Source: news.bbc.co.uk
INDIA, August 14, 2009: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) decision to put India on a list of states which failed to protect religious minorities is “regrettable”, India’s foreign ministry says. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom says India was added to the list because of a “disturbing increase” in religious violence.
Other countries on the list include Afghanistan, Somalia and Cuba.
Reacting to the report, a spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, Vishnu Prakash, said: “India, a country of 1.1 billion people, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.”
The panel issues an annual report on religious freedom every May, but the chapter on India was delayed.