NEW YORK (TIP): Indian National Overseas Congress, USA expressed serious concern over the recently issued annual report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a powerful freedom body that exercises considerable influence on the US Senate and Administration, which cited that religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s regime.
On the other hand, The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) slammed the report saying that “US Religious Freedom Commission Outsourced Its Credibility with Attack on Hinduism and India.”
“It is unfortunate that the last two years have witnessed a steady deterioration of religious freedom and human rights in India especially that of the minorities and the current administration cannot shirk their responsibility in that regard,” said George Abraham, Chairman of the Indian National Overseas Congress, USA.
According to the recently released report, India faces serious challenges to both its pluralistic traditions and its religious minorities. Christians, Sikhs, and Jains generally are fearful of what the future portends. Dalits also are increasingly being attacked and harassed.
But HAF feels the report by Iqtidar Cheema, a Pakistan-origin author known for his anti-India stand and director for Institute for Leadership and Community Development, in Birmingham, England, is completely biased. In a blog post, HAF executive director Suhag Shukla wrote, “Cheema’s work provides cover to Pakistan’s long-standing support of a bloody proxy war to separate the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir from India. Not surprisingly then, this report fails to mention the plight of over 300,000 Kashmiri Hindu Pandits cleansed from their ancestral homeland in the Valley at the hands of Islamist radicals. Previous commission reports have ignored the same.”
She also feels that USCIRF has lost its credibility. “How could USCIRF outsource a report harshly critical of India, one of the most important democratic allies of the United States, to an activist with a history of supporting separatist causes against India that too often employ terrorism against innocent civilians? How can USCIRF give its imprimatur to a report citing debunked sources and smearing the Hindu religion?”
In the report, USCIRF urged the Indian government to immediately lift its sanctions against non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are working for the welfare of the minorities in India. It also pointed out that FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) is increasingly being used as a tool to shut down foreign-funded minority NGOs.
In an unusually sharp criticism of the Modi Administration, the USCIRF wants the US administration to identify and act against “Hindutva groups that raise funds from US citizens and support hate campaigns in India”, adding “such groups should be banned from operating in the US if they are found to spread hatred against religious minorities in India.”
INOC, USA urged the growing Indian community in the United States to refrain from funding these organizations that promote hatred and bigotry against the minorities in India.
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