New Delhi: India on Tuesday rejected US government's latest report on international religious freedom, saying it is 'motivated' and 'biased'. The report released on Monday by the US State Department criticised India for alleged attacks on minorities. It documents the status of religious freedom in countries across the world.
Speaking about US State Department 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, Arindam Bagchi, the External Affairs spokesperson said that such reports continue to be based on "misinformation and flawed understanding". Motivated and biased commentary by some U.S. officials only serves to undermine further the credibility of these reports", he added. Bagchi however noted that India values the partnership with the U.S. and will continue to have frank exchanges on issues of concern to India.
A senior US official said on Monday that many governments, including Russia, India, China and Saudi Arabia continue to freely target faith community members. "Far too many governments continue to freely target faith community members within their borders," Rashad Hussain, Ambassador at Large, Office of International Religious Freedom, told reporters at a news conference in Washington soon after the report was released by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The US report on religious freedom mentioned several cases of alleged violence against Christians, Muslims, and Dalits in India. It heavily criticized India's anti-conversion laws. It also spoke about the plight of Kashmiri Hindus who complained that they were not being allowed to leave the valley by the government despite being religiously targeted by Radical Islamist terrorists.
During the media interaction at the time of the release of the report Blinken said that the report provides a fact-based, comprehensive view of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world. He did not mention India in his remarks.
The India section of the annual report is almost similar to that of the previous years, which is more or less a documentation of allegations of violation of religious freedom raised by multiple media outlets and non-governmental organisations inside and outside the country. Hussain mentioned India in the context of the key findings of the report in terms of governments continuing to freely target faith 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," Rashad Hussain said.
