An independent United States’ commission has called for India, Russia and Vietnam to be added to a State Department blacklist on religious freedom.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government panel that gives recommendations to presidential administrations and Congress, said the four countries should be designated as “countries of particular concern” (CPC) on the State Department list, which currently includes Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Media outlets followed by Shia Waves reported that “India has been considered a particularly controversial country, as it is the second year it is selected by the Commission.”
The media explained that “the conditions of religious freedom in India continued their negative course,” noting that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “encouraged Hindu nationalist policies, which led to systematic, continuous and serious violations of religious freedom, including the violation of the rights of Shia Muslims.”
