Washington: A US government panel has called for blacklisting India on religious freedom.
A panel of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the treatment of minorities continues to worsen under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It should be noted that the members of the commission are appointed by the President and Congress Party leaders. An independent panel established by the State Department to review religious freedom in China, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, and Saudi Arabia has endorsed the State Department’s move.
Following the panel’s recommendation, the State Department also added India, Nigeria and Vietnam to the list. This is the fourth time in a row that the US panel has expressed concern over the worsening religious freedom situation in India and called for a ban.
The panel’s annual report cited violence against Muslims and Christians in Indian states and the destruction of their property, and provided links to comments and social media posts by members of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The panel said that due to the continued enforcement of discriminatory laws, intimidation and violence by mobs and Hindu extremists has grown on a large scale and these extremists have been given a free rein.
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