Thomas Jefferson’s June 28, 1776 draft Declaration of Independence – had sequentiality built into what’s more important as in – “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – in that order. That is what I testified to on October 22, 2019 in the Sub-Committee, and thereafter, timely supplemented. Sequential rights is the key to good and proper governance, as defined by Lincoln’s Gettysburg recipe, which I paraphrase with affection: “of, by and for” the people.
After 9/11, there is a 24/7/365 days-a-year blackout – a freeze of communication, cell and internet, including, the instruction not to use the phone – in the immigration area so as to enhance public safety and thwart Terror. Since communication is a necessary “trigger” for Terror, it’s interruption in necessary to enhance public safety. While all good people want normalcy returned to Kashmir ASAP, and I’m a strong proponent of same, I don’t second guess the decisions made on the ground in real time that affect life and death, to prevent the avoidable and unfortunate swap between them. While I welcome a CoDel to Kashmir since my testimony, and hope India will accept my urging, it ill-serves to willy nilly beat up one of the most important and vibrant bilateral relationships that will not only define the 21st Century, but extend more American Freedoms to more of humanity.
As such, Rep. Jayapal’s Resolution is ill-advised at best, and misguided at best. That she is unfamiliar with Terror, as all New Yorkers and Indians are after serial Terror attacks, or she is unfamiliar with, and has never had the duty to provide public safety is visible in her utopia-based resolution. Terror is real; utopia, a book written by Sir Thomas More in 1516, is still a dream. I attach a copy of an article, citing Thomas Jefferson, that reports my urgent concerns to avoid a bilateral mishap.
I urge in lieu of such misguided action, that we, the United States, as an honest friend of the Sub-Continent use our good offices, and you, Mr. Chairman, have global reach and impact as a result of your principled and deliberative action, enriched with infinite calibration, help change the cross-border ground reality to aid in fastest return to normalcy. The internal matters of foreign sovereigns are always helped by genuine well-wishers, rather than opportunistic interlopers.
As a patriotic American, proud of my ancestry, India’s several-millennia history of religious freedoms – not just to pray, but for new faiths to be born, and secular, and India’s vital role in the American Revolution, I urge bipartisan restraint on a bilateral relationship important on a bipartisan level. If needed, I am happy to come testify and add knowledge and nuances that wisdom requires.
Unlike a jury, creating policy – especially foreign policy – requires expertise and nuance – and hence, being non-sequestered helps. Two weeks ago I was in Delhi, and had a conversation with our Amb. Ken Juster at a dear friend’s event; I’ve spoken to good folks, with a Pakistan-centric or India-centric view. I applaud State SCA’s A/S Alice Wells’ efforts to keep things “normal,” even as prompting an early return to a new normal, that is Terror-Free. A CoDel will do more good than an intrusive and ill-advised resolution.
You might cringe when someone makes an idiotic remark about Hinduism and Hindu practices.
A majority of Indian Muslims will never make a negative statement about Hindus or Hinduism. Indeed, they will defend it as Hinduism is one of the most misunderstood religions like theirs.
They are driven by the wisdom found in the Quran, 6:108 (Itani), “Do not insult those they call upon besides God, lest they insult God out of hostility and ignorance. We made attractive to every community their deeds. Then to their Lord is their return, and He will inform them of what they used to do.” The Quran warns us from taking the low road and destroying mutual respect and trust.
Wisdom is available when people disagree, the best way to part is narrated in the Quran109:6 (Itani), you have your idea, and I have my way.” Let’s respectfully disagree.
Please be aware, there are about three mistranslations of Quran in the market, and we hope you read at least five versions out of the 50 plus translations to get it right. It is easy for one to jump to conclusions by seeing one person’s interpretation. Humans make mistakes.
From Allama Iqbal to Sahir Ludhianvi to Shakeel Badayuni and hundreds of poets and authors have written accolades, bhajans and uplifting commentary about Hinduism. On my part, I will continuously uphold and defend Islam and Hinduism, along with all religions. The wisdom of the Quran calls for people to learn about each other, and when they do, conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
I shared the following note (Pluralism 101) to a WhatsApp group with a video as a forewarning to stall Muslims from making derogatory comments. The video was about our Hindu friends drinking urine right of a Cow and washing their faces. Please remember what is sacred to you is not sacred to others, and vice versa.
