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India asked to protect its minorities
CLEVELAND, OHIO: The Republican Party platform released on Monday, the opening day of its convention, called for protection of all religious communities in India
CLEVELAND, OHIO: The Republican Party platform released on Monday, the opening day of its convention, called for protection of all religious communities in India from “violence and discrimination ”.
The platform, much like a party’s election manifesto in India, skipped specifics, but could have been reflecting concerns over recent, and not so recent, incidents of religious in tolerance.
On Pakistan, the platform stressed a need to secure its nuclear arsenal and questioned its commitment to combating terrorism, if it punished people for “helping the war on terror”.
“Pakistanis, Afghans and Americans have a common interest in ridding the region of the Taliban and securing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal,” the document said.
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, said to be growing at the fastest rate in the world, has been along time concern with worries about it falling into the hands of terrorists. Both Republicans and Democrats have raised concerns about religious violence in India – most famously by President Barack Obama in his Siri Fort speech in 2015, and then a few days later, on his return to Washington.
A semi-congressional body, largely aligned with religious conservatives in the Republican Party, has long been trying to send a delegation to India to inspect and assess the situation.
But India has pushed back historically, and firmly, arguing it is dealing with the issue on its own, and is willing to discuss it with the US as part of ongoing governmental dialogue.
The platform is considered a preview of the nominee’ s administration if elected, its policies and vision.
Platform 2016 is what a Trump administration could look like, more or less.
Could India then expect to get more heat from the US under Trump on religious freedom issues? The platform, which may indicate so, also made some assuring observations.
It called India a “geopolitical ally ”, repeating the 2012 platform of then nominee Mitt Romney, which maybe heartening to some Indian seven though New Delhi is usually wary of being called an ally.
