HINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE: HAF Releases First-Ever Survey of Hindu Human Rights

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RELEASE: HAF Releases First-Ever Survey of Hindu Human RightsWed, 13 Jul

2005 22:53:17 -0400

www.hinduamericanfoundation.org

PRESS RELEASEHINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION

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

DATE: July 13, 2005TAMPA, 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 (AT) hinduamericanfoundation (DOT) org 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

www.hinduamericanfoundation.org

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