A Muslim is an ultimate human being who cares for other’s wellbeing and stands up for justice to each one of the 7.5 Billion inhabitants of the earth. A Muslim is an exemplary citizen and an Amin – A model citizen. We have a few bad apples, and we need to work and redeem them through critical notes like this.
The administrator of that WhatsApp group and I received a few disgusting comments, and the administrator chose to dissolve the group rather than engage in the conflicts, that was his choice. The other group also had a few negative comments. What a shame!
Muslims are developing good checks and balances, if one idiot among us makes a wrong statement, there are ten to pounce on him/her. Our Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Christian friends are also doing the same, speaking out against idiotic statements. There are plenty of them in each group. The new book American Muslim Agenda documents many such incidents.
I hope I am speaking for a majority of Indian Muslims, if not, please let me know. We have to talk out what is right.
(The author is a public speaker, author, thinker, newsmaker and an interfaith wedding officiant. His new book American Muslim Agenda is available at Amazon and the bookstores. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeghouse/)
LUCKNOW(TIP): Accusing the BJP of dividing society, disgruntled party MP from Bahraich Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phule on Thursday, December 6 resigned from the saffron party.
Speaking to reporters in Bahraich, Dalit leader said upholding the Constitution and the rights it guarantees to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is her duty for which she is resigning.
Phule announced to hold a massive rally at Ramabai Ambedkar maidan in Lucknow on December 23. She promised to make an “explosive announcement” at the rally.
“I have resigned from the party. But I will continue as a Lok Sabha member till the end of my tenure,” she said.
She has also accused the BJP of dividing society and often the party over its Hindutva plank.
The Dalit MP, who has long been critical of the party’s leadership and resigned from the party on the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar, said she wants to get the Constitution implemented in letter and spirit.
“Desh ke chowikdar ki pehredari mein, sansadhono ki chori karai ja rahi hai (the country’s resources are being looted under the watch of the country’s gateman),” she said in a derisive reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Slamming the BJP, she said people did not get Rs 15 lakh as promised but money was being misused in the construction of statues and temples.
“It (BJP) is spreading hatred by raking up Hindu-Muslim, India-Pakistan issues and doing nothing to bring back those who fled with our money,” the 37-year-old MP said.
Ministers, she added, were making statements against the spirit of the Constitution “It seems the BJP wants to run the country from Manusmriti and not from the Constitution,” Phule asserted, referring to the ancient Hindu code.
“I am resigning on the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar as Manuwadi mentality is being promoted and the RSS, the VHP and the BJP are hurting the sentiments of Dalits and Muslims by creating a 1992 like situation. They are playing divisive politics and vitiating the communal atmosphere…,” she said.
Phule also said she wanted to draw the country’s attention towards the issue of reservations in promotion.
Reacting to her resignation, BJP spokesperson Harishchandra Srivsatava said Phule was trying to hide her failures as she had failed to meet the expectations of the people of Bahraich.
“From today onwards, I have nothing to do with the BJP. My voice was being ignored in the party as I am a Dalit. There is a great conspiracy against Dalits and their rights. Reservation for Dalits and backwards is also being slowly taken away,” she said.
Known for her controversial statements, Phule has been attacking the BJP and its governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh for their alleged indifference to the concerns of Scheduled Castes.
On Tuesday, Phule said Lord Hanuman was “a Dalit and a slave of ‘Manuwadi’ people”, adding her voice to the row which erupted over UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s statement that the deity was a Dalit.
Asked about the Ram temple issue, pending in the Supreme Court, Phule said the BJP is raking up the matter as it has no other issues.
“The country does not need a temple. Will it end unemployment and other problems of Dalits and backwards? The temple will benefit Brahmins, who are only 3 per cent. The money offered in temples are used by them for their gains and make our community (Dalit) their slave,” she had said.
Phule earlier also raised questions on BJP leaders dining at Dalit homes and termed Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, “a mahapurush” (great personality), causing embarrassment to her party.
The Indian-Americans have a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
By Mike Ghouse
“The quality of life is directly proportional to freedom from religious and cultural tensions”, says the author.
If India were to be ascribed with such a label, it would hinder the flow of foreign direct investments and subsequent reversal of economic prosperity achieved in the last twenty years. This label may not affect the poor Indians, but it will severely impact all those Indians working in information technology related jobs and businesses involved in software development and services.
South Africa once was an apartheid nation, and its prosperity came to a grinding halt when the foreign corporations realized that they are supporting a regime that discriminates her citizens. The harassment, lynching, and killing of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others in India needs to stop; if not, it will hurt all Indians as the investors will start pulling out of the country. Who wants to invest in a place where their investment is not secure?
