IAMC lauds USCIRF’s call for sanctions against India’s spy agency & review of arms sales to India

Washington, D.C. (March 25, 2025) – The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) today lauded the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for urging a review of U.S. arms sales to India in light of severe anti-minority violence, sanctions on India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and legislation to counter transnational repression by governments like India against individuals in the United States.

These policy recommendations come alongside USCIRF’s decision to recommend India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its severe violations of human rights and religious freedoms for the sixth consecutive year. The CPC label is a designation reserved for the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. 

“IAMC commends USCIRF for recommending strict and swift actions to counteract the Indian government’s suppression of minorities, which has been having ramifications on the safety and well-being of Americans as well as Indian minorities for years now,” said IAMC Executive Director Rasheed Ahmed. “It is now more important than ever for the United States to take a strong stand against transnational repression committed against its citizens by the Modi regime.”

In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF noted that religious freedoms in India continued to deteriorate, highlighting the illegal and dangerous proliferation of anti-minority hate speech by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders during India’s 2024 general elections, discriminatory laws, punitive demolitions of mosques and places of worship, and attacks by Hindu supremacists on Muslims, Christians, and other vulnerable groups. 

Illustrating the scope of anti-minority violence enabled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, the report noted, “Throughout its 10 years in power, [the government] has increasingly enforced sectarian policies seeking to establish India as an overtly Hindu state, in contrast with the secular principles of the constitution…The Indian government also continued to expand its repressive tactics to target religious minorities abroad, specifically members of the Sikh community and their advocates.”

The report cited widespread “misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech by government officials” during Indian elections as being a catalyst for “various forms of attacks against religious minorities.” USCIRF also emphasized that “violent attacks against religious minorities and places of worship persisted with impunity,” citing several attacks on Christians as well as frequent cow vigilante attacks and mob lynchings targeting Muslims throughout the year. 

To address the Indian government’s wide scope of repression, both national and transnational, USCIRF recommended the designation of India as a CPC, the imposition of targeted sanctions on individuals and entities including RAW, a review of arms sales to India in light of severe anti-minority violence, and the passage of the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 in the US Congress to ensure the annual reporting of acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the United States. 

IAMC echoes USCIRF for the sixth year in a row in calling on the US Department of State to immediately act on the Commission’s recommendations, take the necessary policy steps, and hold the Indian government accountable for attacking and endangering US-based individuals. IAMC also urges the Indian government to take immediate steps to address these concerns and protect the rights of all of its citizens, regardless of their religion.

For those interested in speaking with IAMC experts on deteriorating human rights and religious freedoms in India, please contact: media.info@iamc.com