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US Commission Cites Countries on Religious Freedom
WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) -
An independent advisory group funded by the U.S.
government has recommended that the administration add
India, Laos, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and
Vietnam to its black list of countries that restrict
religious freedoms.
The State Department, which compiles the list, has
ignored similar recommendations on Laos, Saudi Arabia
and Turkmenistan in the past, while denying that the
decisions are political. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and
Turkmenistan are allies in U.S. President George W.
Bush's ``war on terrorism.''
The advisory group is the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom, created by Congress
in 1998 to advise the executive on the International
Religious Freedom Act.
The list of ``countries of particular concern,''
updated in October 2001, now has six countries --
China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan.
Critics of the designations say the administration
chooses countries with which it already has poor
relations, rather than antagonizes countries with
which it is friends.
Under the act, the administration can choose from a
menu of 15 policy responses -- eight diplomatic and
seven economic -- but in practice it has never imposed
any.
The commission, in a statement available on Tuesday,
said the Indian government had tolerated severe
violence against religious minorities, particularly
against Muslims in the western state of Gujarat.
It cited India's National Human Rights Commission as
finding complicity by Gujarat state government
officials and police inaction in the face of attacks
by Hindu extremists.
In Pakistan, the statement said, the government has
likewise failed to protect the Christian, Ahmedi and
Shi'ite communities from sectarian violence.
``As noted in past years by the State Department,
religious freedom 'does not exist' in Saudi Arabia,''
the statement added, citing the ban on non-Muslim
religious expression in public and the detention,
arrest and deportation of Christian workers.
In the case of Vietnam, it said the government was
repressive toward all religions. It imprisons
religious dissidents and harasses clergy and the
leaders and followers of unregistered religious groups
, it said.
The commission said it was ``very concerned'' about
violations of religious freedom in Egypt, Indonesia,
Nigeria and Uzbekistan and suggested they go on a new
``watch list.''
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