India Govt ignoring Afghan+Bangladeshi Hindus Plight

[Guest guest]

`Govt ignoring Afghan Hindus'plight'

PRADEEP KAUSHAL

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 22: THE Vishwa Hindu Parishad today

charged the Vajpayee Government with discriminating against

Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan by not making any

arrangements to protect them in wake of the turmoil that has

gripped the land-locked nation.

 

The VHP contrasted this with the rescue efforts made by the

Government for the Muslims of Indian-origin living in Kuwait

when it was attacked by Iraq.

 

 

In a letter to Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, VHP president

Vishnu Hari Dalmia said that the Indian government had sent

special planes to evacuate Indian Muslims stranded in Kuwait,

while no such effort had been made in the case of Hindus and

Sikhs fleeing Afghanistan now. ``Why this discrimination?''

Dalmia asked in the letter.

 

 

VHP vice-president Giriraj Kishore, meanwhile, criticised the

Vajpayee Government for not taking adequate steps to ensure

the safety and security of the Bangladeshi Hindus who were

being persecuted there after the assumption of power by Begum

Khaleda Zia. At a media conference here, he said that after the

brutal killings of 16 BSF jawans by Bangladesh the Indian

Government had only sent a protest-note to Dhaka. Now that

Hindus were being attacked there, one could hardly expect the

Government to do any better.

 

 

Kishore urged the Vajpayee government to allow ``Hindu

refugees'' to cross over to India if it could not ensure their safety

and security in Bangladesh and deport all Bangladeshi Muslims

who were in India. He said that the VHP would launch a

movement in the country on this ``very grave and explosive

issue.'' About 175, 000 Bangladeshi ``infiltrators'' were presently

living in India, he claimed.