Deny visa to Modi again, US state department told

Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom -- a Congressionally mandated body -- has urged the US State Department "to reaffirm its past decision to deny a tourist visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images], who has been invited to attend a conference in New Jersey this August celebrating Gujarati culture." The USCIRF recalled that Modi was "previously denied entrance to the United States due to his role in riots that overtook the Indian state of Gujarat from February to May 2002 in which reportedly as many as 2,000 Muslims were killed, thousands raped, and over 200,000 displaced." "Numerous reports, including reports of official bodies of the government of India, have documented the role of Modi's state government in the planning and execution of the violence,... [read full story]