WASHINGTON: Violent attacks on religious minorities in India have increased after the Modi government came to power, according to a US congressional report released on Friday.

The latest US Commission on International Religious Freedom report also noted that “Pakistan represents one of the worst situations in the world for religious freedom”.

The United States, however, has not designated Pakistan as a “country of particular concern”, a designation that can bring economic sanctions.

The commission has again recommended that Pakistan be designated a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The commission has been making this recommendation every year since 2002.

India: The report says that “since the [last year’s] election, religious minority communities have been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups, such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)”.

It noted that in December, Hindu groups announced plans to forcibly “reconvert” at least 4,000 Christian families and 1,000 Muslim families to Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh as part of a so-called ‘ghar wapsi’ (homecoming) programme.

“Christian communities, across many denominations, report an increase of harassment and violence in the last year, including physical violence, arson, desecration of churches and Bibles, and disruption of religious services,” the report adds.

According to the report, the Muslim community in India also has experienced increased harassment and violence. It faces significant hate campaigns perpetrated by Hindu nationalist groups and local and state politicians that include widespread media propaganda accusing Muslims of being terrorists; spying for Pakistan; forcibly kidnapping, converting, and marrying Hindu women; and disrespecting Hinduism by slaughtering cows.

“In the past year, there have been a number of violent incidents leading to deaths and displacement of Muslims.”

SECTERIAN VIOLENCE: The report on Pakistan said that the country continued to experience chronic sectarian violence targeting Shias, Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus.

“Despite positive rulings by the Supreme Court, the government failed to provide adequate protection to targeted groups or to prosecute perpetrators and those calling for violence.”

The report pointed out that Pakistan’s “repressive blasphemy laws and anti-Ahmadi laws “continue to violate religious freedoms and to foster a climate of impunity.”

The blasphemy laws “target members of religious minority communities and dissenting Muslims”, the report added.

The chapter on Shias noted that during 2014, militants and terrorist organisations continued to target processions and mosques, as well as social gathering places, with impunity.

Police, if present, have failed to stop attackers before people are killed, and the government has not cracked down on the groups that repeatedly target Shias. The government has not successfully prosecuted the leader of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi who is regularly released due to a purported lack of evidence, the report alleged.

The report also made a mention of forced conversion of Christian and Hindu girls and young women into Islam and forced marriage remains a systemic problem.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2015

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