WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. spiritual freedom watchdog on Friday once more referred to as on the Biden administration to designate India as a “country of particular concern” underneath the U.S. Religious Freedom Act, citing its alleged focusing on of spiritual minorities abroad.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an impartial federal authorities fee, mentioned “recent efforts by the Indian government to silence activists, journalists, and lawyers abroad pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”

“USCIRF implores the U.S. 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 mentioned in a press release.

USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck referred to as the Indian authorities’s alleged involvement within the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and a plot to kill one other Sikh activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, within the United States “deeply troubling.”

The Indian embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The Indian authorities routinely denies any discrimination within the Hindu-majority nation.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan mentioned this month that an Indian nationwide had labored with an unnamed Indian authorities worker on the plot to assassinate a New York City resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India. India’s authorities has denied involvement within the plot.

The situation is extremely delicate for each India and the Biden administration as they attempt to construct nearer ties within the face of an ascendant China perceived as a menace for each democracies.

USCIRF mentioned it had really useful every year since 2020 that the State Department label India a rustic of specific concern, a designation underneath the 1998 U.S. Religious Freedom Act. The act permits a variety of coverage responses, together with sanctions or waivers, however they don’t seem to be automated.

USCIRF Commissioner David Curry mentioned India’s extension of home repression to focus on spiritual minorities from India residing overseas “is especially dangerous and cannot be ignored.”

India’s overseas ministry dismissed the advice when it was first issued in 2020, criticizing “biased and tendentious comments.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; modifying by Jonathan Oatis)

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