US condemns anti-Islamic remarks, encourages India to promote respect for human rights

Condemning anti-Islamic comments by two members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the US has encouraged India to promote respect for human rights.

During a weekly press briefing, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price was asked to comment about the derogatory remarks and hate crimes committed by India against Muslims and other minorities.

"Well, this is something that we’ve condemned. We condemn the offensive comments made by two BJP officials, and we were glad to see that the party publicly condemned those comments.

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"We regularly engage with the Indian Government at senior levels on human rights concerns, including freedom of religion or belief, and we encourage India to promote respect for human rights," Price replied.

The spokesperson added that the secretary said we believe in the same values: human dignity, human respect, equality of opportunity, and the freedom of religion or belief.

"These are fundamental tenets, these are fundamental values within any democracy, and we speak up for them around the world,” Price added.

While answering a question, Price said that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a very good, constructive discussion regarding the full range of issues, including the issue of food security.

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"We were there in New York at the time to deal with it and to deal with the many aftereffects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That was also a topic of discussion.

But Pakistan is a partner of ours, and we will look to ways to advance that partnership in a manner that serves our interest and our mutual interests as well."