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

07-14-2005, 07:09 AM

www.hinduamericanfoundation.org

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 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.

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(c)(3) organization not aligned or affiliated
with any political entity, party or organization.

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