Indian Americans laud USCIRF’s decision to recommend India as a Country of Particular Concern for fifth consecutive year
Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2023) – The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has lauded the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) decision to recommend India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its severe violations of human rights and religious freedoms for the fifth consecutive year.
The CPC label is a designation reserved for the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
“While IAMC lauds USCIRF for once again recommending India as a CPC, we also express our profound dismay that the Biden administration has consistently ignored this recommendation for years,” said IAMC Executive Director Rasheed Ahmed. “Especially in the light of increasing transnational repression from the Indian government, the administration must immediately act on all of USCIRF’s recommendations to hold India accountable, rather than giving Modi a free pass to abuse human rights both in India and abroad.”
In its 2024 annual report, USCIRF highlighted that religious freedoms in India continued to deteriorate, including through enforcing discriminatory nationalist policies, perpetuating hateful rhetoric, and failing to address communal violence “disproportionately affecting” religious minorities, and “targeting of religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf.”
USCIRF similarly expressed its disappointment with the Biden administration for ignoring its recommendation to designate India as a CPC in 2023.
“In December, the U.S. Department of State failed to designate India as a CPC despite major religious freedom concerns,” the report stated.
The report pointed out the scope of anti-Muslim violence by Hindu supremacists, saying. “Throughout the year, violence against Muslims and their places of worship continued. Several mosques were destroyed under police presence and vigilantes attacked Muslims under the guise of protecting cows from slaughter, deemed illegal in 18 states.”
Examples cited included mass anti-Muslim violence in Haryana state in July 2023, the murder of three Muslim train passengers by a Hindu extremist security officer, and cow vigilante violence orchestrated by prominent vigilante Monu Manesar, including the abduction and brutal mob lynching of two Muslim men in January.
USCIRF also emphasized that “Indian authorities also increasingly engaged in acts of transnational repression targeting religious minorities abroad,” citing the reported involvement of the Indian government in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, as well as a plot to kill Sikh American activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
In addition to recommending that India be listed on the CPC list, USCIRF has also urged the US government to raise religious freedom issues in the U.S.-India bilateral relationship and to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of minority rights.
IAMC echoes USCIRF for the fifth year in a row in calling on the US Department of State to immediately act on the Commission’s recommendations and hold the Indian government accountable for escalating a climate of anti-minority violence and hatred. 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
