India on Thursday, 12 June, rejected the US State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2019, which has a detailed account of the Centre’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.
The Ministry of External Affairs said Washington has no locus standi to comment on the matters. “The report is published annually by the US State Department as part of the legal requirement to the US Congress,” foreign ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
Taking cognisance of the alleged attacks and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities in India, an official American government report on Wednesday, 10 June, emphasised the need to ensure full protection of minorities in the country as guaranteed under the Constitution.
The US State Department has released its annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report, called ‘2019 International Religious Freedom Report’, a survey of the state of religious freedom across the world, submitted to the US Congress.
It’s worth noting that the Indian government had previously also rejected the report.
The report also takes note of the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The report discusses mob lynchings, anti-conversion laws and related issues in detail.
It also details the incidents of “cow vigilantism” and other types of mob violence – such as the attack on Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand last year.
The India section of the report further says the US government officials underscored the importance of respecting religious freedom and promoting tolerance and mutual respect with the ruling and opposition parties, civil society and religious freedom activists, and religious leaders belonging to various faith communities, news agency PTI reported.
In October last year, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, in meetings with senior government officials, had raised concerns over violence and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, including communal violence, the report further states.
“On 22 December, Modi disavowed any discussion of implementing the NRC nationwide, including earlier comments from Home Minister Amit Shah that a nationwide NRC should be in place so, we will detect and deport every infiltrator from our motherland,” the report says.
Moreover, the report alleges that some officials of the Hindu-majority parties, including from the ruling BJP, made inflammatory public remarks or social media posts against minority communities.
“Authorities often failed to prosecute perpetrators of such ‘cow vigilantism,’ which included killings, mob violence, and intimidation. According to some NGOs, authorities often protected perpetrators from prosecution and filed charges against victims,” it adds.
(With inputs from PTI)
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