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The Persecution of Hindus has existed throughout history. In modern times Hindus have been persecuted in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) from the partition of India in 1947 until today. Hindus who initially constituted 30% of the population there have now dwindled to around 10%. Almost all of those driven out are now refugees in the North Eastern states in India. This ethnic cleansing has gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the world.
Background
Human rights are by definition universal. Hence, in an ideal world there would be no need to write a separate report on the human rights of Hindus, or for that matter any other group. In the real world, unfortunately, there is a gaping hole when it comes to the awareness of human rights for Hindus, mainly in Bangladesh, Pakistan and in the Kashmir valley. A report recently released by the Hindu American Foundation on the status of human right of Hindus in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kashmir begins to fill that hole, spelling out in great detail and with much documentation the pathetic condition of millions of Hindus who live as minorities amongst a Muslim population.
The 71-page report compiles media coverage and first-hand accounts of human rights violations perpetrated against Hindus because of their religious identity. The incidents are documented, often quoting from well-known international human rights organizations.
The Hindu American Foundation, a non-partisan American group, presented the report to the co-chairs of the US Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, and Gary Ackerman, a Democrat. Both of these members of Congress endorsed it.
Findings
The report documents the long history of anti-Hindu atrocities in Bangladesh, a topic that many Indians and Indian governments over the years have preferred not to acknowledge. Such atrocities, including targeted attacks against temples, open theft of Hindu property, and rape of young Hindu women and enticements to convert to Islam, have increased sharply in recent years after the Jamat-e-Islami joined the coalition government led by the Bangladesh National Party.
But that is only the latest chapter of a much longer pattern of persecution. Hindus comprised 30 percent of Bangladesh's population in 1947 but are less than 10 per cent today. The estimated loss of 20 million Bangladeshi Hindus is because of an ongoing genocide and forced exodus. An aside to that statistic is that much of the purge has occurred well after the liberation of that country thanks to Indian blood and treasure.
Hindus in what is now Pakistan have declined from 23 percent of the total population in 1947 to less than 2 per cent today. The report rightly condemns Pakistan for systematic state-sponsored religious discrimination against Hindus through bigoted "anti-blasphemy" laws. It documents numerous reports of millions of Hindus being held as "bonded laborers" in slavery-like conditions in rural Pakistan, something repeatedly ignored by the Pakistani government. Pakistan aggressively portrays its struggle against India as a Hindu-Muslim conflict, making it clear that its own Hindu minority is fair game for persecution.
Even within India, the pattern is the same. The combination of Pakistani-sponsored violence and local anti-Hindu sentiment has led to a similar "religious cleansing" of the Kashmir valley, where almost all the Hindus have fled.
Much like the Bangladeshi Hindu refugees in India, the Kashmiri Hindus are an unpalatable subject for many Indians, an ideological embarrassment for some people who feel uneasy about discussing the persecution of Hindus by Muslims. Some Indians still prefer to blame the Indian government for the flight of Kashmiri Hindus, ignoring the campaign launched by various Muslim groups to use public threats and violence, including murder, to terrify the local Hindus into leaving.
Conclusion
Some Indians may feel uncomfortable with this report because they do not want to be reminded about the problems of Hindus outside their milieu. And for some in the Indian intelligentsia, it is a badge of honour to distance themselves from these pogroms as a mark of their supposed enlightenment, oddly trashing their own ethos in the process. Many more Indians are reluctant to speak out against atrocities committed against Hindus for fear of being labeled "communal". Merely speaking about human rights for Hindus is for them a form of communalism.
These arguments are false. The people whose persecution is amply documented in this report are being persecuted because they are Hindu, not because they are poor or because of their political views. Brave human rights activists in Bangladesh and Pakistan, many of whom are not Hindus, have painstakingly documented the violations of basic human rights of Hindus in their country.
External links
- Dr. Koenraad Elst Was There an Islamic "Genocide" of Hindus?
- Human Rights Commision for Bangladeshi Minoritites