US Commission raises concerns over arrest of Muslim social workers in India

The US Commission on the Freedom of Religions (USCIRF) has expressed concern over the arrest of Muslim social activists protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India.

The USCIRF said in a tweet that "because of the Corona virus, India is targeting fundamental rights protesters at a time when it wants to consider releasing prisoners."

The USCIRF specifically named pregnant social worker Safora Zargar, who was arrested during a protest against the CAA in New Delhi.

It should be noted that he was charged under the strict anti-terrorism law 'Prevention of Illegal Activities Act 2019'.

On April 27, Safora Zargar was sent to jail under the anti-terrorism law. It should be noted that she was 3 months pregnant at the time of her arrest.

Safora Zargar, a research fellow at Jamia Millia University in Delhi and media coordinator of the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), had staged a massive protest against the Indian government against the Citizenship Amendment Act passed in December last year.

In a second tweet from the US agency, the commission recommended in its annual report for 2020 that India be declared a "concerned country" for its "systematic gross violations of religious freedom" in 2019. To go

The US agency said that unfortunately, this negative trend against Muslims in India continues till 2020. The report specifically criticized the implementation of India's new citizenship law.

Critics say the law discriminates against Muslims and raises concerns that the Modi administration is violating India's secular traditions.

The United States released its 2018 annual report on religious freedom for world religions, which confirmed that extremist Hindus in India threatened, harassed and tortured Muslims and the lower caste of Hindus, the Dalits. Made.

The report on religious freedom said that Muslims and Dalits were attacked in the name of protecting cows.

The report revealed that after Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, followers of the Christian community were also urged to convert.

"Despite the fact that Indian statistics clearly show an increase in language riots in the last two years, the Narendra Modi administration has never paid attention to resolving the issue," the US report said.

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that according to the report, at least 44 people had been killed in such attacks between May 2015 and December last year.

Human Rights Watch alleged that "36 of them were Muslims and in almost all cases the police either stopped the preliminary investigation, ignored the procedure and the police themselves were involved in the murder or its cover-up." Was'.

It should be noted that there have been protests all over India against the Citizenship Amendment Act and several people have been killed.

In India, which in the past presented itself as a secular state, the government enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act, which has sparked outrage across the country, with protesters calling for the Indian government to turn the state into a Hindu state. Viewing as a step.

What is the Citizenship Amendment Act?

The purpose of the Citizenship Amendment Bill is to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan of six faiths - Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Illegal immigrants of selected categories will be declared eligible for Indian citizenship.

The bill was opposed by all opposition parties and religious parties, including the Congress, as well as the extremist Hindu party Shiv Sena, saying the Center was trying to divide Muslims and Hindus in the country through the bill.

Under the Indian Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, the laws on citizenship enacted in 1955 will be amended. Under the bill, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming to India from 3 neighboring countries before December 31, 2014 will be given Indian citizenship.

Political parties and citizens who oppose the bill say that the bill would grant citizenship to Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh who came to Assam in March 1971, in violation of the 1985 Assam Accord. Will be violated

It should be noted that illegal migration is a sensitive issue in Assam as tribals and other communities here do not accept outsiders and the protesters believe that after the passage of this bill, the number of refugees in Assam will increase....