CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— Extensions of Remarks E57 HON

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E57 This country and its citizens will pay the HINDU NATIONALISTS DESTROY Mr. Speaker, I would like to introduce Press price for such a course. While the President CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN ‘‘SECU- reports on the attacks on Christian religious in- must bear responsibility for his role in allowing LAR’’ INDIA stitutions into the RECORD. this scenario to develop, we cannot undo the [From the Washington Post, January 3, 1999] past, and the Republican party must bear re- HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS HINDUS BLAMED FOR ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS sponsibility for prolonging a situation that most OF NEW YORK NEW DELHI.—India’s main opposition Con- American rightfully want to be brought to a IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES gress party said a wave of attacks on Chris- Wednesday, January 6, 1999 tians appeared to be a campaign by Hindu close. right-wing groups to whip up conflict. The accusations against the President are Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I was disturbed Police detained 45 Hindus Friday in con- by recent reports that several Christian nection with torching a Catholic prayer hall serious. So too are the consequences of sub- churches, prayer halls, and religious missions by mobs Wednesday. Four nuns and two jecting the nation to a Senate tribunal. To have recently been destroyed by Hindu ex- priests were injured in the 10th reported at- those who argue that the President should not tremists affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu tack against Christians since Christmas. No one has claimed responsibility for the be treated differently than others accused of Parishad (VHP), a militant Hindu organization. similar misdeeds, let them be reminded that attacks in the western state of Gujarat, but The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party Congress and Christian activists blame the President would still be subject to prosecu- that leads the governing coalition, is also part Hindu right-wing activists, including the tion once out of office. It should be noted of the VHP. Vishwa Hindu Parishad—World Hindu Coun- there is a large body of opinion that the state- The violence forced many Christian con- cil—and its affiliate, Bajrang Dal. Christians ments in question made under oath by the gregations to cancel New Year's celebrations make up 2.3 percent of the 960 million people in politically secular India. More than 80 per- President are not generally pursued criminally for fear of offending the Hindu militants, which could lead to further violence. Is this the secu- cent of the population are Hindus. given the context in which they were made. larism that India boasts about? Clearly, there However, the history of Ken Starr's relentless [From the Washington Post, December 31, is no religious freedom for these Christians in 1998] pursuit of William Clinton suggest that the India. INDIAN CHRISTIANS CANCEL NEW YEAR President might stand little chance of receiving Unfortunately, these are just the latest inci- SERVICES an objective analysis on the question of dents of violence against Christians in India. MULCHAND, INDIAN.—Christian congrega- whether or not to prosecute. Four nuns were raped last year by a Hindu tions in western India are canceling New The world may askÐhow did it come to gang. The VHP described the rapists as ``pa- Year prayer services this year, fearful of pro- triotic youth'' and called the nuns ``antinational this? The answer may well rest in a combina- voking more violence from radical Hindus elements.'' To be Christian in secular India is who already have destroyed a dozen church- tion of factorsÐblatant partisanship, unreason- to be an antinational element! At least three es. The violence has put the governing ably strong personal animosity toward the priests were killed in 1997 and 1998, and in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the awk- President, a righteousness by those who ap- 1997 police opened fire on a Christian festival ward position of needing to protect India’s pear to have lost any capacity for forgiveness, that was promoting the theme ``Jesus is the Christian minority from groups affiliated with the Hindu nationalist party. Since Fri- and a total disregard for the larger issues at Answer.'' day, mobs armed with axes, iron bars, ham- stake. Apparently, the Hindu Nationalists are afraid mers and stones have attacked 18 churches, that the Dalits, or ``Untouchables'', the aborigi- prayer halls or Christian schools. There are those who may truly believe that nal people of South Asia who are at the bot- f the facts do, in fact, require impeachment. tom of the caste structure, are switching to However the process by which any such de- other religions, primarily Christianity, thus im- GENETIC INFORMATION NON- termination might have been made was deeply proving their status. This undermines the DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH IN- flawed and strained credulity. House Judiciary caste structure which is the foundation of the SURANCE ACT OF 1999 Committee Chairman HENRY HYDE said at the Hindu social structure. outset that successful impeachment would re- The Indian government has killed more than HON. LOUISE M. SLAUGHTER 200,000 Christians since 1947 and the Chris- quire bipartisanship. By that standard alone, OF NEW YORK tians of Nagaland, in the eastern part of India, the results are a failure. Unfortunately, the IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES are involved in one of 17 freedom movements House Judiciary Committee chose to follow within India's borders. But the Christians are Wednesday, January 6, 1999 the lead of so-called Independent Counsel not the only ones oppressed for their religion. Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am proud Ken Starr, and utterly failed to develop any India has murdered more than 250,000 to introduce today H.R. 306, the Genetic Infor- facts of its own that would bear on the allega- Sikhs since 1984 and over 60,000 Muslims in mation Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance tions. The Committee made a mockery of the Kashmir since 1988, as well as many thou- Act of 1999. responsibilities that come with consideration of sands of other people. The holest shrine in the Over the past few years, genetic discoveries impeachment and debased the Constitutional Sikh religion, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, have proceeded at a pace undreamt of less criteria by which impeachment is justified. is still under occupation by plainclothes police, than a decade ago. Genes have been identi- some 14 years after India's brutal military at- fied that are linked to common disorders like From the outset, I opposed the process pur- tack on the Golden Temple. The previous colon cancer, heart disease, and breast can- sued by the Committee. As members of the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Gurdev Singh cer. Doctors and researchers are moving rap- Committee noted, the majority proceeded from Kaunke, was killed in police custody by being idly to develop gene therapies and specialized allegations to a conclusion, ignoring fact-find- torn in half. The police disposed of his body. drugs that attack only cells carrying damaged ing or rational inquiry. In short, the process He had been tortured before the Indian gov- DNA. was unfair. By denying the House the oppor- ernment decided to kill him. A tiny sample of blood, tissue, or hair can tunity to vote on censure, and by introducing The Babri mosque, the most sacred Muslim now reveal the most intimate secrets of an in- raw partisanship into a vote of conscience, the shrine in the state of Uttar Pradesh, was de- dividual's present and future health. While this stroyed by the Hindu militants who advocate information holds tremendous promise for cur- majority has compounded that unfairness. At- building a Hindu temple on the site. Yet India ing disease and alleviating human suffering, it tempts to inflict the maximum amount of pain proudly boasts that it is a religiously tolerant, also carries an equal potential for abuse. on the President by insisting on impeach- secular democracy. As a result, I am reintroducing the Genetic mentÐthe ultimate ``scarlet letter'' as Mr. This kind of religious oppression does not Information Nondiscrimination in Health Insur- MCCOLLUM put itÐrisks putting this country deserve American support. We should take ance Act. This vital legislation would prevent through an experience it need not endure. In tough measures to ensure that India learns to health insurers from denying, canceling, refus- view of the strong reasons not to impeach, respect basic human rights. All U.S. aid to ing to renew, or changing the terms, pre- and the strong public sentiments against such India should be cut off and we should openly miums, or conditions of coverage on the basis action, the partisan march toward impeach- declare U.S. support for self-determination for of genetic information. It would prohibit insur- ment is truly regretful. all the peoples of the subcontinent. By these ance companies from requesting or requiring measures we can help bring religious freedom that a person reveal genetic information. Fi- and basic human rights to Christians, Sikhs, nally, it would protect the privacy of genetic in- Muslims, and everyone else in South Asia. formation by requiring that an insurer obtain