US religious freedom report gives India, Pakistan, and China low marks
In Asia, Vietnam and Bangladesh serious cases of abuse and persecution were reported in 2023. India is criticised even though New Delhi is an important US ally against Beijing. In Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims suffer the worst discrimination.
Washington (AsiaNews) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday presented the 2023 International Religious Freedom Report.
“Today governments around the world continue to target individuals, shutter places of worship, forcibly displace communities, and imprison people because of their religious beliefs,” he said during the rollout.
He is not alone in voicing concern. According to the Pew Research Institute, government restrictions on religions have reached their highest level since 2007.
The report by the Office of International Religious Freedom of the US Department of State looks at the situation in different countries in the world. One is India.
In a rare example of open criticism of New Delhi, which Washington considers an important ally against Beijing, Blinken said: “In India we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities.”
The report cites scores of violent incidents, including the murder of Muslims for alleged involvement in the sale of beef (cows are sacred for majority Hindus), as well as police failure to act during attacks against Christians, accused (without evidence) of forced conversions.
The study mentions the ongoing violence in the northeastern state of Manipur, where clashes broke out between different ethnic groups more than a year ago. According to available information, more than 250 churches have been torched so far, and more than 200 people have been killed while more than 60,000 people have been displaced.
“The report seems to reflect the reality on the ground as many incidents of violence against religious minorities are reported in the Indian media,” said Fr Babu Joseph SVD, former spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
“Although allegations of fraudulent religious conversion fly thick and fast in India, a fact check will undoubtedly show that many of them are just figment of the imagination to malign some Indian communities,” he explained.
In Pakistan, too, police have failed to protect members of religious minorities, the report said. Officers accused of abuse have been lightly disciplined or not at all.
A Pakistani NGO, the Centre for Social Justice, reported more than a hundred forced conversions and marriages of Christian, Hindu and Sikh women and girls in 2023.
At least 16 individuals were killed because of their faith, while 29 people were accused of blasphemy, 75 per cent Muslims, 20 per cent Ahmadis (who are not allowed under the Pakistani constitution to call themselves Muslims), and 3.3 per cent Christians.
Pakistani authorities have cracked down online. The Cyber Crimes wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 140 people on allegations of blasphemy on social media. Eleven people have been sentenced to death, two of which upheld by a higher court.
Ahmadis are the group suffering the most discrimination even in neighbouring Bangladesh, were 22 incidents of violence were reported in 2023. An Ahmadi man was killed and 62 were injured along with 19 Hindus.
Muslim leaders have frequently reported on government interference in the appointment and removal of imams, who are also given guidance across the country regarding the content of sermons.
In Asia, serious violations of religious freedom have also been reported in China and Vietnam, where repression is carried out by the ruling Communist Party.
According to various sources, China continues to exert control over religious groups that it perceives as a threat to the interests of the state.
New administrative measures that came into force in September require monasteries, churches, mosques, and temples to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, implement "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" and promote the "sinicization" of religion.
Chinese authorities have arrested, tortured, ill-treated, held incommunicado, and subjected to forced indoctrination an unknown number of people, often targeted with "vague and insubstantial" charges.
Estimates put the number of people held for their faith at a few thousand to 10,000.
Rashad Hussein, the US ambassador at large for international religious freedom, told the launch that the campaign against the Uyghurs “follows decades of persecution of religious communities, from Tibetan Buddhists, to Christians to Falun Gong practitioners.”
At least 188 people have died because of persecution in 2023, the report said.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, called the allegations in the report inaccurate and accused the US State Department of trying to interfere in China's internal affairs.
In Vietnam, the “Authorities recognized two new religious organizations after more than four years without any new recognitions,” the report reads. Yet, minority religious groups suffer persecution and abuse, but sometimes “it was not clear whether the reported cases were related solely to religious affiliation.”
March last year new legislation was enacted that “will provide new limits on the discretion of local authorities in implementing the Law on Belief and Religion” as well as “new requirements for receiving foreign funding.
When Blinken flew to Hanoi in April, he urged the Vietnamese government to do more. The report calls for “improvement in registration policies to make them more uniform and transparent”.
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article)
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19/06/2023 19:10
14/11/2022 18:47
