New Delhi, August 14: A US Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has slammed India’s record in protecting minorities. Placing India on its “watch list”, the panel urged the Obama administration to get prime minister Manmohan Singh’s government to protect religious minorities. Any country that is designated on “watch list” requires “close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the government.”
This is not the first time that India has been singled out for comment by the US panel. But, as secretary general of the All India Christian Council John Dayal sadly points out, “Unfortunately, nothing really impacts the government of India or the state government. The state, and our social conscience, seems teflon-coated.”
“It is extremely disappointing that India, which has a multitude of religious communities, has done so little to protect and bring justice to its religious minorities under siege,” Leonard Leo of the USCIRF chair said in a statement on Thursday.
“India’s democratic institutions charged with upholding the rule of law, most notably state and central judiciaries and police, have emerged as unwilling or unable to seek redress for victims of the violence,” Leo said in the report. “More must be done to ensure future violence does not occur and that perpetrators are held accountable.”
India’s foreign ministry reacted predictably, calling the panel action “regrettable.” Foreign office spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in a statement, “India, a country of 1.1 billion people, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of religion and equality of opportunity to all its citizens, who live and work together in peace and harmony. Aberrations, if any, are dealt with promptly within our legal framework, under the watchful eye of an independent judiciary and a vigilant media.”
But John Dayal sees the US panel condemnation as “a call to the conscience of the nation to come to rescue the weak.” He said India would have been able to rebuff US scrutiny more effectively it several thousand Christians were still not in refugee camps, if the killers were still not roaming free, and if witnesses, including widows, were not being coerced.
USCIRF’s India chapter was released this week to mark the first anniversary of the start of the anti-Christian violence in Orissa.
–Agencies