Qaisar Mansoor
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed concerns on “rise in human rights abuses” in India. He made the statement at a joint press briefing with United States’ Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Blinken said, “We are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by government, Police, and prison officials.” Jaishankar and Singh did not speak on the matter at the briefing. Blinken’s statement came days after US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar had asked “why Biden administration was “so reluctant” to criticize Indian government on abuse of human rights.” “How much does Modi administration have to criminalize the act of being Muslim in India for us to say something,” Omar had asked at a Congressional briefing.
The statement had come amid a wave of anti-Muslim campaigns in India, targeting women who wore Hijabs in educational institutions, meat sellers, Muslim traders selling their wares at temple complexes and Muslim taxi drivers. Since Modi came into power, right-wing Hindu groups have launched attacks on minorities claiming they are trying to prevent religious conversions.
Several Indian states have passed or are considering anti-conversion laws that challenge the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief. In Madhya Pradesh government demolished homes and shops belonging to Muslims in Khargone during a Ram Navami procession. In April 2021, United States’ Department of State had released its 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, in which it had flagged human rights concerns in India.
The report had identified “unlawful and arbitrary killings, arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities, overly restrictive rules on non-governmental organizations, violence against women and minorities and restrictions on freedom of expression and the press” as some of the concerns in India.
Several human rights violations are alleged to have taken place in India in recent years. This includes the introduction of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the removal of constitutional autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir. Such incidents have led to growing concern about the protection of certain groups in the country, including religious minorities. The following section provides an overview of some of these developments.
“What does Modi need to do to India’s Muslim population before we will stop considering them a partner in peace?” Omar, who belongs to President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, said last week.
Modi’s critics say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has fostered religious polarisation since coming to power in 2014.
Since Modi came to power, right-wing Hindu groups have launched attacks on minorities claiming they are trying to prevent religious conversions.
Several Indian states have passed or are considering anti-conversion laws that challenge the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief.
In 2019, the government passed a citizenship law that critics said undermined India’s secular constitution by excluding Muslim migrants from neighbouring countries.
The law was meant to grant Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis, and Sikhs who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 2015.
In the same year, soon after his 2019 re-election win, Modi’s government revoked the special status of occupied Kashmir in a bid to fully integrate the Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country.
To keep a lid on protests, the administration detained many Kashmir political leaders and sent many more paramilitary police and soldiers to the Himalayan region also claimed by Pakistan.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently banned wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka state. Hardline Hindu groups later demanded such restrictions in more Indian states.
