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December 22, 2005
TAMPA, FL: The Hindu American
Foundation (HAF) lauded the United States Commission for International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last week for bringing attention
to the plight of Afghan Hindu refugees to be immediately and
involuntarily deported from Germany to Afghanistan. Similar
deportations of Afghan Hindus were considered from the United
States earlier this year where HAF provided legal support.
The deportations from Germany, however, involve potentially
thousands of Hindus.
In its statement, the USCIRF
took the step of urging the U.S. Refugee Program to prepare
for the resettlement of Afghan Hindus in the United States
"in the event that the German government moves ahead
with involuntary deportation…." The Commission
further stated, "The Afghan Hindu population was one
of the most severely persecuted groups under the Taliban,
and nearly all members of the community fled the country.
Because the government in Kabul does not exercise full control
over the country, and religious freedom and human rights abuses
continue in regions outside of the central government’s
control, the Commission is concerned that these individuals
will be subject to persecution if forced to return to Afghanistan.
A Hindu aid worker from India, Maniyappan Raman Kutty, was
recently brutally beheaded".
HAF leaders have established
an ongoing dialogue with USCIRF analysts and expressed appreciation
to the USCIRF for highlighting the issue and for recommending
concrete steps in the event that Germany proceeds with threatened
deportations. HAF is hopeful that the United States State
Department will follow-up its own Commission’s recommendations
through established diplomatic channels.
“Afghan Hindus
emigrated to Germany for no other reason than that country’s
strong record of human rights protections and the horrendous
and well-documented atrocities they faced in their homeland
only because they were Hindus,” said Ramesh Rao, Ph.D.,
member of the HAF Executive Council and co-author of HAF’s
annual Hindu Human Rights Report. “It is HAF’s
hope that the Afghan Hindus will be allowed to stay in Germany
until Afghanistan proves to be a secular and safe homeland
for non-Muslim minorities. If Germany seeks to shut its eyes
to the prevailing conditions for minorities in Afghanistan,
highlighted by the recent brutal murder of Mr. Kutty, we fully
endorse USCIRF’s humanitarian solution to the problem.”
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