US panel recommends sanctions against R&AW over alleged involvement in assassination plot
PTC News Desk: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has called for sanctions against India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) over its alleged involvements in assassination plots against Sikhs.
The panel's annual report which was released on Tuesday cited communist-ruled Vietnam stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended 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."
"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 Tuesday.
It stated that Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "spread hateful rhetoric and misinformation targeting Muslims and other religious minorities" during the previous year's election campaign.
Since 2023, tensions escalated between India and the US over allegations that India targeted Sikhs in the US and Canada.
- With inputs from agencies
