Biased outburst

ON the basis of recommendations made by the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the US State Department annually releases a list of countries and non-state actors that commit or tolerate violation of religious freedom. The department designates them as Countries/Entities of Particular Concern (CPC/EPC) and imposes sanctions on the agencies and officials concerned.

Like in the past few years, the USCIRF has expressed disappointment over the department not including India in its red list, which was released last month and has designated 11 countries as CPC. But the double standards and partisanship of the USCIRF are evident as nowhere in its outburst does it mention the omission of Israel from the list. Among those on the EPC list are the Hamas-supporting Houthis. Gaza is being brutally attacked by Israel for the past three months. While the USCIRF points out that the department has overlooked the alarm it had sounded over the situation in India, its silence on Israel’s exclusion is deafening. Does the US religious freedom watchdog not believe that Israel has been blatantly using its might to harass, jail and kill Palestinian civilians solely on the basis of their faith and beliefs?

Not surprisingly, India has denied that the minorities are facing discrimination in the country, with the Foreign Ministry dismissing the USCIRF comments since 2020 as ‘biased and tendentious’. While India does not really need to defend itself before a watchdog like the USCIRF, which is unashamedly prejudiced, it would do well to introspect why its secular and democratic credentials are being questioned and try to set things right — for the sake of its own citizens.