of minority repression in the country.
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.
One unwanted fallout of Stan Swamy's death from the government's point of view will be the increased attention on those senior citizens who are still in jail on charges which are taking a long time to prove, believes Amulya Ganguli.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move, saying he was carrying out President Donald Trump's orders. "Today, I am announcing visa restrictions on current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong," Pompeo said.
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."
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.
Three Indians have joined a Sikh rights group in filing an amended lawsuit appealing a US court to designate the RSS as a "terror group".
Responding to USCIRF's statement on the bill, the MEA said it was guided by 'prejudices and biases'.
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.
Senators said Pak's discriminatory laws continue to result in prosecution of individuals due to their faith.
'The feeling is growing that if India slips in the realms of liberal tenets, it will be a tragedy not only for the country, but also for the world because it will lose a remarkable role model,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
Bharatiya Janata Party Vinay Katiyar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had a heated argument.
Eleven more deaths were reported on Thursday, taking the total death toll to 38, a senior Delhi Health Department official told PTI.
The issue of denial of visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was fiercely debated by a key Congressional committee, with an influential Republican party lawmaker questioning the decision of the US government.
Religious minorities in India have been subjected to "violent attacks, forced conversions" and 'Ghar Wapsi' campaigns by groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after the Modi government assumed power in 2014, a US Congress-established panel has said.
India comes under attack over religious intolerance, human trafficking and slavery at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
'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.'
The letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa reports
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