NEW DELHI: Washington has dismissed the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommendation of designating India as a country of particular concern for violation of religious freedom.
The US state department, however, designated Pakistan and China as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) among 10 countries, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said.
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity, had told the US government in its 2020 annual report that religious freedom in India had experienced a ‘drastic turn downward’ with religious minorities under ‘increasing assault’ in 2019.
The last it had recommended India to be listed as a country of concern was in 2004.
India had rejected the report’s observations and termed the comments as ‘biased’ and ‘tendentious’, and said the allegations were ‘not new’.
New Delhi had also alleged that the “misrepresentations” had reached “new levels”.The state department also did not accept the USCIRF recommendation of designating Russia, Syria, and Vietnam as CPCs.