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Date: July 13, 2005
TAMPA,
FL: The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) released today its first annual
report on the status of Hindu human rights in Bangladesh, Pakistan and
the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Entitled "Hindus in Bangladesh,
Pakistan and Kashmir: A survey of Human Rights 2004", the report was
prepared by HAF and compiles media coverage and first-hand accounts of
human rights violations perpetrated against Hindus because of their
religious identity. The 71-page report was delivered prior to its
release to the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and
Indian-Americans, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), who endorsed the report.
"The human rights violations that are occurring against Hindus must no longer be ignored without reprobation," said Rep. Ros-Lehtinen
after reviewing the HAF report. "Hindus have a history of being
peaceful, pluralistic and understanding of other faiths and peoples,
yet minority Hindus have endured decades of pain and suffering without
the attention of the world."
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| Nikhil Joshi, Esq.,
member of the HAF Board of Directors after discussing HAF's first
annual human rights report with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
(R-FL). |
Rep. Ackerman
stressed the fundamental nature of religious freedom and supported the
concept of the annual report produced by HAF. "The Hindu American
Foundation has done some important work in this regard by compiling
their 2004 Survey of Human Rights by helping to defend the rights of
Hindus around the world to practice their religion without intimidation
and by shining a light on those who would take away their religious
freedoms," said Rep. Ackerman in a statement distributed on July 12, 2005.
The Hindu human rights report-the
first in what is to be an annual publication-was prepared, according to
the HAF Board of Directors, to document a humanitarian tragedy largely
omitted in reports by the United States State Department and larger
human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch. While these groups often mention the attacks on Hindus
according to HAF, the group maintains that the massive scope of this
human rights disaster requires the extensive coverage that this report
provides.
"With over 600 documented attacks
of murder, rape and physical intimidation of Hindus in Bangladesh,
Pakistan and India's state of Jammu and Kashmir last year alone, the
ongoing atrocities against Hindus can no longer be ignored," said Ramesh Rao, Ph.D.,
member of the HAF Executive Council who contributed to the report. "We
are gratified that leaders in the U.S. Congress understand the
magnitude of this tragedy and are determined to raise their voices in
outrage."
The report specifically denounces
Bangladesh for a long-history of anti-Hindu atrocities that have
recently spiked following the ascent of the Bangladeshi National
Party-Jamat-e-Islami coalition. The decline of Hindus in Bangladesh
from 30% of the population in 1947, to less than 10% today is analyzed
in the report. The report alleges that the estimated loss of 20 million
Bangladeshi Hindus is a consequence of an ongoing genocide and forced
exodus.
"Persecution, discrimination and outright violence is the horrid reality for Hindus in Bangladesh today," said Aseem Shukla, M.D.,
member of the HAF Board of Directors. "The international community must
demand that the Bangladesh government immediately investigate the
ongoing religious cleansing within its borders and empower minority and
human rights commissions there."
The HAF report also discusses the
consequence of Pakistan and Al-Qaeda sponsored Islamist violence in the
Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that has left tens of thousands of
Hindus and Muslims dead, and 350,000 Hindu victims of religious
cleansing. Similarly, the Pakistan government is condemned for
systematic state-sponsored religious discrimination against Hindus
through elaborate "anti-blasphemy" laws, and for failing to investigate
numerous reports of millions of Hindus being held as "bonded laborers"
in slavery-like conditions.
"While HAF supports all efforts to bring lasting peace between India and Pakistan," cautioned Sheetal D. Shah,
member of the HAF Executive Council and a contributor to the HAF
report, "Pakistan must continue to be held responsible for a recent
upsurge in violence in the Kashmir valley, and even possibly on one of
Hinduism's most sacred shrines this month alone."
HAF leaders were gratified by
Congressional support for the report and discussed plans to follow-up
the report in personal interactions with many other legislators planned
later this year. A congressional resolution emphasizing aspects of the
report is being actively discussed. Rep. Ros Lehtinen and Rep. Ackerman pledged to continue working with HAF on these human rights issues.
"I applaud the Hindu American
Foundation for bringing awareness to this issue," said Rep.
Ros-Lehtinen. "I look forward to working with it to help address this
scar on the international human rights community."
Rep. Ackerman discussed the obligation of
Congress to speak out against international human rights abuses.
"By working alongside organizations such as the Hindu American
Foundation, we can help to ensure that violations to religious
freedom are documented, and challenged across the world,"
Rep. Ackerman added.
The full text of the first
annual HAF Hindu human rights report is available at http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/HHR2004.pdf.
The corresponding Executive Summary is below.
The human rights of Hindu
citizens are consistently violated in three regions where
Hindus constitute a minority: Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Jammu
& Kashmir.
- PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
- Over 400 documented attacks have taken place on Bangladeshi
Hindus between January and November 2004.
- These attacks include the day to day acts of murder,
rape, kidnapping, temple destruction, and physical intimidation.
- Hindus are labeled as "enemies" of Bangladesh. The Enemy
Property Order II of 1965, under which property belonging
to Hindus was identified as enemy property, was renamed
as Vested Property Act in 1972, and under which, the Government
of Bangladesh vested itself with alleged enemy properties.
Still in force, this Order of the President and the Enemy
\ Vested Property Act has not been subjected to any judicial
review.
- Hindus, who comprised nearly 30% of Bangladesh's population
in 1947, now constitute less than 10% of the population.
- By 1991, 20 million Hindus were unaccounted or "missing"
according to expected population trends.
- ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
- Hindus, who constituted between 15% and 24% of Pakistan's
population in 1947, now comprise less than 1.6% of the
population.
- Nearly 2 million people, many of them Hindus, are held
as slaves in "bonded labor" in southern Pakistan.
- Kidnapping of vulnerable Hindus is a well-established
multi-million dollar industry.
- Pakistan officially discriminates against non-Muslims
through a variety of laws and strictures. Discriminatory
laws include the "anti-blasphemy law" under which anyone
who is accused of criticizing the Prophet Muhammad is
imprisoned without trial for long periods of time, and
mandatory religious identification in passports. Specific
discriminatory laws are the Hudood Ordinance of 1979 (offence
of Zina, offence of Qazaf, execution of punishment of
whipping ordinance), the Qanoon-i-Shahadat Order of 1984
and Qisas & Diyat Ordinance (Section 306 C) of 1991.
- JAMMU & KASHMIR
- Over 300,000 Kashmiri Hindus have been forced to leave
due to ethnic cleansing abetted by Kashmiri Muslims.
- These 300,000 Hindus are refugees in their own country,
sheltered in temporary camps near Delhi and elsewhere.
- More than 3,000 Hindu civilians have been killed, and
thousands more Hindu police and army personnel have succumbed
to terrorist violence.
There are virtually no Hindus left in the Kashmir Valley;
they have all been driven out.
- CONCLUSION
- Of these regions, Bangladesh represents an ongoing crisis
for Hindus and is of utmost immediate concern.
- Human rights violations against Hindus are repeatedly
ignored by human rights organizations such as Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch and government commissions
like the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom that routinely fail to specifically highlight
the plight of Hindus in regions where they comprise a
minority.
- Minority and human rights commissions in these regions
must be created and/or empowered to pressure the governments
of these countries to provide security and uphold the
rights of minority Hindus. The international community
must compel the governments of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
India to respect the human rights of Hindus as an urgent
priority.
The entire HAF Hindu human
rights report is available at http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/HHR2004.pdf
HAF is a non-profit, tax-exempt
501(c)(3) organization not aligned or affiliated with any
political entity, party or organization.
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