Gujarat and Orissa appear to be in the crosshairs of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom

The Times of India
 
Will state welcome USCIRF?
6 May 2009, 0209 hrs IST, TNN
 
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat and Orissa appear to be in the crosshairs of the US
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which is
expected to travel to India next month.
 
The USCIRF, while releasing its Annual Report 2009 in Washington on
May 1, said it had kept the chapter on India on hold, and that it
would release the India report only after its members travel to India
for the very first time in June this year.
 
The USCIRF is a statutory body created by the US Congress and funded
by the US government. For the past several years, this body has been
trying to visit India to gauge different dimensions of ‘religious
freedom’ in the country, but each time, it was denied permission by
the Centre. In an unprecedented move, the UPA government has permitted
USCIRF to officially visit India.
 
The visit, two months from now, will have particular focus on Gujarat
and Orissa — both non UPA states. Gujarat is in the dock for the
carnage of 2002 when the USCIRF organised a public hearing in June
2002 in Washington.
 
This time, with the chief minister engaged in a hectic political
campaign, officials said they were not aware of the visit by the US
team.
 
The findings of the commission led to the denial of a US visa to
Narendra Modi in 2005, which still stands. How then, does the
government of Gujarat see the ensuing visit of the USCIRF? Will it
roll out the red carpet, as it did for other foreign delegations
during the Vibrant Gujarat investors’ summit in January 2009?
 
The USCIRF is likely to study the status of Muslims in the post 2002
scenario, in keeping with the recent findings of the SIT and
directives from the Supreme Court. Also on the USCIRF radar is the
Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2003 which was made into a law from
April 2008.
 
Says Fr. Cedric Prakash, director of Prashant, an Ahmedabad-based
Jesuit centre for human rights, justice and peace, “The development
mask is fine but this will be a very minute examination.”

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