{"id":36154,"date":"2023-12-16T11:50:07","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T11:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/us-religious-freedom-watchdog-implores-biden-to-designate-india-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-12-16T11:50:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T11:50:07","slug":"us-religious-freedom-watchdog-implores-biden-to-designate-india-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/us-religious-freedom-watchdog-implores-biden-to-designate-india-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"US religious freedom watchdog ‘implores’ Biden to designate India | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nWASHINGTON:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The US religious freedom watchdog on Friday again called on the Biden administration to designate India as a “country of particular concern” under the US Religious Freedom Act, citing its alleged targeting of religious minorities overseas.<\/p>\n

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal government commission, said “recent efforts by the Indian government to silence activists, journalists, and lawyers abroad pose a serious threat to religious freedom”.<\/p>\n

“USCIRF implores the US Department of State to designate India a Country of Particular Concern due to India\u2019s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck called the Indian government’s alleged involvement in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and a plot to kill another Sikh activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in the United States “deeply troubling.”<\/p>\n

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Indian government routinely denies any discrimination in the Hindu-majority country.<\/p>\n

Read <\/strong>India court allows survey of centuries-old mosque to look for Hindu relics<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said this month that an Indian national had worked with an unnamed Indian government employee on the plot to assassinate a New York City resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India. India’s government has denied involvement in the plot.<\/p>\n

The issue is highly delicate for both India and the Biden administration as they try to build closer ties in the face of an ascendant China perceived as a threat for both democracies.<\/p>\n

USCIRF said it had recommended each year since 2020 that the State Department label India a country of particular concern, a designation under the 1998 US Religious Freedom Act. The act allows a range of policy responses, including sanctions or waivers, but they are not automatic.<\/p>\n

USCIRF Commissioner David Curry said India’s extension of domestic repression to target religious minorities from India living abroad “is especially dangerous and cannot be ignored.”<\/p>\n

India’s foreign ministry dismissed the recommendation when it was first issued in 2020, criticizing “biased and tendentious comments.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n