Skip to main content

Tarbez Ansari murder: US freedom of religion body seeks concrete action from authorities

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) chair Tony Perkins, responding to the "reported murder" of Tabrez Ansari by a mob in Jharkhand, has called upon the Government of India to take "concrete actions that will prevent this kind of violence and intimidation by a thorough investigation of Ansari’s murder as well as the local police’s handling of the case."
Insiting that "lack of accountability will only encourage those who believe they can target religious minorities with impunity", the top USCIRF official recalled that the perpetrators of the brutal murder "forced Ansari to say Hindu chants as they beat him for hours. Ansari later died from the injuries he suffered due to this horrific attack."
USCIRF said, the statement comes close on the heels of its recent Annual Report, released in April, criticising https://www.uscirf.gov/reports-briefs/annual-report/2019-annual-report India "for engaging in or tolerating religious freedom violations", asking the authorities to abide by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The report details numerous concerns in Jharkhand, including its anti-conversion law and mob violence against religious minorities.

Comments

TRENDING

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong   The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.

Global financial institutions 'ignored' climate warnings in Nepal’s hydropower disaster: SANDRP probe

Counterview News  A catastrophic flood disaster across Nepal’s Himalayan river valleys has triggered urgent international scrutiny over the role of multilateral lenders and development finance institutions. According to an extensive investigation published by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), international financiers—including the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Export-Import Bank of China —pushed forward major hydropower projects in disaster-prone valleys despite documented warnings, recurring historical floods, and unheeded safety recommendations.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.