India rejects critical US religious freedom report

India yesterday hit out at a US report saying religious intolerance was growing under its right-wing government, setting off a new spat ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. An annual report on international religious freedom released by Pompeo on Friday said Hindu-groups had used "violence, intimidation, and harassment" against Muslims and low-caste Dalits in 2017 to force a religion-based national identity. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government insisted that no foreign country had the right to criticise its record. Pompeo arrives in New Delhi on Tuesday for a trip intended to strengthen ties, but already complicated by spats over trade tariffs, data protection rules, US visas for Indians and buying arms from Russia.