The persecution of religious minorities in India and Pakistan has raised grave concerns, according to the US State Department’s annual report on international religious freedom.
The research highlights the alarming circumstances that the Muslim and Christian populations in India are facing. According to the “2023 Report on International Religious Freedom” report, which was made public on Wednesday, there has been a lot of discrimination against these groups.
Twenty thousand Christians demonstrated against rising levels of violence in New Delhi in February. 93 former top government officials expressed their worries about political party leaders’ ongoing mistreatment of Christians in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March. The paper describes instances in which Muslims and Christians were harassed due to unfounded accusations and detained under anti-conversion laws.
“Christians and Muslims were arrested under laws banning forced religious conversions, which religious groups said in some cases were used to harass and imprison members of religious minority groups on false and fabricated charges or for lawful religious practices,” according to the report.
“In some cases, Christian groups said local police aided mobs that disrupted worship services over accusations of conversion activities or stood by while mobs attacked Christians and then arrested the victims on conversion charges.”
In India, the number of violent attacks targeting the Christian population has increased. Official government declarations were frequently at odds with the deeds and words of BJP members. It has been requested that the Indian government look into and prosecute people who have committed acts of violence against minority groups.
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The affirmative remarks made by government officials were, according to international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Human Rights Watch (HRW), “contrary to the actions and statements by members and supporters of his (Modi’s) BJP party [Bharatiya Janata Party].” They added that people who commit acts of violence against members of minority groups should be looked into by the government and brought to justice.
