Inside This Newsletter

HAF CONDEMNS ORISSA TEMPLE'S DECISION TO BAN ENTRY TO SCHEDULED CASTE (DALIT) HINDUS

HAF OUTRAGED BY REPORTS OF FORCED CONVERSIONS OF HINDUS IN PAKISTAN

ACADEMIC BIAS DISCUSSED IN JOINT PROGRAM HOSTED BY HAF AND AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE

HAF ATTENDS OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE DIWALI CELEBRATION

HAF 2005 SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM CULMINATES
 

HAF Condemns Orissa Temple's Decision to Ban Entry to Scheduled Caste (Dalit) Hindus

Date: December 19, 2005

TAMPA, FL - The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) expresses deep disapproval of  the barring of entry to Scheduled Caste (Dalit) worshippers of the Jagannath temple in Keraragard, a village in the Indian state of Orissa.  Newspaper reports say four Dalit women who entered the temple were beaten and later fined $22.24 by the village council (“Dalit Women Attacked/Fined for Entering Temple”).  “This reprehensible and archaic tradition of disallowing Dalits into Hindu temples should be ended, and the District and State bureaucrats as well as politicians should be held  accountable for the continuing practice of such illegal and unconstitutional acts,” said Ramesh Rao, one of HAF’s Executive Council members. 

Sebati Muduli, Annapurna Mahali, Jharana Jena and Sakuntala Muduli – the four women who entered the temple -- should be provided immediate legal redress by the authorities.   The village council’s decree penalizing the women so that the village can spend the money on “temple purification rituals” is of utmost cruelty and the village council members who arrived at the decision should be immediately reprimanded  for their illegal order.  “While the police say they are probing the incident, it is urgent that these cases of discrimination be dealt with expeditiously and in a rigorous manner,” said Dr. Mihir Meghani, President, Hindu American Foundation.  “It ill-behooves India to allow such wanton acts of dehumanization in this day and age,” said Dr. Meghani.

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HAF Outraged by Reports of Forced Conversions of Hindus in Pakistan

Date: December 10, 2005

TAMPA, FL - The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) expressed outrage and deep concern over the recently reported sudden religious conversions to Islam of Reena (21), Usha (19) and Rima (17) – daughters of Sanno Amra and Champa, a Hindu couple living in the Punjab Colony section of Karachi, Pakistan.

According to a widely circulated report in the Pakistan newspaper Dawn, entitled “Conversion losses” (http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/20051203.htm), the London based Pakistani commentator, Irfan Hussain, described the shock experienced by Sanno Amra and Champa when they returned home after work on October 18, 2005 to discover their three daughters had unexpectedly disappeared. Only after desperate queries to the police, affidavits stating the daughters’ conversions to Islam were received by the parents. Private visits with their daughters, free from chaperones and even police officers that supervised their only interactions thus far, have been consistently denied. After their disappearance from home, the girls have been living at a madrassa in the vicinity of their home and may potentially be denied the freedom to return home.

“The circumstances surrounding the sudden conversions raise strong suspicions of coercion and actual kidnapping,” said Ramesh Rao, Ph.D., member of the HAF Executive Council. “The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is known to be a cruel prison to all minorities, and Hindus in Pakistan have not just been reduced to a minuscule minority but they are being forced to suffer mental and physical torture in the process,” said Ramesh Rao.

In its recently released annual report on human rights of Hindus in South Asia in 2004, HAF observed that, “Non-Muslim citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are treated as separate and unequal citizens in a form of religious apartheid. The Constitution and laws of the land are overwhelmingly preferential to Islam, the State Religion, and Muslims. Systematic exclusion of Hindus and other minorities ranges from humiliations such that a non-Muslim lawyer cannot appear before Federal Shariat Court to Constitutional provisions that the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan must be Muslims. Religious extremism and fanaticism sponsored by the State that disenfranchise its own minority populations have engendered fringe factions that endanger the well-being and lives of minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Ahmadiyas, and Shias.”

The population of Hindus in Pakistan in 1947, at the time of Partition, was estimated to be anywhere from 15 to 24 percent. In 1998 the Hindu population in Pakistan was 1.60 percent. “This decline of the Hindu population over half a century is stark evidence of the effects of the discriminatory nature of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”, said Ramesh Rao.

The Hindu American Foundation seeks an immediate and open inquiry about the fate of Reena, Usha, and Rima Amra, and demands that in the meantime the three young women be put under the care and guardianship of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

For further information: Please contact HAF.
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Academic Bias Discussed in Joint Program Hosted by HAF and AJC

Date: December 20, 2005

PALO ALTO, CA - On November 16, 2005, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) jointly organized a program at Stanford University entitled “COUNTERING BIASES AGAINST HINDUS AND JEWS ON THE COLLEGE CAMPUS: The Who, What, and When of Responses to Hostile and Intimidating Rhetoric and Behavior in the Classroom.”

