US lawmaker Ilhan Omar has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for the State Department to declare India an egregious violator of religious freedom.
Ilhan Omar, the Democratic member of the House of Representatives known is the lead on the resolution that has been co-sponsored by Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Jim McGovern and Juan Vargas, all Democrats.
Omar and Tlaib are the first Muslim American women in Congress and they have both tended to focus on, among other things, Muslims around the world and the threats and challenges confronting them.
Wednesday’s resolution, which is non-binding unlike legislation, calls upon Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate India a “country of particular concern”, a categorisation used by the US under its International Religious Freedom Act for countries it considers are the most egregious violations of religious freedom.
“The Indian government must be held responsible for human rights violations against religious and cultural minorities,” Omar said.
“In recent years, the Indian government has been escalating repressive policies against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits.
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,” she added.
Omar has been a strident critic of the Narendra Modi-led government of India and has targeted its decisions earlier to revoke the special constitutional status of Kashmir.
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