US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed concern on Monday about rising Human Rights abuses by Indian government officials. In a press conference following the fourth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, Blinken reflected on the strong diplomatic relations between the two countries, given their position as “the largest democracy and the oldest democracy in the world”. world”, respectively. The Dialogue was held between Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their Indian counterparts Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. Blinken discussed the joint efforts between the two countries to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, address global warming, and defense and education ties, as well as their commitment to the sovereignty of nations in light of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He outlined measures to deepen trade between the US and India, which currently stands at $150 billion annually. However, Blinken expressed his concern about the state of human rights in India: We also share a commitment to our democratic values, such as the protection of human rights. We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values ​​and, to that end, we are monitoring some worrying recent developments in India, including an increase in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials. Singh and Jaishankar, who spoke after Blinken, did not respond to these comments. Blinken’s comments come just days after he released the 2021 Human Rights Report, which notes “significant human rights issues” in India, including extrajudicial killings by government agents, cases of torture by the police and prison. officers, unjustified arrests against journalists, and violence and discrimination against members of minority religions, social groups, or gender identities. The report also notes that terrorists in Kashmir, areas affected by Maoist terrorism and the northeast “committed serious abuses” against civilian and military personnel. During the statement, Blinken affirmed that the level of friendship between the United States is the preparation of the Report, which applies universal, and not national, human rights standards when evaluating each country. On April 7, the US representative measures allegedly targeting Indian Muslims. More recently, the government allowed schools to ban students from wearing hijabs in Karnataka state, a move that was criticized nationally and globally, but was upheld by the state’s High Court.