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Difficulties of being Hindu

Difficulties of being Hindu

Author: Tarun Vijay
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 4, 2005

Recently, a significant report on the status of Hindus in the  Indian subcontinent was released in the precincts of Capitol Hill,  Washington, by high profile Hindu American Foundation (HAF). It is  amazing that Hindus have been facing threats to their lives and honour  in Pakistan, Bangladesh and their own homeland, India. Yet, the media  has so far ignored such assaults on them.

It goes to the credit of American Hindus, well established in the high  echelons of science, technology and medicine in the US, who decided to  bring out a comprehensive report on the status of Hindus in the Indian  subcontinent. They have formed HAF that took up the onerous task of  collecting material from impeccable sources like Amnesty International,  Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, etc.

The US Department of State's annual reports on religious freedom and  human rights as well as the United States Commission on International  Religious Freedom provided important data in the making of the report.  According to the HAF board of directors, the report was prepared to  document a humanitarian tragedy largely omitted by the human rights  organisations. "With over 600 documented attacks of murder, rape and  physical intimidation of Hindus in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India's  State of Jammu & Kashmir last year alone, the ongoing atrocities against  Hindus can no longer be ignored," said Mr Ramesh Rao, a member of the  HAF executive council who contributed to the report.

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 per cent of the total population in 1947  to less than 10 per cent today, is analysed in the report. The report  alleges that the estimated loss of 20 million Bangladeshi Hindus is a  consequence of their persecution, both overt and covert.

The international community must demand the Government of Bangladesh to  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 Jammu & Kashmir, which has left  thousands of Hindus and Muslims dead. Besides, the jihadi terrorism has  forced more than 3,00,000 Kashmiri Pandits to leave the Valley. These  Hindus are refugees in their own country, sheltered in temporary camps  near Delhi and elsewhere. There are virtually no Hindus left in the  Valley; they have all been driven out.

Similarly, Pakistan is condemned for systematic state-sponsored  religious discrimination against Hindus through elaborate anti-blasphemy  laws, and for failing to investigate numerous reports of lakhs of Hindus  being held as bonded labourer in slavery-like conditions. The report  drew attention of two senior co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on  India and Indian Americans - Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and  Republican Gary Ackerman. "The human rights violations that are  occurring against Hindus must no longer be ignored without reprobation,"  said Mr Ros-Lehtinen.

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. Mr 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 a commendable work by compiling the 2004 Survey of  Human Rights in defence of 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.

The report documents serious violation of human rights against Hindus,  and it will be worth looking at the stark facts presented therein. The  human rights of Hindu citizens are consistently violated in three  regions where Hindus constitute a minority: Bangladesh, Pakistan and  Jammu & Kashmir. 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 labelled 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. Under the  1972 act, the Government of Bangladesh vested itself with the property  of alleged enemies. Still in force, this Order of the President and the  Enemy Vested Property Act has not been subjected to any judicial review.  No wonder Hindus, who comprised nearly 30 per cent of Bangladesh's  population in 1947, now constitute less than 10 per cent of the  population. By 1991, 20 million Hindus were unaccounted or 'missing'  according to expected population trends.

Hindus constituted between 15 per cent and 24 per cent of Pakistan's  population in 1947. But now they comprise less than 1.6 per cent of the  population. 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. 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, Qisas, Diyat Ordinance (Section 306 C) of 1991.

The 71-page report compiles media coverage and first-hand accounts of  human rights violations perpetrated against Hindus because of their  religious identity. Prior to its release on July 13, the report was  delivered to the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and  Indian-Americans, who endorsed it. But so far, none from India has  bothered to take the report seriously or discuss it in human rights  forums. Is that not a fact that none seems concerned about such gross  inhuman acts, just because victims happen to be Hindus?
 


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