External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are scheduled to arrive at Washington DC on December 18 for the second 2+2 ministerial with their respective American counterparts

The United States is concerned about the implications of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in India, a top American diplomat responsible for monitoring international religious freedom said on December 13.

“One of India’s great strengths is its Constitution. As a fellow democracy, we respect India’s institutions, but are concerned about the implications of the CAB Bill,” Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, said in a tweet, which comes days before next week’s 2+2 ministerial between India and the U.S.

One of #India’s great strengths is its Constitution. As a fellow democracy, we respect India’s institutions, but are concerned about the implications of the #CABBill. We hope the government will abide by its constitutional commitments, including on religious freedom. — Ambassador Sam Brownback (@IRF_Ambassador) December 13, 2019

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are scheduled to arrive at Washington DC next week for the second 2+2 ministerial with their respective American counterparts — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper — on December 18.

Meanwhile, at a Congressional briefing organised by the Indian American Muslim Council, Emgage Action and the Hindus for Human Rights, Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch expressed concern on December 12 over the human rights situation in Kashmir and Assam. Claiming that Assam was seeing “the construction of a pretext for expulsion [of Muslims]”, Stanton said the “ongoing genocide” in both Kashmir and Assam was a “classic case” and followed the pattern of the “Ten Stages of Genocide”.