US panel wants India on religious freedom blacklist

NEW YORK: A US government panel has called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a “drastic” downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy.  In an annual report, the bipartisan panel said that India should join the ranks of ‘countries of particular concern’ that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.

“In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault,” the report said. It called on the United States to impose punitive measures, including visa bans, on Indian officials responsible, and grant funding to civil society groups that monitor hate speech.

The commission said that Modi’s government, “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.”

It pointed to comments by Home Minister Amit Shah, who notoriously referred to mostly Muslim migrants as “termites,” and to a citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests. It also highlighted the revocation of the autonomy of Kashmir and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.

The State Department designates nine ‘countries of particular concern’ on religious freedom – China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The commission asked that all nine countries remain on the list. In addition to India, it sought the inclusion of four more – Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam. Pakistan was added by the State Department in 2018 after years of appeals by the commission.

India’s citizenship law fast-tracks citizenship for minorities from neighbouring countries but not if they are Muslim. The law is considered a watershed move by Modi to create a Hindu nation and chip away at the principles of secularism.

Tony Perkins, the commission’s chair, called the law a ‘tipping point’ and voiced concern about a registry in the northeastern state of Assam where more than 1.9 million people have been unable to produce documentation of Indian citizens before 1971.

“The intentions of the national leaders are to bring this about throughout the entire country,” Perkins told an online news conference. “You could potentially have 100 million people, mostly Muslims, left stateless because of their religion. That would be, obviously, an international issue,” said Perkins, a conservative considered close to President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump has hailed Modi and himself called for a ban on all Muslim immigration to the United States when he campaigned for president. This is the first time in years that India has been facing substantial criticism in the US Congress but it is unlikely that State Department will act against the increasingly close ally.