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A Survey of Human Rights 2013 Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights 2013 www.HAFsite.org June 5, 2013 © Hindu American Foundation 2013 “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 1 “One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Yielding to desire and acting differently, one becomes guilty of adharma.” Mahabharata XII: 113, 8 “Thus, trampling on every privilege and everything in us that works for privilege, let us work for that knowledge which will bring the feeling of sameness towards all mankind.” Swami Vivekananda, “The Complete works of Swam Vivekananda,” Vol 1, p. 429 "All men are brothers; no one is big, no one is small. All are equal." Rig Veda, 5:60:5 © Hindu American Foundation 2013 © Hindu American Foundation 2013 Endorsements of Hindu American Foundation's Seventh Annual Report Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights 2010 "As the founder and former co---chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, I know that the work of the Hindu American Foundation is vital to chronicle the international human rights of Hindus every year. The 2010 report provides important information to members of Congress, and I look forward to continuing to work with HAF to improve the human rights of Hindus around the world." U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) "As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and the co---chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, I applaud the hard work of the Hindu American Foundation in producing their annual Human Rights Report. The first step in addressing the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities is shedding light on these abuses - and the report does just that." U.S. Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA) “I support the Hindu American Foundation’s devoted efforts toward bringing attention to religious freedom across the globe. As a member of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, I commend the work being done by this organization spreading awareness of this issue to the international community.” U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) © Hindu American Foundation 2013 Hindu American Foundation Board of Directors Mihir Meghani, M.D. Aseem R. Shukla, M.D. Rishi Bhutada, M.B.A. Padma Kuppa Executive Director and Legal Counsel Suhag A. Shukla, Esq. Senior Director Sheetal D. Shah (Editor) Director and Senior Fellow, Human Rights Samir Kalra, Esq. (Author) Director, Member and Chapter Relations SriVani Ganti Associate Director, Government Relations Jay Kansara Office Manager Zoila McDowell Executive Council Pawan Deshpande Arvind Chandrakantan, M.D. Pooja Deopura Devyani Desai, Ph.D. Sachi Edwards Nikhil Joshi, Esq. Raman Khanna, M.D. Nicholas O’Connell Kavita Pallod Ramesh N. Rao, Ph.D. Vineet Sharma, M.D. Swaminathan Venkataraman © Hindu American Foundation 2013 The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) is an advocacy organization for the Hindu American community. The Foundation educates the public about Hinduism, speaks out about issues affecting Hindus worldwide, and builds bridges with institutions and individuals whose work aligns with HAF’s objectives. HAF focuses on human and civil rights, public policy, media, academia, and interfaith relations. Through its advocacy efforts, HAF seeks to cultivate leaders and empower future generations of Hindu Americans. The Hindu American Foundation is not affiliated with any religious or political organizations or entities. HAF seeks to serve Hindu Americans across all sampradayas (Hindu religious traditions) regardless of race, color, national origin, citizenship, caste, gender, sexual orientation, age, and/or disability. © Hindu American Foundation 2013 Acknowledgements This is HAF’s ninth annual Hindu human rights report. Persecution against groups and communities in nation states usually occurs in the context of some version of state- sponsored, state-abetted, or state-countenanced discrimination. While that still continues to be the main focus of this report, we also acknowledge that in many instances non- state actors create conditions in a country or region that lead to rampant human rights violations. Often this occurs with the tacit support of the ruling establishment, as is the case in Pakistan. It is also difficult to ignore certain situations where race, ethnicity, and religion are intertwined. Attacks against a particular group because of its ethnicity, for example, may also be fueled by its religious identity or vice versa. Thus, the case of Sri Lanka continues to present a major dilemma. Was the LTTE terrorist group, which was defeated in 2009 by the Sri Lankan national army after 33 years of conflict, a Tamil group or a Hindu group? Was the Sri Lankan response, which included allegations of severe war crimes, against Hindus and Tamils or just a terrorist group? Unfortunately, the answer is highly convoluted and further complicated by the emergence of Sinhala- Buddhist nationalism following the conclusion of the war Similalry, other countries and regions, such as Afghanistan, the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, and Saudi Arabia pose further challenges in addressing and documenting human rights violations. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, the Hindu population is comprised almost entirely of South Asian migrant workers, and thus not officially recognized by the state. As a result, specific reports of persecution against Hindus are difficult to obtain. Accounts of general conditions for migrant workers and legal restrictions on non-Muslims are, however, available. These reports have led both the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the U.S. Department of State to consistently designate Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). Despite being labeled as a CPC, America has been reluctant to sanction the Saudi regime or hold them accountable for widespread repression, due to close relations between the two countries. Afghanistan, on the other hand, presents a different issue, as the current population of Hindus has dwindled to a few hundred families. Nonetheless, those Hindus remaining in this conflict-ridden nation face considerable discrimination. At the same time, there are large numbers of Afghan Hindus living outside of Afghanistan, who encounter difficulties as refugees. And India’s state of Jammu and Kashmir is an equally intricate situation, with Hindus being minorities at the state level, but a majority at the national level. Moreover, it raises important questions regarding responsibility for the current status of Kashmir’s Hindu © Hindu American Foundation 2013 community, many of whom have been internally displaced from their homes, while remaining within India. Cognizant of these complexities, this report attempts to provide a detailed account of events and conditions in countries and regions where attacks against Hindus are of primary concern, as well as those that have sizeable Hindu communities, or have generated substantial Hindu refugees or internally displaced persons. Furthermore, given the varying degree of persecution faced by Hindus in each country, the 2012 report categorizes each country based on their respective violations against Hindus. Therefore, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Pakistan have been labeled as Egregious Violators; Bhutan, the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and Sri Lanka as Countries of Serious Concern; and Fiji, Saudi Arabia, and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) as Monitored Countries. Each category will be explained in greater detail. As in the past, numerous grass-roots organizations were involved in collecting data about the violation of human rights of Hindu minorities, and HAF thanks them for sharing the information they have collected. Chief among these organizations are Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW), Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) and Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council USA (BHBCUC-USA) – organizations that have been at the forefront of publicizing the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh; “Odhikar” – a human rights organization in Bangladesh doing extraordinary work on publicizing human rights abuses in the country; the Indo-American Kashmir Forum and the Kashmir Taskforce – which have worked to bring the attention of the United States government and media to the plight of Kashmiri Hindus; Panun Kashmir – working tirelessly to recover the lost properties and homes of Hindus forced to leave the Kashmir Valley; Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), also known as Human Rights Party (HRP) Malaysia – working for the human rights of Hindu minorities in Malaysia; Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) – an independent voice in the struggle for human rights and democratic development in Pakistan; Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD) – seeking to educate European media and government about the status of human rights worldwide; and Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) – which keeps track of human rights abuses in Asia. HAF acknowledges the work of global human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch in bringing to our attention the denial of human rights around the world. Also, important historical information and contemporary updates were obtained from the U.S. Department of State’s annual reports on religious freedom and human rights, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s annual reports. Our thanks to the Hindu Vivek Kendra for the extensive
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