INDIA AND BHUTAN IRF REPORT: DELIVERY, POSTING AND

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 004253 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, SCA/INS, SCA/PPD, IIP, G E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM PGOV KIRF IN SUBJECT: INDIA AND BHUTAN IRF REPORT: DELIVERY, POSTING AND TRANSLATION REF: SECSTATE 128772 ¶1. (U) Per Reftel, Post is pleased to report that the International Religious Freedom Report's Introduction, Executive Summary and individual country reports for India and Bhutan were posted in English on the Embassy's website immediately upon release and clearance from the Department. PolOff also hand-delivered the report to MEA American Deputy Secretary Randhir Jaiswal and Bhutanese Second Secretary SIPDIS Karma J. Thinlay late on September 14. ¶2. (U) Embassy New Delhi does not plan to translate the IRF report into local languages in India or Bhutan. Every year since 2003, India and Bhutan have been exempted from this requirement because English is one of India's official languages and effectively the country's lingua franca. It is commonly used and understood by upwards of 500 million Indians, including this report's target audience of government, NGOs, activists and opinion-makers. Furthermore, India is a country with 18 official languages and over 300 local languages. Translation would be extraordinarily costly and a political misstep as selecting one or two additional official languages would be negatively viewed as a US prejudice for or against certain ethnic language groups. Embassy New Delhi's justification for not translating the report into the Bhutan's official language is because the United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Bhutan and there is no American presence in Thimphu, nor do we have any Bhutanese language translation capacity. ¶3. (U) Post will package public and media reaction to these reports and send via email to DRL/SEA, DRL/IRF and SCA. MULFORD