New York: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has classified the hardliner Indian organisations Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal as "militant religious outfits".
The CIA annually publishes a "World Factbook" that feeds intelligence or factual reference material on a country or issue to the US Government.Apart from VHP and Bajrang Dal, the CIA has included other outfits under the title ? 'Political pressure groups and leaders'.
While Hurriyat has been called a separatist outfit, the Mahmood Madani-led Jamiat Ulema-Hind has been listed as a religious outfit. The CIA has listed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) among the political pressure groups in India.
The agency, which is the intelligence wing of the US government, has categorised the bodies under "political pressure groups", defined as organisations that are involved in politics or that exert political pressure but whose leaders do not stand for legislative election.(UNI)
VHP slams CIA for tagging it as 'militant' body
New Delhi: Taking exception to the CIA tagging Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) as 'militant religious group', the VHP on Friday demanded apology from the US agency and threatened to launch an international movement against it.Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must apologise and "rectify its mistake"
The VHP said it's a nationalist group which works for the betterment of the country, and called the CIA's allegations "baseless" and "false".In a statement, the VHP said the US intelligence agency was responsible for creating Osama bin Laden, and had "no moral right" to lecture it.
The VHP also said that CIA's long standing anti-India stance was a well known fact.
While the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been tagged as a ''nationalist organisation'', the Bajrang Dal and the VHP have been tagged as ''militant religious" bodies.
Sources in Bajrang Dal said they would be consulting experts and seeking legal advice.