USCIRF member allowed entry at Dharamsala to attend conference

NEW DELHI: Even as the Modi government has cancelled the visa of senior Uyghur leader Dolkun Isa and denied visas to Chinese dissidents for a key meet of various anti-Beijing groups in Dharamsala drawing criticism at home, a senior United States Commission of International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) representative was allowed to attend the conference.
Katrina Lantos Swett, a commissioner at the USCIRF, attended the conference last week along with other Chinese dissidents in what could be viewed as a sign of support for the meeting attended among others by Dalai Lama and senior Tiananmen movement activist Yang Jianli. Interestingly, the conference was held in India on the eve of the release of the annual report on religious freedom worldwide by USCIRF scheduled for May 2. This report will be closely followed by the Modi government.

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan US federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world, dedicated to defending the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.

USCIRF commissioners are appointed by the President and the congressional leadership of both political parties. Swett may not be well known in India but is a Democratic Party member and daughter of Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor who has served in the US Congress.

Swett established the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice in 2008 after the death of Lantos and has emerged as a prominent human rights activist in America. The meet was held away from the media glare ostensibly at the directions of Delhi, people familiar with the matter said. Isa’s colleague and president of American Uyghur Association Ilshat Hassan attended the meet.

The conference titled ‘Strengthening Our Alliance to Advance the Peoples’ Dream: Freedom, Justice, Equality and Peace’ is the initiative of Citizen Power for China (CFC), a US-based organisation led by exiled Chinese dissident Yang Jianli. The conference brought together human rights activists and representatives of the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians, Falun Gong practitioners, and Taiwanese nationals.