The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) calls for the designation of India and Pakistan as “Countries of Particular Concern” and sanctions for transnational repression. But India has trashed the report as biased and ill-informed.

By P.K.Balachandran

Colombo, March 20 – In its report covering 2025, it has slammed India and Pakistan for denying religious freedom to the minorities. But it has skipped Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.

India and Pakistan have been placed in the Countries Recommended for Designation as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) category. Others in the CPC are Afghanistan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

India

On India, the report said that in 2025, religious freedom continued to deteriorate as the government introduced and enforced new legislation targeting religious minorities and their houses of worship.

Several Indian States have tried to introduce or strengthen anti-conversion laws to include harsher prison sentences. Indian authorities also facilitated widespread detention and illegal expulsion of citizens and religious refugees and tolerated vigilante attacks against religious minorities.

Throughout the year, Hindu nationalist mobs across several States harassed, incited, and instigated violence against Muslims and Christians with impunity. In March, violence erupted in Maharashtra after a hardline Hindu nationalist group, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), called for the removal of the tomb of Aurangzeb, a 17th-century Mughal ruler. Subsequent riots injured dozens of people and resulted in a curfew, fuelled by rumours from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) officials that Qur’ans were desecrated in VHP-led protests.

In June, a Hindu nationalist mob attacked 20 Christian families in Odisha after they refused to convert to Hinduism. The attacks, which did not prompt police intervention, left eight people hospitalised.

In April, three gunmen (believed to be from Pakistan) attacked a group of predominantly Hindu tourists in the Muslim-majority Kashmir, killing 26 people. The perpetrators reportedly asked the victims to recite the Kalma, an Islamic verse, and killed those who were unable to do so.

The attack sparked a five-day conflict between India and Pakistan and intensified anti-Muslim sentiment in India, including targeted attacks. Muslims were reportedly killed in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in alleged hate crimes following the attack. In Uttar Pradesh, self-professed members of a Hindu nationalist group reportedly shot and killed a Muslim restaurant worker, vowing to avenge those killed in the Kashmir attack.

The Indian government also seized the aftermath of the attack to justify deportations of religious minorities it considers “illegal” migrants. In May, Indian authorities detained 40 Rohingya refugees, including 15 Christians, all of whom were transported into international waters near the coast of Burma and forced to swim to the Burmese shore with nothing more than life vests.

In July, Indian authorities expelled hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims from Assam to Bangladesh despite being Indian citizens. Officials from the ruling BJP accused those expelled of being Muslim “infiltrators” from Bangladesh, threatening India’s national identity.

To further facilitate the crackdown on alleged “illegal migration,” the government passed a new set of rules and orders for the Foreigners Act in September. The order expands the authority of Foreigner Tribunals to issue arrest warrants and send those suspected of being “foreigners” to holding centres without due process.

Throughout the year, the government also continued to target houses of worship to bring them under state control. In May, India’s Parliament passed the Waqf Bill, which adds non-Muslims to the boards that manage Waqf land endowments that are traditionally staffed by Muslims. These endowments include religious sites, such as mosques, seminaries, and graveyards. In response to the bill, deadly protests erupted in the state of West Bengal, leaving three people dead. In September, the Supreme Court suspended key provisions of the bill, including one in which the government can decide whether a disputed property is a Waqf or not. The court further limited the number of non-Muslim members of the federal board to four.

The same month, Uttarakhand’s legislative assembly passed the State Authority for Minority Education (USAME) Act, which dissolved the Madrasa Board and brought madrasas and other educational institutions for Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians under State control.

The USCIRF has made the following recommendation to the US government in regard to India –

(a) Designated it as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)

(b) Press India to allow US government entities such as USCIRF and the US Department of State to conduct in-country assessments of religious freedom.

Sanction RAW and RSS    

(c) Impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for their responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ or entities’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States;

(d) Link future U.S. security assistance and bilateral trade policies with India to improvements in religious freedom; and

(e) Enforce Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act to halt arms sales to India based on continued acts of intimidation and harassment against US citizens and religious minorities .

(f) The US Congress should reintroduce and pass the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 to require the annual reporting of acts of transnational repression by the Indian government targeting religious minorities in the United States.

Pakistan

Turning to Pakistan, the USCIRF said that in 2025, the government  continued to enforce its strict blasphemy law, impacting people of all faiths, including religious minorities. Increasing vigilante attacks and mob violence targeting religious minorities, specifically Ahmadiyya Muslims and Christians, contributed to an intensified climate of fear and intolerance.

