US slams 'offensive comments' on Prophet by BJP members in India

WASHINGTON, June 17 (Al Jazeera/Reuters): State Department spokesman says the US 'encourages India to promote respect for human rights'.
The United States has condemned remarks by India's governing party officials about Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha that have sparked an uproar in the country and many Muslim-majority nations.
"We condemn the offensive comments made by two BJP officials and we were glad to see that the party publicly condemns those comments," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Thursday.
"We regularly engage with the Indian government at senior levels on human rights concerns, including freedom of religion or belief, and we encourage India to promote respect for human rights," he said.
Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on May 26 made televised remarks about the youngest wife of the Prophet of Islam that triggered demonstrations across the Muslim world.
The remarks set off diplomatic protests not only in rival Pakistan but also in wealthy Arab states that usually enjoy close relations with India.
Qatar demanded a "public apology" from the Indian government while the influential 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said the insults came in the context of an increasingly intense atmosphere of hatred towards Islam in India and systematic harassment of Muslims.
US politics, Canada's multiculturalism, South America's geopolitical rise-we bring you the stories that matter.
Please check your email to confirm your subscription
In neighbouring Bang-ladesh, home to the world's fourth-largest Muslim population, protesters demanded a formal condemnation from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of India.
On Thursday, thousands of people marched towards the Indian embassy in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka in the second week of protests over derogatory remarks about the Prophet by the BJP officials.
The protesters demanded that Muslim-majority nations boycott Indian products and cut off ties with New Delhi.
A Reuters report adds: Authorities imposed restrictions on Friday on gatherings in a satellite city of India's capital that is home to offices of several multinational firms, and one person was killed as protests against a new military recruitment process spread.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government unveiled the new recruitment system this week, called Agnipath or "path of fire" in Hindi, triggering turmoil with police firing into the air to break up stone-throwing crowds and the torching of railway infrastructure.
The system aims to bring in more people to the military on short, four-year contracts to lower the average age of India's 1.38 million-strong armed forces and cut down on burgeoning pension costs.
But many potential recruits object, concerned about employment opportunities after serving their four-year terms and disappointed to miss out on a pension, and thousands of young men took to the streets on Friday, with protests turning violent in at least three states.