US Religious Freedom Envoy-nominee pledges to hold China accountable for horrific crimes against Uyghurs, repression of other ethnic and religious minorities

DHARAMSALA, 27 Oct: Rashad Hussain, an Indian American who has been  nominated by the Biden administration for the US international religious freedom envoy has pledged to “redouble efforts to broaden the coalition to hold China accountable for its horrific crimes against the Uyghurs and its repression of other ethnic and religious minorities.”

“I will leverage my existing relationships within Muslim-majority countries to protect the rights of religious minorities there. I will redouble efforts to broaden the coalition to hold China accountable for its horrific crimes against the Uyghurs and its repression of other ethnic and religious minorities,” Hussain has remarked while speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing.

If his nomination is confirmed, Hussain would become the first-ever Indian American and a Muslim to hold the post.  

The Ambassador-at-Large nominee for International Religious Freedom has expressed his deep concern over the staggering number of people living in environments with high or severe restrictions on religious freedom across the world and called out China for kidnapping and stealing the Panchen Lama from the global Tibetan Buddhist community. 

Gendun Choekyi Nyima, born on 25 April 1989, in Lhari County in Nagchu region of eastern Tibet was recognized as the 11th Panchen Lama by His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama at the tender age of 6 on 14 May 1995.

Three days after his enthronement, the 11th Panchen Lama was kidnapped by the Chinese government and have been held captive since 17 May 1995, along with his family members.

Today the world’s youngest political prisoner has turned into one of the world’s longest-serving political prisoners. Even after almost 26 years, the 11th Panchen Lama and his family’s whereabouts and condition still remain unknown. In his place, another child named Gyaltsen Norbu was appointed as the 11th Panchen Lama by the Chinese government.

Additionally, he also spoke about the persecution of  Christians in Vietnam, the Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan and the Baha’i in Yemen.

“Their faiths may be different but they share a common experience of persecution. I am committed to fighting, day in and day out, for their rights,” he said in the Senate