Author: Vasantha Arora (Indo-Asian
News service)
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: May 20, 2004
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_769283,00050001.htm
Leading US Congressman Frank Pallone,
founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, has
expressed his deep concern over the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Speaking on Wednesday on the floor
of the US House of Representatives, he accused the Bangladesh government
of unleashing "a campaign of terrorism, murder and religious cleansing"
directed at the Hindu minority.
Bangladesh is ruled by a coalition
headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)which came to power in
October 2001.
"I had written a letter to Bangladesh
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in 2002 about this violent persecution, but
I have received no response to date and it is a fact that unabashed violence
has continued freely.
"Although the latest wave of violence
has been ensuing since BNP took power in 2001, Hindus have been a disappearing
minority in Bangladesh at the hands of Bangladeshi forces who have employed
human rights abuses, atrocities and ethno-religious cleansing tools."
He said that in 1941, six years
before India became independent, Hindus comprised 28 percent of the population
in present day Bangladesh. By 1991 this had fallen to eight percent.
A large part of this decrease could
be attributed to the 1971 genocide by Pakistani forces when, he said, 2.5
million Hindus were murdered and 10 million fled to India as refugees.
"Reminiscent of the Jewish holocaust,
Hindu homes were marked by a yellow 'H', which in fact guided the pillagers
to their homes.
"Over the following 30 years, thousands
of Hindu temples were destroyed, Hindus were systematically disenfranchised
from holding political power, and prejudicial legislation ensured an unstable
existence for Hindus," Pallone said.
In fact, Islamic extremists have
routinely dispossessed Hindus, and also Christians and Buddhists, of their
ancestral properties and land, burned down their houses and desecrated
and razed temples.
"This campaign of minority cleansing
in progress in Bangladesh must be stopped," he said.
"Since 1971, when Bangladesh was
born as a secular democratic country out of Islamic Pakistan, all minority
populations have declined and this 'Islamization' must be put to an end
through the government's leadership."
Pallone suggested a seven-point
programme to uphold pluralistic democracy in Bangladesh for the protection
of Hindus and all minorities. These were:
* The restoration of secularism
in the constitution of Bangladesh, as it existed in the first constitution
of independent Bangladesh in 1972.
* Passage of affirmative action
and hate crime laws that acknowledge the minority communities of Bangladesh.
* Production of a white paper on
atrocities against the minorities over the years, and assurance that the
perpetrators of the ongoing pogrom are brought to justice.
* Repatriation and rehabilitation
of the refugees, displaced people, with full compensation to the victims.
* Ending of oppression of journalists
and writers who report minority persecution and human rights violations.
* Termination of the illegal torture
in custody of members of secular parties.
* Allowance of an independent commission
to investigate the atrocities perpetrated against the minority groups.