Professor Ramdas Lamb, an Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii, specializing in methodology in religious studies, mysticism, Indic religions (especially Ram Bhakti, Untouchable, and monastic traditions), interface of religion and contemporary society, and fieldwork studies, spoke on the history of bias against Hinduism, stemming from the “built-in resentment of Hindus by Protestant missionaries.”  He stressed that part of the difficulty in adequately understanding Hinduism comes from the fact that Hinduism is a way of life, not just a belief.  Near the end of his speech,  he said many non-tenured faculty in religious studies who are practicing Hindus are afraid “to come out of the closet” reflecting a bias in academia where one can practice another religion and teach it, but a Hindu teaching Hinduism is assumed to lack objectivity.

Professor Arnold Eisen, Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion at Stanford University and the author of numerous books and articles about contemporary Jewish life and thought in America and Israel, spoke on the importance of religious dialogue but stated he could not remember the last time Hindus and Jews had such a program during his career. He mentioned that textbooks often do not portray religions properly and that a Hindu commented to the California State Board of Education’s Curriculum Committee that “a Hindu can’t find himself” in the textbooks currently up for review in the state. He said that, “it may be better to not teach a religion than to have it taught the way it is.”

The session was moderated by Aaron Gross, a Ph.D. Student, University of California (Santa Barbara), whose areas of scholarship include Modern Judaism, South Asian religions, Jewish-Indian contact, animals and religion, comparative religious ethics, critical theory and history of religions.  The program was cosponsored by ACCESS (AJC’s emerging leadership group), Hillel at Stanford and the Hindu Students Council at Stanford.

For further information: Please contact HAF.
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HAF Attends Official White House Diwali Celebration

Date: December 23, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Member of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) , Nikhil Joshi, Adeeti Joshi, Pawan Deshpande and Suhag Shukla, attended the Diwali celebration hosted White House on November 1, 2005.  The event, held in the prestigious Indian Treaty room, was also attended by nearly 70 other Indian American community leaders. 

Though President George W. Bush was not present at the event, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card presided over the event.  Card expressed sympathy on behalf of the Administration over the serial terrorist attacks in New Delhi that occurred on October 29, 2005.  To commemorate the occasion, Card then proceeded to light a diya comparing it hope symbolized by the torch of the Statue of Liberty.

HAF leaders who attended the event also distributed sweets to office of various legislators in accordance with the Deepavali tradition.

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HAF 2005 Summer Internship Program Culminates

Date: November 23, 2005

TAMPA, FL – Having completed its first summer internship program in September 2005, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) announced today that the program will continue in 2006.  HAF members felt that the inaugural program was a resounding success in 2005 with  thirteen high-school and undergraduate interns from across the country completing various internship projects.  Each intern was assigned a project suited to their individual skills to further their interests in promoting Hindu values of tolerance and pluralism.  The projects had a domestic and global scope. 

“The summer internship program is the first step in enabling youths to contribute to a nationally recognized Hindu American organization,” said Pawan Deshpande, member of the Hindu American Foundation Executive Council and internship program coordinator.  “These interns showed tremendous enthusiasm and commitment as they entered the world of advocacy and activism for Hindu Americans.” 

Aayal Patel (San Jose, CA) researched information on the significance of major Hindu festivals and holidays.  Ruchi Turakhia (Davidson, NC) contributed to HAF’s media outreach.  Anupama Madabhushi (Missouri City, TX) and Srinivas Sai Kondapalli (Strongsville, OH) contacted various Hindu community centers as a part of HAF’s Hindu Awareness Campaign.  Meenal Vamburkar (Franklin Park, NJ) and Pragya Verma (Holmdel, NJ) conducted surveys for education and academic bias efforts.  Bhaavika Patel (Cupertino, CA), Rajit Das (Houston, TX) and Preetom Sikder (Staten Island, NY) documented incidents human rights violations in Hindu-minority regions of South Asia.  Their work will be included in the HAF upcoming human rights report.  Nihar Barbhaiya (San Jose, CA) and Sruthi Satishchandran (Lansdale, PA) performed online research on several topics of concern to the Hindu American community.  Chetan Surpur (Cupertino, CA) and Kartikeya Katir (Yuba City, CA) completed various web development projects.  Lahari Rao (Pleasanton, CA) contributed the Faith-based and Community Initiatives (FBCI) guide, which was released in September.

“Before my summer internship, I did not know how students of my age could do something about the challenges facing the Hindu community,” said Preetom Sikder, a Hindu American Foundation intern who documented over 90 human rights violations against Hindus in Bangladesh.  “My internship with HAF provided me with an opportunity to proactively make an impact at an international level.”

Among the highlights of the summer, California-based interns also met Mata Amritanandamayi (Ammachi) and attended a separate intern dinner event.  Other interns presented their projects to members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Council over conference calls.  Several of the interns will be returning to work with HAF on other projects in the near future.

“We have seen a clear interest in the program and look forward to growing it for the summer of 2006,” said Mr. Deshpande.  “These interns are the future leaders of HAF and our community, and we are fortunate to be able to provide this opportunity to further their tremendous talents.

For further information: Please contact HAF.
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