The United States said Thursday that some Indian officials havesupported attacks against religuous minorities, in a rare if indirectcriticism of the record of its emerging ally.
Unveiling an annual report on international religiouslink freedom, Secretary of State AntonyBlinken offered bleak assessments of several USlink including China, Iran andMyanmar.
But he said that elsewhere as well “the rights of religiouslink minorities are under threat incommunities around the world.”
“In India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a great diversity offaiths, we’ve seen rising attacks link onpeople in places of worship,” Blinken said.
Rashad Hussain, the US link ambassador at largefor international religious link,added: “In India, some officials linkignoring or even supporting rising attackslink on people and places of worship.”
In the report, the State Department pointed to laws restricting religiouslink, quoted accounts ofdiscrimination against Muslims and Christians, and said that “politiciansmade inflammatory public remarks or social media posts about religiouslink.”
Indian link Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sHindu nationalist government has championed a series of measures thatcritics have called discriminatory.
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India frequently bristles at foreign criticism of its record and hasdenounced the US link Commission onInternational Religious link Freedom, anautonomous government panel, which has repeatedly recommended that theState Department put India on a blacklist.
The State Department did not announce new designations Thursday and it ishighly unlikely that it would take action against India, identified bysuccessive US link administrations as a keyglobal partner in the face of a rising China.
The report also pointed to concerns in India’s historic rival Pakistan,which is on the religious link freedomblacklist.
Blinken said that at least 16 people were sentenced to death in Pakistanlast year on accusations of blasphemy, although no one was executed.
Mere allegations of blaspheming Islam have set off violence in Pakistan andcritics say that such charges are often used to abuse minorities. -APP/AFP
