A senior US official Monday stated far too many governments, together with Russia, India, China and Saudi Arabia, proceed to freely goal religion neighborhood members, because the state division launched its Congressional-mandatory annual report on worldwide spiritual freedom that paperwork the standing of non secular freedom in nations internationally.
“Far too many governments continue to freely target faith community members within their borders,” Rashad Hussain, Ambassador at Large, Office of International Religious Freedom, informed reporters at a information convention right here quickly after the annual 2022 “Report on International Religious Freedom” was launched by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The report supplies a fact-based, complete view of the state of non secular freedom in almost 200 nations and territories all over the world, Blinken stated, noting that it goals to focus on areas the place freedom of faith or perception is being repressed to advertise accountability and finally, drive progress towards a world the place freedom of faith or perception is a actuality for everybody in all places.
Blinken didn’t point out India in his remarks and the India part of the annual report is sort of much like that of the earlier years, which is kind of a documentation of allegations of violation of non secular freedom raised by a number of media retailers and non-governmental organisations inside and out of doors the nation.
Hussain talked about India within the context of the important thing findings of the report by way of governments persevering with to freely goal religion communities.
“In India, legal advocates and faith leaders from across the country’s diverse religious communities condemned a case of extreme hate speech against Muslims in the city of Haridwar, calling for the country to uphold its historical traditions of pluralism and tolerance. And the Burma military regime continues to repress the Rohingya population, causing many to flee their homes,” Hussain stated as he listed out a couple of different nations beginning with Russia and adopted by China and Afghanistan.
“I would like to share some key findings from this year’s report regarding religious discrimination and hatred at the governmental and societal levels and describe what we are doing to address it,” Hussain stated.
The India part of the doc stated there have been quite a few studies in the course of the yr of violence by legislation enforcement authorities in opposition to members of non secular minorities in a number of states, together with plainclothes police in Gujarat publicly flogging 4 Muslim males accused of injuring Hindu worshippers throughout a pageant in October and the Madhya Pradesh authorities bulldozing Muslim-owned homes and retailers following communal violence in Khargone in April.
The report famous that in September, Rasthtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat met with 5 distinguished members of the Muslim neighborhood to take heed to their considerations and talk about the right way to promote communal concord between Muslims and Hindus.
“Bhagwat reportedly dedicated to continued conferences for the aim of enhancing relations between the Muslim and Hindu communities. Bhagwat additionally met with Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, head of the All India Imam Organisation, at a Delhi-area madrassah run by that organisation.
Media reported that some Muslim teams welcomed Bhagwat’s engagement, whereas others described it as ‘just optics’ and preparation for the 2024 parliamentary elections,” it stated.
“In 2021, Bhagwat had stated publicly that Hindus and Muslims in the country should not be treated differently because of religion and that killing non-Hindus for cow slaughter was an act against Hinduism,” the report stated.
In an announcement, US Commission for International Religious Freedom Chair Nury Turkel stated the International Religious Freedom Report is a useful software within the battle to carry violators accountable and enhance world spiritual freedom situations.
“With this report, the state department shows the entire world that the United States is committed to the fundamental value of religious freedom,” he stated.