09/17/2020 India (International Christian Concern) – Fourteen U.S. Senators have signed onto a letter asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to consider the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) recommendation to designate India a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). The Senators went on to demand that “targeted sanctions” be imposed against Indian agencies and officials responsible for escalating religious intolerance and violence.
According to USCIRF, violations of the religious freedom rights of minorities have reached a level that India should be considered amongst the world’s worst violators. In USCIRF’s most recent Annual Report, India’s violations were placed on par with countries like China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Burma.
The Senators when on to request the Secretary of State provide Congress with its reasoning if the USCIRF recommendations are not followed and India is not designated a CPC.
“There is strong bipartisan Congressional support for holding India accountable for its escalating violence against its principal minorities, the Muslims and Christians,” the Coalition to Stop Genocide in India explained. “The U.S. Government must designate India a CPC.”
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in 2014, religious intolerance and anti-Christian violence has surged across India. In 2014, the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) documented 144 violent attacks on Indian Christians. In 2019, the latest data available, the number of attacks has more than doubled with EFI documenting 366 violent attacks.
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