Hindu American Foundation PRESS RELEASE: HAF Releases First-Ever Survey of Hindu Human Rights

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PRESS RELEASE

HINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION

 

 

HINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION RELEASES FIRST-EVER ANNUAL SURVEY OF HINDU HUMAN

RIGHTS

 

 

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.”

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 ofs. “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.

 

For further information, please contact Aseem Shukla, M.D., at

aseem.shukla or at 904-424-9442.

 

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©(3) organization not aligned or affiliated

with any political entity, party or organization.

 

To from this mailing list, please send an inquiry through our

website at http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org

 

 

 

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