EDITORIAL: First things first. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is said to be a fully independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the US Congress with a view to monitoring, analyzing and reporting on religious freedoms abroad.
How foreign policy interests of the US outbid its concern for human rights the world over the latest USCIRF report tells the whole truth; in other words, it says it all.
According to it, for example, “religious freedom conditions in India are taking a drastic turn downward, with national and various state governments [the UP government led by Aditya Yoginath in particular] tolerating widespread harassment and violence against religious minorities.
The BJP-led government enacted the Citizen (Amendment) Act (CAA), which provides a fast track to Indian citizenship only for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan already residing in India. This potentially exposes millions of Muslims to detention, deportation and statelessness when the government completes its planned nationwide National Register of Citizens.” It is important to note that for the fourth consecutive year the commission through its Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) report has asked US State Department to blacklist India over “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”.
But the State Department, which had barred Narendra Modi from entering the United States in 2002 for his principal role in the massacre of Muslims, now thinks differently and refuses to designate India as a country of particular concern – for, it sees the world through its geostrategic lens. It tends to see India as an anti-China regional proxy, therefore would not like to do anything which may annoy the pro-Hindutva Narendra Modi setup in India.
But the CPC is quite vocal by pointing out violence and destruction of religious properties, particularly those of Muslims and Christians. It also refers to comments and social media posts by members of the Modi government, calling for targeting religious minorities. The commission also puts its finger on “the continued enforcement of discrimination laws that facilitated a culture of impunity for widespread campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups”.
But that said the Commission seems to be not only a bit shy in exposing the Narendra Modi’s scheme to treat religious minorities to be non-humans and therefore due for mass murders it hasn’t also taken up the incessant mistreatment of non-Hindus in regions like Occupied Kashmir and the Sikhs’ homeland Punjab.
How callously the Modi setup is playing with human life, the Commission needs to read what has now come to light about the Pulwama episode.
Former governor of states of IIOJK (a Union Territory since August 2019), Bihar, Goa and Meghalaya, Satyapal Malik, therefore, deserves commendation for spilling the beans. Be that as it may, wish best of luck to the Commission on International Religious Freedom as it seeks to ask the US Congress to “raise religious freedom issues in the US-India bilateral relationship and highlight concerns through hearings, briefings, letters and congressional delegations”. The Commission’s ambition is need of the time, but the taste of the pudding is in eating.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023