Expressing concern over Indian government's “recent efforts to silence activists, journalists, and lawyers abroad”, the US religious freedom watchdog has called on the Joe Biden administration to designate India as a "country of particular concern" under the US Religious Freedom Act.
Citing Indian government's alleged targeting of religious minorities overseas, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal government commission, said, "USCIRF implores the U.S. Department of State to designate India a Country of Particular Concern due to India's systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief," it said in a statement.
The Indian embassy in Washington is yet to respond.
The development comes in the wake of allegations of Indian government's involvement in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and a plot to kill another Sikh activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in the United States.
Last month, the US federal prosecutors charged an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen. The Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic arrested Gupta at the behest of the US, which is attempting to extradite him to the country.
The Indian government has denied involvement in the plot.
USCIRF said it has been recommending since 2020 that the State Department label India a country of particular concern, a designation under the 1998 US Religious Freedom Act. The act allows a range of policy responses, including sanctions or waivers, but they are not automatic.
Reuters reported USCIRF Commissioner David Curry as saying that India's extension of domestic repression to target religious minorities from India living abroad "is especially dangerous and cannot be ignored".
