USCIRF should be designated as entity of concern: MEA slams US panel's religious freedom report

New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) should be designated as an entity of concern and noted that the USCIRF 2025 Annual Report "once again continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments.

In response to media queries regarding the 2025 Annual Report of USCIRF, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We have seen the recently released 2025 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which once again continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments."

"The USCIRF's persistent attempts to misrepresent isolated incidents and cast aspersions on India's vibrant multicultural society reflect a deliberate agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom," the MEA spokesperson said.

Jaiswal noted that India has a population of 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind and stressed that India has no expectation that USCIRF will "engage with the reality of India's pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities."

Randhir Jaiswal said, "India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. However, we have no expectation that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India's pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities."

"Such efforts to undermine India's standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern," he added.

In the report, USCIRF urged the US government to designate India as a "country of particular concern" or CPC "for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations", as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

The report alleged that the religious freedom conditions in India in 2024 continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)