US religious freedom panel urges sanctions against India s external spy agency

WASHINGTON – Minorities in India face deteriorating treatment, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said on March 25 and recommended targeted sanctions against India’s external spy agency over alleged involvement in assassination plots against Sikh separatists.

The panel’s annual report also said communist-ruled Vietnam stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended that Vietnam – a country like India with which Washington has sought to build close ties given shared concerns about China – also be designated a “country of particular concern”.

Analysts say Washington has long seen New Delhi as a counter to China’s rising influence in Asia and elsewhere, and, hence, overlooked human rights issues in India.

It is unlikely the US government will sanction India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service, as the panel’s recommendations are not binding.

Since 2023, India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists in the US and Canada has emerged as a wrinkle in US-India ties, with Washington charging Vikash Yadav, a former Indian intelligence officer, in a foiled US plot.

India labels Sikh separatists as security threats and has denied involvement.

“In 2024, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise,” the US commission said in a report released on March 25.

It said Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during the 2024 election campaign.

Mr Modi in April 2024 referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” who have “more children”.

US State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom have noted minority abuses in recent years. New Delhi calls them “deeply biased”.

Mr Modi, who has been prime minister since 2014, denies discrimination and says his government’s policies such as electrification drives