On June 22, Ilhan Omar who represents the 5^th Congressional District of the US state of Minnesota introduced a resolution to condemn human rights violations in India. Needless to say, the resolution, promptly dubbed “anti-India” by a section of the Indian press, has not made the regime happy.

Though, so far, the Ministry of External Affairs has not issued any formal statement on the Resolution. However, when Omar had recently visited Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, MEA spokesperson Arndam Bagchi had not minced words and stated, “She visited a part of Jammu and Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan. If such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home that may be her business, but violating our territorial integrity in its pursuit makes it ours.”

What does the Resolution say?

“The Indian government must be held responsible for human right violations against religious and cultural minorities,” said Omar, adding, “In recent years, the Indian government has been escalating repressive policies against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits. The United States should stand for religious freedom in India and the fair treatment of all religious minorities.” She further said, “It is past time for the State Department to acknowledge the reality of the situation in India and formally designate India as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act.” 

Demand to name India CPC

Readers would recall that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has been recommending that India be designated a CPC for the last three years. Omar’s Resolution has now added more heft to this demand. The Resolution is co-sponsored by Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American Congresswoman from Michigan, Jim McGovern, a Congressman from Massachusetts, and Juan Vargas, a Congressman from California.

References to political prisoners, violation of minority rights

As per the official text of the Resolution H.RES.1196 uploaded to Omar’s official website also refers to USCIRF’s findings pertaining to the “emblematic cases of the Indian Government’s repression of religious minority leaders and voices for religious pluralism in India, including the Jesuit human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and the Muslim human rights advocate Khurram Parvez.”

The resolution also mentions how the USCIRF report had mention that the Indian Government was “criminalizing, harassing, and repressing interfaith couples and converts from Hinduism to Christianity or Islam.” It also refers to 45 prisoners of conscience in India, out of whom at 35 still remain under detention.

H.RES.1196 resolves that, “That the House of Representatives—

(1) condemns human rights violations and violations of international religious freedom in India, including those targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other religious and cultural minorities;

(2) expresses grave concern about the worsening treatment of religious minorities in India; and

(3) calls on the Secretary of State to designate India as a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) and the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016 (Public Law 114–281).”

The entire Resolution may be read here: 

The Resolution has been forwarded to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) that will decide if it should be considered and then forward it to the full House. But if the Resolution is not taken up before the November 2022 House elections, it will lapse.

Related:

USCIRF recommends India be designated Country of Particular Concern for third straight year!

Fr Stan Swamy, Khurram Parvez, Siddique Kappan on USCIRF’s Freedom of Religion or Belief victims list

Will the US tag India a ‘country of particular concern’?

HRW World Report 2022 showcases India’s worsening Human Rights situation 

The post US Congresswoman introduces resolution against human rights violations in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on April 6, 2022 asked President Joe Biden administration why it has been so reluctant to criticize Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on its human rights record.

“How much does the Modi administration have to criminalise the act of being Muslim in India for us to say something? What will it take for us to outwardly criticise the actions that the Modi administration is taking against its Muslim minorities in India?” Omar asked Biden’s Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Citing many instances of human injustices across the world, Omar compared Modi to the fascist Chilean General Augusto Pinochet whose regime witnessed many human rights violations.

She pushed saying, “When we remain silent and the situation gets out of control in the way that it did with the Rohingyas, we all of a sudden show interest in whatever genocide that’s taking place. But we have an opportunity now to lead and make sure that there is a deterrence in the actions that they are taking as our partners.”

In response, Sherman agreed with her in that the US administration must stand up ‘for every religion, every ethnicity, every race, every quality of diversity in this world.’

Omar concluded by saying that the US administration must “make a practice” of standing up against adversaries and allies alike.

In a later tweet, the fifth Congressional District Representative from Minnesota questioned the ruling regime’s treatment of the Muslim community and its global status as a US ally. “These are the questions the Administration needs to answer,” she said.

Why has the Biden Administration been so reluctant to criticize Modi’s government on human rights?

What does Modi need to do to India’s Muslim population before we will stop considering them a partner in peace?

These are the questions the Administration needs to answer. pic.twitter.com/kwO2rSh1BL

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) April 6, 2022

As India has seen, since 2014 but especially since December 2021, targeted hate speech that typically proceeds acts of social exclusion and outbreaks of violence, have peaked. After the hijab controversy, Karnataka has moved on to ban loudspeakers in Masjids. A political has been –Raj Thackeray—has echoed this in Maharashtra’s. Days ago, Gujarat saw such brazen hate speech aimed at verbal gender abuse of Muslim women. With Indian courts slow to act on such violations, even dismissing hate speeches uttered with a smile, the fact that elected officials from foreign countries are now weighing in their concerns about India’s social fabric, says a lot.

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The post ‘What will it take for the Biden administration to call out Modi’s regime for human rights violations?’: US lawmaker, Ilhan Omar appeared first on SabrangIndia.