US State Dept report on rise in attacks on people, places of worship in India ill-informed: MEA

The Modi Government on Friday took strong exception to a US State Department report that claimed there was a rise in attacks on people and places of worship in India and termed these comments as “ill-informed.”  New Delhi also said “it is unfortunate (that) vote bank politics is being practiced in international politics”.

The sharp reaction by the Ministry of External Affairs came a day after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said there have been rising attacks on people and places of worship in India, asserting that America will continue to stand up for religious freedom around the world. 

He made these observations at the release of the annual International Religious Freedom report for the year 2021.

Rebutting his remarks, the MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Friday, “We have noted the release of the US State Department 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, and ill informed comments by senior US officials. “It is unfortunate that vote bank politics is being practised in international relations. We would urge that assessments based on motivated inputs and biased views be avoided.”

Baghci said as a naturally pluralistic society, India values religious freedom and human rights. “In our discussions with the US, we have regularly highlighted issues of concern there, including racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes and gun violence,” he asserted.

Blinken had also said people from the minority communities and women were being targeted in other Asian countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and China.

“The United States will continue to stand up for religious freedom around the world. We’ll keep working alongside other governments, multilateral organisations, civil society to do so, including next month at the United Kingdom’s ministerial to advance religious freedom,” Blinken told media persons.

“At its core, our work is about ensuring that all people have the freedom to pursue the spiritual tradition that most has meaning to their time on earth,” he said, noting that the report documents how religious freedom and the rights of religious minorities are under threat in communities around the world.

“For example, in India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a great diversity of faiths, we’ve seen rising attacks on people and places of worship; in Vietnam, where authorities harassed members of unregistered religious communities; in Nigeria, where several state governments are using anti-defamation and blasphemy laws to punish people for expressing their beliefs,” Blinken said.

China, he said, continues to harass adherents of other religions that it deems out of line with the Chinese Communist Party doctrine, including by destroying Buddhist, Christian, Islamic and Taoist houses of worship and by erecting barriers to employment and housing for Christians, Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners.

In Afghanistan, conditions for religious freedom have deteriorated dramatically under the Taliban, particularly as they crack down on the basic rights of women and girls to get an education, to work, to engage in society, often under the banner of religion, he said.

Meanwhile, ISIS-K is conducting increasingly violent attacks against religious minorities, particularly Shia Hazaras, he added.

“In Pakistan, at least 16 individuals accused of blasphemy were sentenced to death by Pakistani courts in 2021 though none of these sentences has yet to be carried out,” Blinken said.

“Beyond these countries, the report documents how religious freedom and the rights of religious minorities are under threat in communities around the world,” he said.