The US non secular freedom watchdog referred to as on Joe Biden administration to designate India as a “country of particular concern” below the US Religious Freedom Act. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an unbiased federal authorities fee, stated “recent efforts by the Indian government to silence activists, journalists, and lawyers abroad pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”

“USCIRF implores the US Department of State to designate India a Country of Particular Concern due to India’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief,” it stated in a press release as per information company Reuters.

USCIRF commissioner Stephen Schneck referred to as India’s alleged involvement within the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, within the United States “deeply troubling.”

USCIRF stated as per Reuters that it had advisable every year since 2020 that the US State Department label India a rustic of explicit concern below the 1998 US Religious Freedom Act which permits a spread of coverage responses, together with sanctions or waivers. USCIRF commissioner David Curry stated India’s extension of home repression to focus on non secular minorities from India residing overseas “is especially dangerous and cannot be ignored.”

What India has stated on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun allegations?

India stated that the US shared inputs on a nexus between organised criminals, gun runners and terrorists throughout the course of current discussions. Relevant departments had been analyzing them, New Delhi assured.

What has Washington stated on the identical?

The US stated that the problem has been raised on the “highest ranges” and discussed at the level of the national security advisers of the two countries, the heads of the respective intelligence agencies, the two foreign ministers, and even the heads of government.