TCN News
Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) welcomes the report on religious freedom issued by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placing India among the top violators of religious freedom.
“India being categorized as a top violator of religious freedoms while unfortunate, is expected and justified,” said IAMC President Ahsan Khan. IAMC endorses the annual report by USCIRF where it has designated India as taking a “sharp downward turn in 2019” in terms of religious tolerance and treatment of minorities. USCIRF, which is an independent policymaking body, has been reviewing global religious freedom for the US President and Congress and had previously put India other Tier 2 which was the list of countries with the second-worst of religious freedom violations. Owing to the increasing incidents of growing intolerance in the country, the report has expressed concerns regarding the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), calling out the national government for using “its strengthened parliamentary majority to institute national level policies violating religious freedom across India.”
The report has spoken about NRC and CAA being “deeply repressive measures”, simultaneously condemning the “massive atrocities of the Indian government against Muslims in India following its revocation of Kashmir’s special status; the legislation of the anti-Muslim law; and the State-sponsored pogrom of Muslims in Delhi; hence launching it to Tier 1.” It has also accused the BJP of building a “national government that allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity, and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence.”
IAMC President Khan expressed that as a part of the Indian diaspora, the Council wishes well for the country and even though “this international acknowledgement is painful, it is necessary given the escalating level of persecution of minorities.” IAMC, along with its partners, International Christian Concern (ICC) and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) had written to USCIRF in March urging it to bring India to its worst offenders of violations in the world. The letter was co-signed by dozens of other individuals and organization working for religious tolerance, including Genocide Watch, Jewish Voice for Peace, Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church of American and others.
Several other bodies had later resounded support for the same – Alliance for Secular and Democratic South Asia, Organization for Minorities of India, Muslim Public Affairs Council, India Civil Watch, Council on Minority Rights in India and many more. Responding to the wide international uproar, USCIRF, in January end, held a Congressional Briefing to speak out against the ongoing National Register for Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India.
IAMC has extended its full support for the USCIRF’s three key recommendations for growing human rights violations and religious intolerance in India. The recommendations mandate India be designated as CPC for “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”; imposing “targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations by freezing their assets and barring entry into the US” and “strengthening US Embassies and consulates’ engagement with religious communities as well as local officials to enhance US partnerships with Indian law enforcement to build capacity to protect religious minorities.”
Speaking about the recommendations, Khan has expressed that those would “mark a turning point in the treatment of religious minorities as well as the caste oppressed in India.”