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DATE: March 29, 2005
The Hindu American Foundation
(HAF) National Executive Council gathered for a biannual meeting
in Fremont, California, from March 25-27, 2005. The visit
to the Bay Area culminated with a presentation of the foundation’s
ongoing Hindu Awareness Campaign on the evening of March 26
to a cross-section of several community and interfaith religious
leaders.
During the intensive meetings,
HAF Executive Council members from across the United States
reiterated their commitment to their mission of promoting
tolerance, pluralism and understanding by working proactively
to promote a better awareness of Hindus and Hinduism in America.
Segments of the meeting
focused on strategic planning for the upcoming release of
HAF’s major project for 2005—release of the first-ever
Hindu Human Rights Report later this year. The HAF leadership
discussed the impetus of the report being their deep concern
about the state of Hindu human rights throughout the world,
noting the thousands of deaths of Hindus in Bangladesh the
past several years, and the hundreds of documented hate crimes
in 2004 alone. HAF noted that Pakistan continues to support
terrorism in India's state of Jammu & Kashmir after ethnically
cleansing the state of over 400,000 Hindus & Sikhs. Additionally,
HAF discussed the ongoing official discrimination against
Hindus in most Islamic states. The report is of immediate
significance HAF leaders felt, as these issues are almost
completely ignored by human rights groups that document abuses
in South Asia.
HAF expressed concern over
the growth of Hinduphobia in America and announced plans to
document this as well. Vinay Vallabh, member of HAF's Executive
Council said, "Propagated by extremist groups not committed
to pluralism, HAF plans to counter Hindu hate with a public
education campaign."
Reiterating plans to organize
a day of interactions with government officials in Washington,
D.C., Rajan Patel, member of HAF's Executive Council, said,
"HAF successfully educated government officials on Hindu
issues in 2004, and will continue to promote the Hindu and
American ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and understanding
with elected officials across the country."
The HAF Hindu Awareness
Campaign and reception for community leaders and supporters
was held in Fremont as well. Representatives from all major
religious groups were present.
Swaminathan Venkatraman,
HAF Executive Council member, explained, "The number
of people that attended and the broad diversity in their backgrounds
representing 6 major faiths shows the support we have in the
Hindu and non-Hindu community. We look forward to continued
support so that we can establish an office and hire full-time
staff to present a Hindu American perspective on the issues
facing Hindus in this country." The program focused on
issues of bias and misrepresentations of Hindu issues, beliefs
and aspirations in government fora, academia and media. The
presentation also sought to highlight positive, proactive
steps that HAF is taking to address these imbalances.
Marilyn Pranno, Chief
Visionary Officer of NKB Media Services, and a community member
who saw the presentation for the first time remarked, "This
was a wonderful program that educated me about the challenges
facing Hindu Americans and the tremendous work HAF is doing
to educate fellow Americans about Hinduism and Hindu American
issues. I am proud to be a supporter and member."
For further information: Please
contact HAF.
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