India responds to US religious freedom watchdog
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi has dismissed a warning issued by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which urged President Biden to designate India a “country of particular concern” last week, citing its alleged efforts to “silence activists, journalists, and lawyers abroad.”
Since 2020, the USCIRF has advised the US State Department to issue the designation every year, and New Delhi has vehemently rejected its claims.
On Thursday, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi claimed that the USCIRF has a “motivated and biased approach towards India.”
“You have seen it a number of times in the past,” Bagchi said during a press conference on Thursday. “I would therefore not like to give their comments any particular weight or consideration.”
His response to the USCIRF allegations were similar to those made last year, when he said “these comments reflect a severe lack of understanding of India and its constitutional framework, its plurality and its democratic ethos.”
In its latest statement regarding India, the agency cited New Delhi’s ongoing standoff with the US and Canada over attacks on Sikh activists promoting the Khalistan secessionist movement as a matter of grave concern. The movement is pressing for a separate homeland for the minority-Sikh community to be carved out of India.
“The Indian government’s alleged involvement in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States are deeply troubling,” Stephen Schneck, the commissioner of the organization, was quoted as saying in a release.
Last month, a US court linked an Indian government official to an alleged assassination attempt against New York-based Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun that was reportedly foiled by the FBI in June. Nikhil Gupta, a man of Indian origin who allegedly tried to recruit a hitman, has been detained in the Czech Republic and is awaiting extradition to the US.
In June, another prominent Khalistan activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was killed by unidentified gunmen in a Vancouver suburb. The Canadian government has alleged that “agents of the Indian government” were responsible. Both Pannun and Nijjar were designated as terrorists by India in 2020.
While India has rejected the Canadian allegations, it has formed a high-level committee to probe “all relevant aspects” of the US case. Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray visited India to discuss national security-related issues with his Indian counterparts.
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