Authorities continued to wield the blasphemy law and its death penalty provision to punish those deemed to have insulted Islam. In January, four individuals were sentenced to death for allegedly posting blasphemous content on social media. The same month, a mentally ill Christian man, Farhan Masih, was imprisoned on blasphemy and terrorism charges. Despite being acquitted, Masih could not return to his village out of fear for his safety.

In February, a sessions court sentenced another man to death after a member of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) accused him of “insulting religious sentiments.” The following month, the Lahore High Court removed Junaid Hafeez’s appeal hearing related to charges of blasphemy. The authorities have held Hafeez in solitary confinement since 2014, and a sessions court sentenced him to death in 2019. His trial has been pending since 2020.

In March, a Muslim man attacked his coworker, Waqas Masih, a 22-year-old Christian man, by slitting his throat, accusing him of committing blasphemy by touching an Islamic textbook with “unclean hands.” Days later, a Muslim man shot and killed a Hindu man, Nadeem Naath, after he allegedly refused to convert to Islam.

In September, two gunmen attacked Christian pastor Kamran Naz as he travelled to Islamabad to lead a church service. The pastor previously received death threats and was accused of proselytising among Afghan refugees.”

Reports of forced conversions among Hindu and Christian girls in Punjab and Sindh Provinces continued throughout 2025. In February, a 12-year-old Christian girl was reportedly forcibly converted to Islam and married to a 35-year-old man in Sindh Province. In July, the Sindh Human Rights Commission expressed concern about the alleged abduction and forced conversion to Islam of a 15-year-old Hindu girl, Shahneela, in Matli. In a police report, her uncle alleged that two armed men forcibly entered the family’s home and kidnapped Shahneela.

Throughout Pakistan, authorities continued to impose restrictions on Ahmadiyyas’ ability to practice their faith and allowed for assaults against Ahmadiyya mosques. In February, a mob of TLP members destroyed minarets of an Ahmadiyya mosque in Sialkot without police intervention. In March, authorities arrested dozens of Ahmadiyyas, including children, or offering Friday prayers. Days later, police issued two First Instance Reports against two dozen Ahmadiyya, based on a complaint from TLP members that the community was sacrificing animals for Eid al-Adha.

In April, a mob affiliated with the TLP stormed an Ahmadiyya mosque to prevent the community from offering Friday prayers. During the attack, the mob beat to death an Ahmadiyya man, Laeeq Cheema. Police allegedly did not intervene to stop the attack.

In December, parliament passed the National Commission for Minority Rights Bill, which the law minister insisted would not override the existing anti-Ahmadiyya law.

Recommendations to the US Government

The USCIRF has made the following recommendations to the US government vis-a-vis Pakistan –

(a) Designate Pakistan as a “country of particular concern,” for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA);

(b) Lift the existing waiver, or do not issue a waiver, releasing the administration from taking otherwise legislatively mandated action as a result of the CPC designation

(c) Impose targeted sanctions on Pakistani officials and government agencies responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations;

(d)  Enter into a binding agreement with the Pakistani government, under Section 405(c) of IRFA, to encourage substantial steps to address violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) with benchmarks, including but not limited to, releasing individuals imprisoned for blasphemy or their religion or beliefs; repealing blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws and, until such repeal, enacting reforms to make blasphemy a bailable offense, require evidence by accusers, conduct proper investigations by senior police officials, and allow authorities to dismiss unfounded accusations; and enforcing existing penal code articles criminalizing perjury and false accusations; and

( e ) holding accountable individuals who incite or participate in vigilante violence, targeted killings, forced conversion, and other religiously based crimes.

The US Congress should also incorporate religious freedom concerns into its larger oversight of the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship through hearings, letters, resolutions, and Congressional delegations and advocate release of FoRB prisoners in Pakistan

India Rejects Report

Vehemently rejecting the USCIRF report, the spokesman of the Indian  External Affairs Ministry said – “We categorically reject its motivated and biased characterisation of India. For several years now, USCIRF has persisted in presenting a distorted and selective picture of India, relying on questionable sources and ideological narratives rather than objective facts. Instead of persisting with selective criticism of India, USCIRF would do well to reflect on the disturbing incidents of vandalism and attacks on Hindu temples in the United States, and growing intolerance and intimidation of members of the Indian diaspora in the United States.”

Pakistan is yet to comment on the report.

END