The success of the American economy is based on the rule of law, the law is enforced equally, and no criminal will get away with the power of his or he monies. If someone violates the rules, the individual or the company will pay the penalty, and this builds confidence and trust in the society and frees them from tensions. Every Indian should feel secure about his or her faith, ethnicity, language and culture.
The First Amendment of America’s constitution serves as a model of success for any government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Ambassador Sam Brownback had once said that the prosperity of a nation hinges on religious freedom. Indeed, the success of a country is directly proportional to religious liberty. It frees people from the daily tensions of what to eat, drink, wear and believe. It allows them to become a productive employee to the company, and a fully participating member of the family by giving the family the full attention it deserves instead of worrying about a fellow employee at the place of work.
Furthermore, the quality of life is directly proportional to freedom from religious and cultural tensions.
The sense of security is diminishing rapidly. A Christian is apprehensive of going to the Church on a Sunday, and a Muslim is afraid of storing meat in his refrigerator should the vigilantes descend on him. The women including little girls are not safe either. The murderers and rapists got felicitated with Garlands from among the current leaders instead of sending them to prison. The man who lynched and brutally killed a Muslim man was videotaped and shared on WhatsApp, and the lyncher was rewarded with a party ticket to contest elections. This is shamefully a weekly occurrence.
Ambassador Brownback had once said referring to mob violence around the world. If the leaders respond immediately to such incidents and tell the nation that the lynching and harassment of fellow citizens will not be acceptable, then the violence will cease or at least mitigate. Unfortunately, the current Indian leadership has remained silent when vigilantes kill and maim the people, causing every Indian to live in fear – both the minorities and the ones who frighten.
Please note that Hindutva ideology propagated by RSS and its family of parties is not Hinduism. Hindutva is to Hinduism; what Islam is to Islamists. Hindutva and Islamist are anti-Hinduism and anti-Islam respectively. It may take a few generations for Hindutvavadis and Islamists to see the value of respecting the otherness of the other and accepting the God-given uniqueness of the other. When we get there, conflicts will fade, and solutions emerge. Ultimately, every Indian wants to live in peace and feel secure about his faith and focus on contributing to the common good of the nation.
The Indian Americans have equal access to all the opportunities in the market without discrimination, and I hope the Indian Americans would want India to treat her minorities as America does hers. It is an embarrassment to note that a few Indian Americans don’t want Muslims, Christians, and Dalits to have equal rights in India. On top of it, they are poisoning their children with ill-will towards each other.
The good news is that most of the American Indian youth are rejecting the ugliness of their parents and choose to respect the otherness of the other. After all, they have to work with people of different faiths and races, and it would be a pain for them to work with others if their parents have dumped their biases on their children. Should parents poison their children?
We appeal to all the India oriented American organizations including the Hindu America Foundation, the Indian American Muslim Council, Federation of Indian American Christian Organization of North American to support our petition.
The petition will be addressed to the Government of India to issue Visa’s to the Commissioners of USCRIF. They can do the investigations about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Sikh Genocides, Gujarat Massacre, Lynching and harassment of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others.
If India gets a “Clean Chit” it will ensure continued prosperity and investor confidence in India’s democracy. However, if the Indian government is found guilty of the violations of religious freedoms, then two choices left to deal with are; risk losing the confidence of the investors in the stability of India or fix the problems and earn a clean chit. Every Indian American must ensure the sustainability of India’s democracy and prosperity.
In Washington DC, there are three Indians who regularly attend the meetings about religious freedom issues from among about seventy-five individuals to talk about the concerns in different nations. Jay Kansara has been representing the Hindu America Foundation, John Prabhudoss represents Federation of Indian American Christians of North America, and Mike Ghouse serves the Center for Pluralism, standing up for the rights of people from all faiths. Now, Ajit Sahi of Indian American Muslim Council has joined the group to address Religious freedom issues of Indian minorities. The Dalits and Sikhs have been represented on an off by different visitors.
Swami Agnivesh was in Washington DC and spoke to a group of defenders of religious freedom across the world. The Ambassador of religious liberty Hon. Sam Brownback presided the meeting. He was eloquent and precise, and it was an honor to meet the man whom I have come to admire for his stand on eradicating bonded labor and fighting for religious freedom of all Indians.
“Dear Ambassador Brownback and my fellow campaigners for human rights and religious freedom. I am grateful to you for this opportunity to speak here. Since the time allotted for me to speak is limited, I will get to the point immediately.
