Downward spiral

The annual report for 2019 compiled by the US Commission for International Religious Freedom has said that the most alarming deterioration in conditions of religious freedom has taken place in India. The USCIRF has recommended that India be declared a country of particular concern. This would be for the first time since 2004 that this status has been recommended for India. The status is advised most often when governments engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing egregious violations”. The report also recommends other countries to the State Department for designation in the same category., including Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. This report should come as a shock to India as a country which prides itself on its democratic values and its secular standing, as set up by its founders. The secularism has of course disappeared. The report states that most shocking among the reasons for pulling India down to the status of countries which most openly violate religious freedoms was the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which potentially exposes millions of Muslims to detention, deportation and statelessness. The Act fast-tracked citizenship for newcomers into India who belonged to six religions, but excludes Muslims. The report also notes that there have been increasing violations of human rights directed against Muslims while India is also charged with using torture or degrading punishments without charges, causing the disappearance of persons through abduction and other blatant denials of basic human rights including the right to life, liberty or security.

Nations which fall into the category of countries of particular concern are subject to further actions including economic sanctions by the US unless Washington grants a national interest waiver as it does for Pakistan. While Pakistan is also described as a country of special concern, the report notes that it has undertaken positive steps such as the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor for Sikhs, the opening of the country’s first Sikh university, the reopening of a Hindu temple and the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, who had been imprisoned on charges of blasphemy. It also states that Pakistan would be willing to engage in dialogue with the committee on how it could improve conditions. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also written a letter to the OIC and other international organizations warning about the possibility of a pogrom similar to the one that occurred in Gujarat in 2002 if current conditions in India continue. In 2002, when Modi was in power in Gujarat, almost 1,000 people were killed in a spate of massacres, 790 of them Muslims. Pakistan has also cited numerous incidents of hate-based crimes against Indian Muslims as a cause of concern, pointing out that they were in fact blamed for spreading Covid-19 in the country. Kuwait has become the first Gulf country to take note of Indian violence against its Muslim minority.

Pakistan has noted that its efforts have meant that international attention is being drawn towards the situation for Muslims in India. This must be welcomed. For India, the US report makes it clear before the world that it is neither a democracy nor a secular, liberal state capable of protecting all its people. The incidents of punishment for cow slaughter and other offences rooted in religious grounds continue. India has changed dramatically. Its minorities and its over 180 million Muslims who form the largest group amongst these minorities live in constant fear. We hope the damning report will help New Delhi recognize that it now ranks among the pariah states of the world.