The United States (US) Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), alarmed by what it describes as India’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion, has once again urged the Biden administration to designate India a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
The commission, an independent federal government commission, has recommended each year since 2020 that the US Department of State desig-nate India as a CPC, most recently in its 2023 Annual Report.
In a statement released on Friday USCIRF also expressed deep concern over India’s purported increase in transnational targeting of religious minorities and their advocates, including journalists and lawyers. “USCIRF implores the US Department of State to designate India a CPC,” the statement added.
“The Indian government’s alleged involvement in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US are deeply troubling, and represent a severe escalation of India’s efforts to silence religious minorities and human rights defenders both within its country and abroad,” said USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck.
“We call on the Biden administration to ac-knowledge the Indian government’s perpetration of particularly severe religious freedom violations and designate it as a country of particular concern,” he further added.
USCIRF also published an issue update on India’s state-level anti-conversion laws, providing further context on India’s use of these laws to target religious minorities.—Agencies
