India rejected “biased and motivated,” comments made by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) about the country in its annual report that had yet again proposed to blacklist New Delhi and urged it to develop a better understanding of India.
According to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs, Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) continues to regurgitate biased and motivated comments about India, this time in its 2023 annual report. We reject such misrepresentation of facts, which only serves to discredit USCIRF itself.”
“We would urge USCIRF to desist from such efforts and develop a better understanding of India, its plurality, its democratic ethos, and its constitutional mechanisms,” he added. This response came after the US federal commission urged the Biden administration to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief.”
In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF recommends 17 countries to the State Department for designation as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) because their governments engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations” of the right to freedom of religion or belief. These include 12 that the State Department designated as CPCs in November 2022: Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan–as well as five additional recommendations: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria, and Vietnam.