Minorities in India face deteriorating treatment, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a report on Tuesday, reports India Today.
According to news agency Reuters, the panel鈥檚 report recommended sanctions against India鈥檚 external spy agency over alleged involvement in assassination plots against Sikh separatists.
The panel鈥檚 annual report also said communist-ruled Vietnam stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended Vietnam 鈥� a country like India with which Washington has sought to build close ties given shared concerns about China 鈥� also be designated a 鈥榗ountry of particular concern.鈥�
It is unlikely the US government will sanction India鈥檚 Research and Analysis Wing spy service, as the panel鈥檚 recommendations are not binding. India has previously called the panel鈥檚 reports biased and prejudiced.
Since 2023, allegations of Indian agencies being involved in plots targeting Khalistani activists in the US and Canada have emerged as a wrinkle in US-India ties, with Washington charging an ex-Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, in a foiled US plot. India has denied involvement but has said it is cooperating with the US as far as allegations linked to a failed plot to assassinate Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil are concerned.
鈥業n 2024, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise,鈥� the US commission said in a report released on Tuesday.
It said prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party 鈥榩ropagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities鈥� during last year鈥檚 election campaign.
The panel recommended the US government 鈥榙esignate India as a 鈥榗ountry of particular concern鈥� for religious freedom violations and 鈥榠mpose targeted sanctions鈥� against Yadav and RAW.
The commission is a bipartisan US government advisory body that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations.
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