India on Tuesday rejected remarks by two senior officials of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) who claimed Sikh gurdwaras in India have been targeted in vigilante attacks, calling the commission a "biased and ill-informed organisation with a blatantly political agenda."

Source: ANI via Daily Jagran

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was answering a question at a media briefing in New Delhi about comments by USCIRF commissioners on what they described as rising targeting of religious places, including gurdwaras, churches and mosques, in India.

USCIRF Commissioner David Anderson had said on social media: "Over the last several weeks, Sikh gurdwaras in India have been targeted with vigilante attacks, including attempts to harm religious leaders." Anderson argued the US should link security assistance to the Indian government's response to violence that stops people from exercising freedom of religious belief. The claims are the commissioners' allegations; no evidence was presented in the reporting.

Source: Daily Jagran

Another USCIRF Commissioner, Joe Grogan, said attacks on houses of worship in India, including churches, gurdwaras and mosques, undermine freedom of religion or belief rights in international law, and urged the US government to press New Delhi to hold perpetrators accountable and protect places of worship.

'Silent on attacks in the US'

Jaiswal said it was "particularly telling" that the USCIRF and its commissioners have consistently kept silent on attacks on religious places in the United States, and on hate crimes and racial abuse targeted at the Indian community in the US. "Prejudiced entities like the USCIRF can hardly be taken seriously," he said.

Source: Nation Press

The USCIRF is a bipartisan US federal government agency that makes policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State and Congress. In August, it had called for sanctions against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — remarks New Delhi had also rejected. No formal USCIRF response to Tuesday's rebuttal had been reported at the time of publication.