Religion report

India has not yet reacted favourably to the latest challenge to its claims that it is a secular democracy. This challenge comes in the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report release by Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State on Friday. The launch of the report came ahead of a schedule visit by Pompeo to New Delhi and sparked off a new spat between the two countries with India insisting the report is inaccurate and that no foreign country has the right to criticize its record. India has been placed on the list Tier 2 countries in the report; denoting nations which the US Commission believes require monitoring. The status has been allocated on the basis of what the US State Department says are increased attacks on minority groups, including Muslims, Dalits and also Christians. The eleven other nations in the Tier 2 category include Turkey, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Cuba.

Beyond the implications of the report for India itself, where communal violence has increased sharply since the BJP government of Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the report also has implications in terms of international relations. The United States is currently eager to push forward ties with India as a regional counterweight to China and both President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi have gone out of their way to emphasise their strong relationship

Kamil Ibad

Lahore