It was revealed on Thursday that US Representative Ilhan Omar has submitted a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning breaches of human rights and religious freedom in India and urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to identify India as a “country of special concern.”
The resolution, sponsored by Rashida Talib and Juan Vargas, was submitted on Tuesday, according to the website of the United States Congress. It based its arguments to designate India as a country of special concern on a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
The language of the resolution, which is available on the website of the US Congress, emphasized that the USCIRF had requested that India be designated as a country of particular concern for three consecutive years.
Citing the annual report of the USCIRF for 2022, the resolution stated that in 2021, “the Indian government escalated its promotion and enforcement of policies — including those promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda — that negatively affect Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other religious minorities.”
According to the resolution, the report also stated, “The government continued to systematize its ideological vision of a Hindu state at both the national and state levels through the deployment of both existing and new legislation as well as hostile structural changes against the country’s religious minorities.”
In addition, the resolution stated that the study detailed the use of legislation such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Sedition Law in India as a tool “to create an ever-increasing climate of intimidation and fear in an attempt to silence anyone who speaks out against the government.”
The report also cited instances of the Indian government’s “repression of religious minority leaders and voices for religious pluralism in India, including the Jesuit human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and the Muslim human rights advocate Khurram Parvez,” the resolution stated, adding that the report included numerous instances of the Indian government “criminalizing, harassing, and repressing interfaith couples and converts to Hinduism, Christianity, or Islam.”
In this context, the report also underlined the “serious hazards of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens for Indian Muslims, including the potential for millions to become stateless or susceptible to indefinite incarceration.”
The report, according to the resolution, stated: “In 2021, religious minorities, primarily Muslims and Christians, as well as their neighborhoods, businesses, residences, and places of worship, were the target of numerous attacks.
Many of these episodes were violent, unprovoked, and/or incited by government officials.
In addition, the USCIRF study claimed, “In 2021, huge protests against farm legislation established in September 2020 continued.” Despite the widespread and diversified character of the protests, efforts were made to smear the protestors, particularly Sikh protesters, as terrorists and religiously motivated separatists, notably by government officials.
According to the resolution, the report also noted a 2021 Oxfam India study which revealed that a third of Indian Muslims experienced discrimination at hospitals during the Covid outbreak in India.
“As of June 2022, USCIRF’s list of Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims includes 45 Indian nationals, all of whom were designated for their detention,” the resolution states, adding that 35 of these 45 prisoners of conscience remain in custody.
The resolution also referenced the State Department’s 2021 report, which was released on June 2, 2022.
The resolution stated that the ‘Report on International Religious Freedom’ detailed several instances of violence and threats of violence against religious minorities, mainly Muslims and Christians, in India throughout 2021.
Blinken, who launched the report at a press conference, was quoted as saying, “In India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a huge range of faiths, attacks on people and houses of worship have increased.”
And at the same press conference, Rashad Hussain, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, stated, “We are worried about the targeting of a variety of religious minorities in India, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu Dalits, and indigenous communities as well.”
The resolution stated that, for these reasons, the House denounced human rights atrocities and violations of international religious freedom in India, particularly those targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other religious and cultural minorities.
The House also voiced deep concern over the “deteriorating treatment” of religious minorities in India and urged Blinken to identify India as a “country of special concern” under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.
The resolution has been referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
