Lucknow, Jul 31: A United States report on the status of religious freedom in countries across the globe has slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for choosing "not to combat discrimination on the basis of religion and intolerance."
Released by the US department of state, the 2013 International Religious Freedom Report is in its 16th year, and chronicles where and when the universal right to religious freedom was neglected and protected, upheld or abused.
Congressionally mandated and comprising almost 200 distinct reports on countries and territories, this report reflects, it says, "the US' commitment to, and advancement of, the right of every person to freedom of religion or belief."
Bracketing the territory of UP with countries like Syria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iraq, among others, the report says the government's failure to combat discrimination on the basis of religion "breeds an environment in which intolerant and violent groups are emboldened, even to the point of physically attacking individuals on the basis of their religious beliefs." The report also says that the government "failed to protect vulnerable communities and many religious minority communities were disproportionately affected, resulting in a large number of refugees and internally displaced persons."
Singling out UP from all the other India states, the US report says clashes in the Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh between Hindu and Muslim communities between late August and mid-September led to the deaths of 65 persons, 68 persons injured, and an estimated 40,000-50,000 displaced. It also says, "Broader communal violence spread after a Muslim youth was killed by two Hindu youths who accused the boy of sexually harassing a female family member. The local police and the Army reportedly allowed unlawful gatherings by individuals carrying arms on September 7 and local administrators allegedly did not respond to counter public calls by politicians and community leaders for violence."
The latest edition of the report also refers to 2013 as the year that saw rising instances where religious freedom was clamped down upon and where the largest number of religious communities were displaced in recent memory. "In almost every corner of the globe, millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and others representing a range of faiths were forced from their homes on account of their religious beliefs," the report says. It also adds that entire neighborhoods are emptying of residents, "out of fear or by force." It also says that communities are disappearing from their traditional and historic homes and dispersing across the geographic map. In conflict zones, in particular, this mass displacement has become a pernicious norm.
Reports on riots inflated, says UP govt
Within days of a United States report stating that Uttar Pradesh witnessed the highest number of deaths in communal violence in India in 2013, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in UP has issued a rebuttal saying "media reports" about the number of riots that took place are heavily inflated.
On Wednesday morning, a state government spokesperson said contrary to the number of incidents that were "reported", UP saw only one big riot each in 2013 and 2014, while there were only 7 and 6 cases, respectively, of communal incidents reported in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, according to state government data, UP also saw 19 instances of communal tension flaring up. The government has not, however, challenged the number of deaths that were reported as a result of the communal conflagration.
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