Daily Times

Tom Lantos proposed to the US Congressional Commission on the Situation of Human Rights in India that the country be designated as one with major concern for human rights.

Experts who have appeared before the commission testified that the Muslims in India were tortured.

The Religious Freedom Commission suggests designating India as a nation of special concern in 2020. It is now beyond simply designating India as a nation of special concern when considering the plight of the country’s minorities. India misuses laws intended to protect minorities. Congressman Stephen Schenck said that the Indian government policies are allegedly being exploited against religious minorities. India is among the countries where minorities face inhumane treatment and where it has become commonplace to violate laws intended to protect them.

The policies of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) have exacerbated incidents of violence against religious minorities. India has long referred to itself as a secular nation. But radical Hinduism has always existed in India. It has reached extremes under the Modi administration. Violence against minorities, especially Muslims, is on the rise as a result of BJP leaders and other nominees targeting these groups. The only option left is to formally designate India as an extremist state given the persecution of India’s minorities.

India misuses laws intended to protect minorities.

Radical ideologies led to the construction of Ram Mandir in lieu of Babri Masjid. Christians, Sikhs, and Muslims are compelled to convert. Mosques and churches are set on fire and demolished in India. The Indian government’s lack of action towards the Muslims in Occupied Kashmir has blinded the eyes of the world community.

According to a recent report by International Religious Freedom, 13 Indian states have banned religious conversion, which is against fundamental human rights. There have been many reports highlighting law enforcement authorities’ violence against religious minorities. The reports make it quite evident that the Muslim and Christian populations in India are the most severely impacted. It also discusses how the administration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi supports violence against minorities. The watchdog groups against cow slaughter, anti-conversion measures, and the Citizenship Amendment Act were also mentioned in the report.

It also refers to acts of violence, such as the murder of Canadian national Hardeep Singh Nagar and the attempted assassination of American national Grunt Singh Pinan. Witnesses highlighted India’s human rights problems as well as how the ruling party uses the law as a weapon to suppress the opposition. Concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act and India’s National Registry of Citizens, John Sefton highlighted his worry that citizens were now required to demonstrate their citizenship as proof of their responsibility, shifting the weight of proof onto them. Human rights activists are being targeted by India, misusing the funding it receives for counterterrorism. UN Congresswoman Ilhan Umar stated that she worries about the way Muslims and Christians are treated, the situation in Punjab, and the status of the Sikh organisation.

Representatives from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the American Commission for International Religious Freedom, and other human rights organisations have testified before the American Commission about grave human rights violations, including sex trafficking, religious intolerance, persecution of minorities, and restrictions on the media and internet in India. The commission was informed that laws discriminating against minorities are unjust and that Muslims and other minorities are regarded as second-class citizens in India. The majority of the issues stem from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to convert the country from a secular democracy to a Hindutva Ideology. Violence against minorities, especially Muslims, is on the rise as a result of BJP leaders and other nominees targeting these groups. India’s future will be in danger if the problems relating to breaches of human rights are not rectified.

The UN and the international community must step up and implement defensive economic and other sanctions on India to put an end to its cruelty towards minorities and to safeguard them. At all international fora, Pakistan exposes India’s abuses of human rights. If worldwide publications have also brought attention to India’s transgressions, then why are world leaders keeping their eyes closed? Their unlawful silence is giving India even more confidence.

In conclusion, Congress must compel India to reconsider its policies, especially those that contravene international agreements on human rights and terrorism. The international community has to exert more pressure on the Modi government to uphold international rules pertaining to minorities to safeguard the lives and property of minorities in India.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at rakhshandamehtab@gmail.com