RISK OF MASS KILLINGS SECOND HIGHEST IN INDIA: US DIPLOMAT

WASHINGTON: The United States (US) ambassador at large for international religious freedom, Rashad Hussain, has said that, according to the Early Warning project of the Holocaust Museum in US, the risk of mass killings in India is the second highest in the world.

Hussain also listed out a set of “ingredients” threatening the rights of religious minorities in India, and said that the US is speaking directly to India about its concerns.

Speaking at a panel on religious freedom in India and the challenge for the US on Wednesday, Hussain — whose office prepared the recent report on religious freedom released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, where the latter flagged concerns about “increasing attacks on people and places of worship in India” — referred to his Indian roots and defended America’s right to speak up about religious freedoms elsewhere. India had rejected that report, called comments by officials “ill-informed”, and said that it was unfortunate that “vote bank politics” was being “practiced in international relations”. “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,” it had said. On Thursday, referring to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and tribals, Hussain said: “The world’s largest democracy is a country where, just like with our country, we push, we want to make sure we live up to our values... That can happen if we have full participation, equal participation of all people.”