There is a grave threat today to civil liberties in general and religious freedom in particular in India. Indeed, the levels of violence we see in today’s India against the social and religious minorities are in many ways unprecedented in recent decades. The victims of such vicious violence are some of India’s poorest and most disadvantaged communities. They include Muslims, Christians, the Dalits, who are the former untouchables of the Hindu caste society, and the Adivasis, or the indigenous tribal people whose very existence is under threat.
Moreover, the perpetrators of this violence are directly linked with the RSS, which is the mother organization of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party. Especially since Mr. Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014, the attacks on the religious minorities have sharply increased. Armed mobs owing allegiance to the RSS and other Hindu groups have been lynching to death Muslims at will, accusing them of eating beef or slaughtering a cow. Such Hindu mobs also disrupt mixed-religion weddings in which the groom is Muslim, and the bride is Hindu because they don’t want Hindu girls to marry Muslim boys. There have been instances in which such Muslim grooms have been killed, too.
Similarly, these vigilante groups owing allegiance to the RSS have been attacking Christian Churches, priests, and congregants all over India. Once again, they blame the victims for the violence, accusing the Christians of converting Hindus to Christianity.
For thousands of years, the Dalits have suffered the worst violence and indignities at the hands of upper caste Hindus. However, now, that indignity is doubled because laws have been created to deny positive quota benefits to Dalits who convert out of Hinduism to Christianity and Islam. Converted Dalits face even greater violence and assault.
As for the Adivasis, the indigenous people, the RSS-BJP have for decades been forcing Hinduism on them even though millions of these Adivasis clearly state that they are not Hindus and they have their indigenous faiths. I have myself been a victim of their violence over the years. Twice in the last six months only I have been attacked by these violent mobs. Of course, it is futile to expect any police action against such violent perpetrators.
If I, being a prominent human rights defender in India, cannot expect the police to act against my attackers, you can imagine what would be the story of these social and religious minorities I have spoken about, the Dalits, the Adivasis, the Christians and the Muslims, who are being targeted in their hundreds of thousands across India.
Even more worrying is that some organizations in the United States that claim to represent the interest of the Hindus defend the highly divisive and violent activities of the RSS-BJP and instead blame the religious minorities. They try to create a false equivalence between the highly organized and structural violence of the RSS-BJP, who are in power in the federal government in India as well as more than a dozen and a half of India’s 29 states, and random acts of violence against Hindus that may occur.
The truth is that the biggest perpetrator of anti-minority violence in India is the RSS-BJP, which is now in power across India and is therefore grossly abusing its control of government machinery to provide impunity to its henchmen carrying out such violence. It would be a pity if the international community did not open its eyes and take notice of this worsening situation in the India of Mahatma Gandhi”.
Swami Agnivesh also added that he was coming from giving the keynote address at the Parliament for World’s Religions in Toronto, Canada and that the Hindu rightwing forces tried to prevent him from speaking there. He also said he had been a campaigner for justice for 50 years and had faced numerous attacks on his life, the most recent in Jharkhand in July, when hundreds of goons attacked him, and then again in Delhi in August. Swami Ji also spoke of his work with bonded laborers and said his organization had secured freedom and rehabilitation for more than 170,000 bonded laborers in India in the last thirty plus years.
(The author is a public speaker and the Executive Director of the Center for Pluralism in Washington, DC. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeghouse/)
Make no mistake about it; Hinduism is a religion of peace like all other religions. The problem is not between people of faith, but the radicals.
By Mike Ghouse
India has an impeccable history of welcoming the stranger and giving refuge to the oppressed, rejected and the evicted. She has welcomed Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and the Baha’is. Indeed, the very first mosque built outside of Arabia was in India by a Hindu King in the state of Malabar. The Tibetan Buddhist refugees found a home in India; the Ahmadiyya Muslims felt secure, so were the displaced Bangladeshi and Afghan refugees.
This beautiful pluralistic 5000-year-old tradition of India is in peril now. BJP and its affiliates (The Sangh Parivar) that govern India “currently” are hell-bent on destroying that heritage. They want to force non-Hindus into obedience and tell them what they can eat or believe, and whom they can marry or live as 2nd class citizens. They want to free India from Christians and Muslims and plan to convert them by 2025 to Hinduism. Indeed, the ISIS had given similar options to the Christians and Yazidis.
