India on Thursday rejected the US State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2019, which has a detailed account...
India on Thursday rejected the US State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2019, which has a detailed account of the Centre’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, The Indian Express reported.
The Ministry of External Affairs said Washington has no locus standi to comment on the matters. “The report is published annually by the US State Department as part of the legal requirement to the US Congress,” foreign ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. “It is an internal document of the US government. India’s vibrant democratic traditions and practices are evident to the world. The people and the government of India are proud of our country’s democratic traditions. We have a robust public discourse.”
Srivastava added: “And we have constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee protection of religious freedom and rule of law. Therefore, our principal position remains that we see no local standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens’ constitutionally protected rights.”
In a letter on June 1, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that New Delhi had denied visas to teams from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a non-governmental advisory body to the US Congress,...
