US panel seeks continued visa ban on Narendra Modi
2 May 2013 7:08 AM IST
US should continue to maintain a visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as there was ‘significant evidence’ linking him to the violence in the state in 2002, a Congress-established independent panel on religious freedom has recommended.
‘There is significant evidence linking him to the violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate,’ Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told reporters.
The annual report of USCIRF has placed India in the Tier 2 Countries on religious freedom along with that of seven other countries Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos and Russia.
For the 2013 Annual Report, USCIRF has recommended that the Secretary of State to re-designate eight countries as countries of particular concern (CPCs): Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.
In its annual report, the USCIRF notes that Modi is the only individual against whom the US has so far used its visa ban provision related to religious freedom in March 2005 due to his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,100 to 2,000 Muslims.
‘USCIRF continues to urge the Departments of State and Homeland Security to develop a lookout list of aliens who are inadmissible to the US on this basis,’ the report said.
It recalled that in November 2012, it had written a letter to the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to continue the US policy against Modi apprehending that the Gujarat Chief Minister might apply for a visa.
‘CENTRE RENEGING ON DANDI YATRA ROUTE PROMISE’
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress-led UPA government of reneging on its promise made in 2005 of developing the historical Sabarmati-Dandi stretch, taken by Mahatma Gandhi for the salt march as ‘heritage route’.
‘In 2005, to gain political capital on the 75th anniversary of the Dandi march, the UPA government organised an event. Senior Congress leaders came to Gujarat for photo opportunities. Keeping aside political differences, our government welcomed all because it was an occasion, which gave inspiration to the nation,’ Modi said, in his address on the occasion of Gujarat's 53rd Foundation Day here.
‘On that occasion, the PM declared that the Sabarmati-Dandi route which Gandhiji travelled on would be declared 'heritage marg',’ Modi said.
‘The PM had declared Gandhiji's exact route would be built as heritage marg (route), but now the government write us to name the existing government road as heritage road and not the original route taken up by Mahatma Gandhi,’ he said adding that the letter says that original route will cost too much to government exchequer. Modi accused the Congress of not following Gandhiji's path and trying to change Gandhiji's path as well.
‘There is significant evidence linking him to the violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate,’ Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told reporters.
The annual report of USCIRF has placed India in the Tier 2 Countries on religious freedom along with that of seven other countries Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos and Russia.
For the 2013 Annual Report, USCIRF has recommended that the Secretary of State to re-designate eight countries as countries of particular concern (CPCs): Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.
In its annual report, the USCIRF notes that Modi is the only individual against whom the US has so far used its visa ban provision related to religious freedom in March 2005 due to his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,100 to 2,000 Muslims.
‘USCIRF continues to urge the Departments of State and Homeland Security to develop a lookout list of aliens who are inadmissible to the US on this basis,’ the report said.
It recalled that in November 2012, it had written a letter to the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to continue the US policy against Modi apprehending that the Gujarat Chief Minister might apply for a visa.
‘CENTRE RENEGING ON DANDI YATRA ROUTE PROMISE’
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress-led UPA government of reneging on its promise made in 2005 of developing the historical Sabarmati-Dandi stretch, taken by Mahatma Gandhi for the salt march as ‘heritage route’.
‘In 2005, to gain political capital on the 75th anniversary of the Dandi march, the UPA government organised an event. Senior Congress leaders came to Gujarat for photo opportunities. Keeping aside political differences, our government welcomed all because it was an occasion, which gave inspiration to the nation,’ Modi said, in his address on the occasion of Gujarat's 53rd Foundation Day here.
‘On that occasion, the PM declared that the Sabarmati-Dandi route which Gandhiji travelled on would be declared 'heritage marg',’ Modi said.
‘The PM had declared Gandhiji's exact route would be built as heritage marg (route), but now the government write us to name the existing government road as heritage road and not the original route taken up by Mahatma Gandhi,’ he said adding that the letter says that original route will cost too much to government exchequer. Modi accused the Congress of not following Gandhiji's path and trying to change Gandhiji's path as well.
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