US religious freedom report sparks row: Spotlight on Pak-origin commissioner Asif Mahmood

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2025 annual report on Tuesday which alleged that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise. The next day, India trashed the report, terming it ‘biased and politically motivated’.

New Delhi said that the commission’s ‘persistent’ attempts to cast aspersions on the country’s vibrant multicultural society reflect its ‘deliberate’ agenda rather than a genuine concern for religious freedom.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “India is home to 1.4 billion people who are adherents to all religions known to mankind. However, we have no expectation that the USCIRF will engage with the reality of India’s pluralistic framework or acknowledge the harmonious coexistence of its diverse communities,” he said.

“Such efforts to undermine India’s standing as a beacon of democracy and tolerance will not succeed. In fact, it is the USCIRF that should be designated as an entity of concern,” he said.

After the report was published, the agency’s commissioner, Asif Mahmood, gained spotlight. According to reports, the agency has been spreading falsehood about India, especially after the appointment of Asif Mahmood as one of its Commissioners. USCIRF’s nine Commissioners are appointed by either the President or Congressional leaders of each political party, supported by a non-partisan professional staff.

ABOUT ASIF MAHMOOD

Asif Mahmood is a Pakistani-American pulmonologist and doctor of internal medicine. After earning his medical degree, he relocated to the United States in 1999 to practice in California.

According to USCIRF website, Asif Mahmood is a practising physician, human rights activist, interracial and inter-faith community organiser, and philanthropist. He led the advocacy for many human rights campaigns focused on South Asia.

“Mahmood was a delegate for the Democratic National Convention from 2008 to 2016 and held many roles in presidential campaigns. He is also currently the Chair of the Organization for Social Media Safety (OFSSMS) and Board Member of Hope the Mission, one of the largest homeless shelters in California,” it read.

As per reports, Asif was behind peddling a conspiracy theory in May 2024 about India’s supposed involvement in the killing of Khalistani extremists in the United States, Canada and Pakistan.

Asif Mahmood’s website reads, “He has played leading roles in philanthropic efforts for non-profit organisations like UNICEF and volunteers at a free clinic.”

ABOUT THE USCIRF 2025 REPORT

The USCIRF report called for designating India as a “country of particular concern” or CPC, for engaging in and “tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”.

The USCIRF recommended the US government to impose “targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and RAW, for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States”.

The US has charged Yadav, a former Indian government official, in the alleged foiled plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil in 2023.

In the report, the American entity also recommended to the US government to conduct a “review assessing whether arms sales to India, such as MQ-9B drones under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, may contribute to or exacerbate religious freedom violations”.

Authorities in India continued to exploit anti-terror and financing laws, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to crack down on civil society organisations and detain members of religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists reporting on religious freedom, it claimed.

In October last year, India sealed a mega deal with the US to procure 31 Predator drones from General Atomics at a cost of nearly USD 4 billion to crank up the military’s combat prowess along the contested borders with China.

The supply of the Predator drones is expected to begin in January 2029.

The USCIRF describes itself as an independent, bipartisan US federal government agency created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), as amended. “USCIRF monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) abroad; makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress; and tracks the implementation of these recommendations.”

(With PTI inputs)