New Delhi: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has said that minorities continue to be attacked in India as religious freedom has deteriorated in 2024, and recommended targeted sanctions against the Research and Analysis Wing over its alleged involvement in assassination plots against Khalistani separatists.In response, India has said that it is the Commission that should be designated as an entity of concern.This is not the first time that the body and India have sparred over the former’s assessment.ReportCreated by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) in the US, the USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan US government advisory body, separate from the State Department, that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress.This year’s report highlighted illegal demolitions of Muslim-owned property, Modi’s role in the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya “which stands on the ruins of the Babri Masjid that a Hindu mob demolished in 1992,” and its impact on violence against religious minorities.It noted that Indian authorities wielded discriminatory state-level anti-conversion laws and cow slaughter laws to target religious minorities.The report also highlighted anti-conversion laws that are meant to target minorities. “Throughout the year, 12 out of 28 states attempted to introduce or strengthen existing anti-conversion laws,” it said.The Indian government, the report observed, has “also continued to expand its repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community and their advocates,” lending credence to Canada’s allegations of a concerted government-led effort by the Indian government in this regard which India has rejected.“International reporting and intelligence from the Canadian government corroborated allegations linking an official in India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and six diplomats to the 2023 assassination attempt of an American Sikh activist in New York,” it said.It also said that journalists, academics, and civil society organisations documenting India’s religious freedom violations reported denial of consular services, including the revocation of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards as well as threats of violenceand surveillance.RecommendationsThe USCIRF made several recommendations on India, including to designate India as a “country of particular concern,” as it has been “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). Since 2020, the body has repeatedly made this recommendation to the US State Department, which has ignored it.It also asked the US Congress to impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and RAW, for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States.It further encouraged the US Embassy and consulates to incorporate religious freedom into public statements and speeches, as outlined in the US Department of State’s Guidelines to Support Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders.It said that the US Congress should reintroduce, pass, and enforce the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 to ensure the annual reporting of acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the US and also conduct a review assessing whether arms sales to India, such as MQ-9B Drones under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, may contribute to or exacerbate religious freedom violations.ResponseIn a statement following media queries on the report, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal accused the USCIRF of “once again” continuing “its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments.”Jaiswal said that commission has been persistent in its attempts to “misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India’s vibrant multicultural society” and that this reflects a “deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom.”The MEA accused USCIRF of not engaging deeply enough with India, and said: “India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. However, we have no expectation that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities.”It claimed that USCIRF’s report was an efforts to undermine India’s “standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance”.“In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern,” it said.In a country update for India released on October 2, 2024, the USCIRF had highlighted 161 incidents of violence against Christians between January and March 2024, with 47 occurring in Chhattisgarh. In Uttar Pradesh, 20 Christians were detained in June and July on allegations of forced conversions. The report also noted that after the election results, there were at least 28 attacks targeting Muslims, linking the surge in anti-Muslim violence to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election campaign.The USCIRF also noted that misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech from Indian government officials frequently incite cow vigilantism and other attacks on religious minorities.
