Hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom: US official
US AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE for International Religious Freedom (IRF) Rashad Hussain on Friday said “Karnataka should not determine permissibility of religious clothing” and hijab bans in schools “violate religious freedom and stigmatize and marginalize women and girls”.
This came on a day when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Melbourne on Friday and the two leaders reviewed the efforts to strengthen cooperation bilaterally and through the Quad grouping in the strategic Indian Ocean region.
Hussain, who had served as US Special Envoy of President Barack Obama to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), was recently appointed as the US envoy for international religious freedom by the Biden administration.
In a tweet on Friday, he said, “Religious freedom includes the ability to choose one’s religious attire. The Indian state of Karnataka should not determine permissibility of religious clothing. Hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom and stigmatize and marginalize women and girls.” His comments come in the wake of the incidents of hijab ban in schools and colleges in Karnataka, where the High Court is hearing the matter.
Born in the US, Hussain’s father belonged to Bihar. He studied at the Yale Law School and also earned his Master’s degrees in Public Administration (Kennedy School of Government) and Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard University.
In Melbourne, during their talks on the sidelines of a key meeting of Quad foreign ministers, Jaishankar and Blinken reviewed the bilateral ties and acknowledged that the progress in different domains of India-US relations was positive.
In his talks with Blinken, the External Affairs Minister discussed a range of bilateral as well as global issues.
“A review of our bilateral cooperation with @SecBlinken. The readout on progress in different domains was positive. Our strategic partnership has deepened so visibly,” Jaishankar tweeted.
According to a statement by the US State Department, Jaishankar, in his remarks before his meeting with Blinken, thanked his American counterpart and said that “we all devoted a lot of time, energy, attention” to Quad.
“We have made it into concrete actionable propositions,” he said.
“But at the same time, a big part of that is because we have such strong bilateral relationships. And, certainly for us in this century, the changing India-US relationship (has) been a very defining (relationship),” he said.
In a tweet, Blinken said: “Good meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar to discuss efforts to strengthen #IndoPacific cooperation bilaterally and through the Quad. I look forward to working together on issues that affect our two countries”.