Make no mistake about it; Hinduism is a religion of peace like all other religions. The problem is not between people of faith, but the radicals.
A few Indian American organizations linked to the Sangh Parivar want to whitewash the situation. They want to portray that everything is hunky dory in India.
Hunky dory it is not, the Congressmen and Senators are fully conversant of the harassment, lynching, raping and killing of Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Atheists and others in India.
It is time for the Indian Americans to save the honor of India and restore her pluralistic heritage that got derailed in the last four years.
The prosperity of a nation stands on her two firm legs; economic growth and social cohesion, one will not sustain without the other.
If the minorities continue to live in apprehension and fear, the whole nation gets engaged in useless battles and the prosperity will come to a grinding halt, and the country will limp until it reaches a new life or loses all that was achieved.
The confidence of foreign investments in a nation spurs the growth, India’s IT industry, call centers, and businesses have raised the standard of living for many. As long as the investors feel secure about their investments they will pump in more funds. However, when they see chaos emerging with the nations discriminative practices, harassment, lynching, rapes and killing of the minorities, they will pull out and everyone stands to lose.
It was embarrassing to note the missing presence of India at the religious freedom conference held by the Department of State in July 2018. If the violations continue, India may get stamped as a “Country of Particular Concern” for violations of religious freedom. It will hurt India, particularly the business community and the information technology sector.
The whitewash report produced by the Hindu America Foundation is understandable. No Indian wants India to lose, but neither should we compromise on the truth to look good. We hope to produce an accurate state of the union; after all, India’s emblem includes the phrase, Satyameva Jayate – Truth triumphs.
The majority of Indians of all faiths believe in Pluralism, i.e., respecting the otherness of other. It is not Hindus either, but the radicals among Hindus that are causing the problems with the subtle encouragement from the BJP government.
Quotes from the HAF, reported by Jha;
“The Indian government provides “unprecedented” religious accommodations to its religious minority population, says a report by a US-based Hindu advocacy group.”
The truth is far from it. It sounds like the majority is doing a favor to the minorities in ‘accommodating’ them. It is like saying “we give equal rights to women” who the hell are we to give them their rights, to begin with, the rights were theirs. Indeed, every Indian is guaranteed those rights; we are all equal citizens. No one has more privileges than the other.
“To bring greater stability to the region and prevent the growth of radical Islamist and Communist/Maoist terrorism.” This statement is too hypocritical and divisive to exclude radical Hindutva terrorism from the list. The issue is not with Hindus or Muslims; it is with radicals among them.
“Overall, it seeks to show the broader story of religious freedom and pluralism in India, which is often not, reflected in the media or US policy circles.” Indeed, India was a pluralist nation until the Hindutva brigade took over the country four years ago.
We need to come together and appeal to the Government of India, to issue visas to the commissioners of the USCIRF to investigate the Sikh Genocide, Massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, killing of Christians, Rapes, and lynching of Dalits, and harassment of Sikhs. If the commission gives a clean certificate, it will help boost the investor confidence in India; on the other hand, if India’s record is of particular concern, then it is time to fix it than pretending to be holier than thou.
I would appeal to the Hindu America Foundation to issue press releases condemning the lynching of Muslims, killing of Christians, harassment of Dalits and Atheists, by condemning each event, it will give them the credibility to be a legitimate pluralist organization for Human rights.
We will also write a letter urging Prime Minister Modi to speak out forcefully against harassment of any Indian and pledge that no Indian has more privileges than the other. Ambassador Sam Brownback says, if evil acts get condemned as they occur, they will be choked and will not see the light of the day.
(The author is president of the Center for Pluralism and is committed to fostering cohesive societies where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other)
The South Asia working group’s initial report to the International Religious Freedom Round-table
By Dr. Mike Ghouse
“The many millennia old caste systems and the ‘unparalleled social abuse of untouchability (A.J. Toynbee)’ are based on religious doctrines of Brahminical Hinduism. Thus, caste-based violations of human rights in India are expressions of the utter lack of religious freedom.
“In Pakistan, the Hindu population is steadily declining as a percentage of the overall population with forced conversions. Christians are targeted with blasphemy and apostasy laws.
“In Bangladesh, Atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, and Ahmadiyya Muslims live in apprehension; the Atheist bloggers have been killed. There is a deficiency of law and order.
“In Sri Lanka, the ethnic violence continues between the Buddhists and Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims.
