Islamabad: A US government panel renewed calls to blacklist India over religious freedom, saying that treatment of minorities has continued to worsen under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

US Commission on International Religious Freedom offers recommendations but does not set policy and there is little expectation that State Department will accept its stance on India, growing US partner. State Department each year lists countries where it sees particular concern on religious freedom, with prospect of sanctions without improvement.

Independent commission, whose members are appointed by president and congressional party leaders, supported all of State Department’s latest designations which included China, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia. It however recommended that State Department add several countries including India, Nigeria and Vietnam. Annual report pointed in India to violence and destruction of property targeting Muslims and Christians and drew links to comments and social media posts by members of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. “Continued enforcement of discriminatory laws facilitated culture of impunity for widespread campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups,” it said.

It was fourth straight year that panel has made recommendation on India, angering New Delhi which has called commission biased. State Department briefly blacklisted Nigeria at end of Donald Trump’s presidency following calls from evangelical Christians, but President Joe Biden’s administration removed it, rejecting suggestions of violence in Africa’s most populous country being religious-based or abetted by government.

Commission also recommended that State Department add number of US partners to watch list of countries that risked being blacklisted without improvements including Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey.

Published in The Daily National Courier, May, 02 2023

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