India strongly protests against the sanctions proposal

POBNEWS24 Dhaka Mar 27, 2025 : The Indian government has strongly condemned the proposal to impose sanctions on the Indian intelligence agency ‘RAW’ (Research and Analysis Wing) on behalf of a US agency, which is biased and politically motivated. On Wednesday evening, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal issued a strong statement. The recommendation was made in the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Tuesday. It has raised allegations of violations of religious freedom against ‘RAW’. This news was reported in the Bengali version of the British media BBC. Jaiswal said that the report of this agency has distorted information and deliberately misrepresented India’s pluralistic society. USCIRF has no real concern about religious freedom—it is just a political agenda. The USCIRF has re-raised the allegation of the involvement of a ‘RAW’ officer in the attempted murder of a Sikh citizen in New York in 2023. However, the Indian government has dismissed this claim as completely baseless. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has said in a statement that followers of all the major religions of the world peacefully coexist in this country of 1.4 billion people. But the USCIRF will never accept this true picture of India. Although the report directly mentions the name of ‘RAW’ and recommends bringing the organization under sanctions, India has made it clear that the work of the intelligence agency never interferes with religious freedom. According to analysts, this USCIRF report could create new obstacles in the Indo-US strategic relationship. However, New Delhi has already seen the issue as ‘unacceptable interference’ and has indicated more stringent steps at the diplomatic level. It is worth noting that the USCIRF is an independent US federal advisory body. The implementation of this organization’s recommendations is not mandatory. In 2020, the USCIRF also listed India as a ‘country of particular concern’ in terms of religious freedom.