U.S. Congressmen Raise Serious Concern Over India’s Vilification Of Religious Communities

U.S. congressmen and human rights experts on Thursday raised serious concerns over India’s vilification of Muslims and other religious minorities and called upon the Indian government to appropriately prosecute persons responsible for attacks

WASHINGTON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2024) U.S. congressmen and human rights experts on Thursday raised serious concerns over India’s vilification of Muslims and other religious minorities and called upon the Indian government to appropriately prosecute persons responsible for attacks.

U.S. Congressmen James P. McGovern and Chris Smith, co-chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at a hearing on the human rights situation in India, which was held at The Capitol in Washington, lambasted India for its continued harassment and restrictions on civil society.

The panelists at the hearing emphasized the need the congressmen to speak out publicly against hate speech by the Indian government and urge the authorities to investigate and appropriately prosecute incitement to violence.

They stressed raising concerns with India about its repeated long-term internet blackouts, suspension of mobile internet services, and blocking online content on social media platforms.

Congressman James P. McGovern said as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consolidated power, the concerns about human rights abuses in India grew up immensely.

He mentioned that the State Department’s 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for India identified a wide range of significant rights issues, including restrictions on religious and press freedoms, violence or threats of violence targeting members of national, racial, ethnic and religious minorities.

He pointed out that due to the country’s systematic and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had consistently recommended that the State Department designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).

Congressman Chris Smith said Muslims and Christians were suffering greatly in India and the government had adopted laws and policies that discriminated against religious minorities.

He mentioned that police complicity and failure to act had emboldened Hindu nationalist groups to target civil society groups and minorities with impunity.

Stephen Schneck, Commissioner, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said the human rights abuses in India were concerning and the government led by Bharatia Janta Party perpetuated hateful rhetoric against minorities.

Carolyn Nash, Asia Advocacy Director, Amnesty International USA said the authorities in India were prosecuting activists, journalists, and peaceful protesters on fabricated counterterrorism and hate speech laws. They have stifled civil society and human rights groups with pretextual investigations and prosecutions, she added.

John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch said in the 10 years since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP, India’s government had accelerated a crackdown on civil society and the media and adopted an increasingly majoritarian form of governance that tramples on the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.

Waris Husain, Legal Advisor, American Bar Association Center for Human Rights said the ruling BJP party encouraged and supported local vigilante groups that employed hateful rhetoric and violence directed at religious minorities.

Adrian Shahbaz, Vice President for Research, Freedom House said India’s reputation as a rights-respecting pluralistic country was at risk so long as the government continued to be guided by these discriminatory, exclusionary, and intolerant approaches to governance, and elevated a particular religious group over the rest.

Isaac Six, Senior Director of Advocacy from Global Christian Relief said since last fall, several human rights organizations had published reports on India, among them the ABA Center for Human Rights, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Amnesty International.

The panelists said the United States and the rest of the world needed to strongly communicate their concerns about these issues to the Modi government.

The bi-partisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission was established with the unanimous consent of the United States House of Representatives in 2008 and comprises members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It advocates international human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related human rights instruments.