Ilhan Omar’s “Hinduphobic” resolution – An anti-India, anti-Hindu, pro-Jihadi
US-based Hindu organizations on Friday urged the US Congress to reject the “Hinduphobic” resolution introduced by American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar this week, asserting that it “unfairly and dishonestly” condemns India’s human rights record. Co-sponsored by lawmakers Rashida Talib and Juan Vargas, the resolution urges the State Department to act on the recommendations of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act.
The USCIRF’s recommendations are not binding on the State Department and for the past several years successive American administrations have ignored such recommendations. “With House Resolution 1196, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is clearly taking talking points from Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups, which is extremely troubling to see from an elected official who has sworn an oath of loyalty to the United States Constitution,” said HinduPact executive director Utsav Chakrabarti.
Omar is a politically controversial pro-Islamist Democratic Congresswoman from Minnesota, who has been called out internationally in the past for her anti-semitic remarks, HinduPact said. “This is not the first time – nor will it be the last time – she shows her anti-Hindu and anti-Indian bias while revealing her ties to Pakistan. In April, Omar visited Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK) following a photo op with former Prime Minister Imran Khan,” it said.
The same month, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), released a biased report. Omar heavily references this biased report in her malicious resolution, the body said in a statement. Omar, who visited Pakistan in April and met top Pakistani leaders, including former Prime Minister Khan and travelled to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), is yet to disclose the nature, including the funding, of the visit.
India had condemned the controversial pro-Islamist US Congresswoman’s visit to PoK, saying her travel to the region violated the country’s sovereignty and reflected her “narrow-minded” politics. “If such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home, that may be her business. But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty in its pursuit makes it ours. This visit is condemnable,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said.
The HinduPact’s Chakrabarti noted in April that this year’s USCIRF report followed “a pattern of reports that have appeared in previous years. Based on publicly available information on topics like Citizen’s Amendment Act (CAA) and Kashmir, the USCIRF report is a ‘copy-and-paste’ of talking points peddled by an agglomeration of Islamist groups working with radical Islamist-linked group ‘Justice for All’, on whose platform USCIRF commissioners are known to appear regularly.”
Ajay Shah, president of the World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) and convenor of HinduPact, said that even to a casual observer of the geopolitical situation in the Indian subcontinent, it is clear that this resolution has much deeper sinister motives. “Omar has taken her ideological cues from the US-hating Pakistani regime of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. It raises questions as to whether Rep. Omar was coached by Imran Khan? We demand she cut ties with him,” he said.
India had rejected the criticism against it in the recent US State Department report on religious freedom, saying it is unfortunate that “vote bank politics” is being practiced in international relations. “As a naturally pluralistic society, India values religious freedom and human rights. In our discussions with the US, we have regularly highlighted issues of concern there, including racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes, and gun violence,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Bagchi had said.
[with PTI inputs]
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