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PAKISTANI MILITARY ATTACKS ON HINDUS IN BALOCHISTAN WORRY HAF

HINDU AWARENESS CAMPAIGN MOVES TO INDIA - HAF ADDRESSES YOUTH GROUP AT ISKCON, BANGALORE

 

2005: A YEAR OF GROWTH AND ACCOMPLISHMENT (click below for more info) READ THE 2005 PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE HAF'S 2005 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Pakistani Terrorist Attacks on Hindus in Balochistan Worry HAF

Date: January 21, 2006

TAMPA, FL - Expressing concern at the developments in Balochistan over the past six weeks, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) noted a recent incident where Pakistan Armed Forces tried to intimidate remaining Baloch Hindus in Balochistan to leave the province. Newspaper reports have described how a helicopter gunship of the Pakistan army fired rockets on a Hindu locality in the Bugti area of Balochistan on Jan. 20, 2006.

According to Nabi Baksh, a spokesperson of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), two women and four children were injured in this attack. However, despite the air strike, the Baloch Hindus of the locality have refused to leave the area. Hindus have been targets of attack in Pakistan over the past six decades, reducing their presence in the country from 15 to 24 percent to less than two percent.

The support of resistance fighters who came to the rescue of the beleaguered Hindus is to be applauded. Reports mention that resistance fighters immediately mounted an attack on government buildings and posts of the security forces, thereby forcing security forces to divert their attention from the Hindu locality and focus on defending their posts which came under attack.

According to Agha Shahid Bugti of the JWP, the Pakistani Army attacked Dera Bugti's urban area with heavy weapons and killed nine people, including two women and five children.

Pakistani security forces moved into Kohlu district on Dec. 18, 2005 and broke a tenuous peace between Baloch nationalists and the Pakistan Government. This peace had lasted nine months since the violent confrontation in Dera Bugti, which had claimed over 60 lives including those of 33 Hindus. It is reported that the present operations in Balochistan began as a sequel to the Dec. 14, 2005 rocket attacks on Kohlu town when President Pervez Musharraf was on a visit to lay the foundation stone of one of the three new military cantonments to be set up in the province -- fiercely opposed by Baloch nationalists.¹

On December 27, 2005, India noted with "concern" the military action in Balochistan saying Pakistan should "exercise restraint" and address the grievances of the people of the region through peaceful discourse. Pakistan had rebuffed India and has continued to target the area.

Ramesh Rao, a member of HAF's Executive Council emphasized urgency that "the United States, a strategic partner of a reluctant Pakistan in the war against terrorism, rein in the Pakistan government and its continued program of eliminating dissent and minorities' demand for recognition in Pakistan."

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HAF Addresses Youth Group at ISKCON, Bangalore

BANGALORE, India - The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) took the Hindu Awareness Campaign to India, addressing a group of 70 youth at a weekend retreat in Bangalore.

Swaminathan Venkataraman, a member of HAF's Executive Council, addressed the youth group at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in Bangalore on December 24, 2005. Venkataraman said that the presentation covered not only the issues facing Hindus in North America, but also issues that Hindus face in India and which suffer from lack of advocacy by professional voices.

"While the presentation introduced the Hindu American Foundation and its work in the Unites States, it also focused on India-specific issues such as lack of media coverage on human rights violations against Hindus in South Asia," said Venkataraman. "We had a spirited discussion over the denial of religious liberties by the Government of India's control over Hindu temples and interference in Hindu educational institutions. Such interference is contrary to the secular ideals of the Indian Constitution and the government does not similarly interfere in Christian, Muslim, Sikh or other religious groups' places of worship or educational efforts."

The presentation called on Hindus to develop a global perspective by being aware of the substantial Hindu population outside India and the issues faced by them like denial of access to employment in government agencies, attacks on their temples and community centers, aggressive proselytism to convert Hindus to Christianity or Islam, and misrepresentation of Hindus and Hinduism in educational material like school textbooks. There are substantial Hindu populations in the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji and the United States and Canada.

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