Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 17, 2009
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/India-denies-visa-to-US-religious-freedom-watchdogs/articleshow/4664454.cms
The Manmohan Singh government has scuppered
a proposed visit to India this week by the United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US Congress-mandated organization that monitors
religious rights worldwide and gives independent policy recommendations to
the US President and his administration.
A USCIRF team that was to leave for New Dehi
on June 12 was not given visas in time, according to an associate at the commission,
who said it was done with the obvious intent of blocking the trip. "They
knew we
had tickets for June 12 and the visas are yet to be given, so the inference
is obvious...they don't want us to visit," the associate told ToI.
The Indian Embassy in Washington, the issuing
authority for the visa, referred all questions to New Delhi, while acknowledging
that the USCIRF team had applied for visas and the applications had been forwarded
to
New Delhi as is the standard practice for all such visits.
Sources in the government, without acknowledging
that the visas were deliberately withheld, said it was not a proper time for
such a visit. "We really don't care about what they report," an
official who spoke on background said. "But a high profile visit seen
as having government sanctions would have raised hackles in India." The
USCIRF has in its reports criticized violence against religious minorities
in India.
The official said the visa denial was not
linked to the criticism of the proposed visit by the Hindu pontiff, Shankaracharya
Jayendra Sarawati, who earlier this week described the USCIRF as an "intrusive
mechanism of a foreign government which is interfering with the internal affairs
of India," and said the team must not be allowed to enter the country.
The Obama administration too did not press
for the visit, given that US Undersecretary of State William Burns was in
New Delhi around the time of the proposed USCIRF visit, preparing ground for
the visit to India by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sometime in July.
Most "commissioners" and staff of the USCIRF are appointees of the
previous Bush administration.
Although the United States acknowledges India's
rich religious and ethnic diversity and plurality, the USCIRF has in its annual
reports criticized specific episodes involving violence against religious
minority, like the ones in Gujarat and in Orissa.
"We understand India's sensitivities
about being criticized for religious discrimination given its democratic and
secular credentials," a commission associate said Wednesday. "But
we are concerned that some of the
judicial processes with regards to the incidents in Gujarat and Orissa are
not functioning properly and we only wanted to get them going."
Indian hardliners, especially those on the
extreme right, chafe at the idea that any US body would want to scrutinize
the country's religious freedom, given its secular credentials, when it dares
not interfere in fundamentalist countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,
where minority rights are non-existent. Senior RSS functionaries had specifically
inquired repeatedly about the proposed USCIRF visit.
Describing the proposed USCIRF visit to India
as "incomprehensible," the US branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishat
said as the "largest functioning democracy in the world with an independent
judiciary, a statutorily constituted Human rights Commission, an independent
press and other supporting organizations would appear to be quite capable
of taking care of the religious freedoms and human rights of its citizens."
"India not only offers freedom of religion
under its constitution, but does not discriminate based on religion. Similar
freedoms are not available in its neighboring countries," the VHP said
on a statement.
But the Indian Left and the "secular"
brigade in the US, including organizations representing minorities, argue
that allowing such foreign bodies to visit India and examine its record and
performance enhances the country's reputation as an open, democratic nation
that has nothing to hide or fear.