There is a dire need to address the violations of religious and political freedoms in South Asia comprising the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
A critical note – when a reference is made to the Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, India, Russia or others, it is not “all” people of that faith or country. It is usually a small percent of disaffected people from among the majority who feel threatened about their future and their way of life.
The Center for Pluralism offers a solution to counter that – We need to reassure each other in conflict, particularly those who may be troubled by the changing paradigms and demographics of the society that we are committed to safeguarding the way of life for everyone. As Citizens of a given nation, we uphold, protect, defend and celebrate the values of liberty and freedom enshrined in the Constitution. We acknowledge that not all constitutions have the element of freedom embedded in it – an example would be the rights of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan and rights of Arab Israelis.
There are pending issues that are simmering and may boil over one day. We hope to understand these issues and do our share of reporting them to the International Religious Freedom Round Table, an informal group.
This group will identify problems and offer recommendations and possible solutions, and they are;
Monitoring to ensure the individual rights of people are protected.
Facilitate democratic values and hoping for stable political and economic climate
Secure our long-term interests of the safety of Americans and their investments
Governor Sam Brownback, the newly appointed Ambassador for religious freedom, said in the inaugural reception. The essence of which was -if you want a nation to have peace, give the people their freedom, but if you push them to the corner, their anger will morph into extremism, and everyone will lose in the end.
Here is a summary; a detailed report is in the making and will be produced upon a request.
There is no doubt a lot of good things are happening, but our focus is how to identify exceptional violations of human rights and religious freedom.
India
The commissioners of USCRIF have been the denied visa to India to investigate, among other things; Sikh Genocide, Massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, the plight of Hindu Pundits and the caster system that mistreats the Dalits who are shamefully called untouchables. Most of the Hindu American organizations have an affiliation with the ruling party in India; we need them to stand up for the religious rights of the people and work on getting the Visas to the commissioners for an honest evaluation of the situation.
The policies of the government will lead to mass suicides by the farmers. The Farmers raise the cattle to sell and eke out a living. Now, they are afraid to sell the cattle for fear of being killed by the vigilantes and the Government does nothing. The Cows have gone astray and are eating the farmer’s crops and eating trash on the streets – the cows are treated with disrespect and left on their own, its gross violation of animal rights.
In India currently, you do not have the freedom to eat, drink, wear or believe in the pursuit of your happiness.
A Dalit groom rode a horse on his wedding Baraat (Procession) in the state of Uttar Pradesh last month; the upper caste Hindus could not stomach the “neech –i.e., the low caste untouchable” ride above them and they ended beat him up. Last week an Adivasi (Tribal) Girl was burnt alive. The upper caste Hindus feel entitled to the Dalit women for their pleasures. It is an endless agony for the Dalits. They cannot even convert to other faiths to escape these attitudes due to enforced anti-conversion laws.
Here is a report from the Dalit Leaders in India.
“The many millennia old caste systems and the ‘unparalleled social abuse of untouchability (A.J. Toynbee)’ are based on religious doctrines of Brahminical Hinduism. Thus, caste-based violations of human rights in India are expressions of the utter lack of religious freedom.
This perilous situation is aggravated by anti-conversion laws that have been passed in many states of India. Their purpose is to prevent Dalits from converting to other religions where they would not be considered untouchable’. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/anti-conversion-laws/india.php
The inferior status that Hinduism accords to Dalits, in spite of the equalities guaranteed by the constitution of the country, reflects in severe social, economic, and educational inequalities.
Dalits continue to suffer extreme prejudice and deprivation, apart from institutional harassment. Violence against Dalits – public shaming, beatings, rape, murder – is a daily occurrence. The law enforcement agencies, police and the judiciary, largely remain mute spectators, if not actively conniving in the violence.
Statistics show that violence against Dalits has only increased in recent years. Religious freedom and equality thus remain a mirage for 200 million Dalits in India.”
The Muslims are lynched and killed for doubt of possessing beef; fake encounters are common practice to trap the young Muslim boys; RSS (political Hindus in the guise of culture) set the bomb blasts in Mumbai and other places and blamed Muslims. Muzaffarnagar and other riots were created to pit Hindus against Indians.
Christian Nuns are raped; pastors are chased and beat up in the public. The Christians Churches are burned, and the couples are constantly harassed on Valentine’s Day and Christmas Day. The Dalits are forced to convert back to Hinduism.
Justice to Sikhs is not done yet; mothers are still waiting for their unaccounted children from the Sikh Genocide of 84 where in three days, the extremists among Hindus butchered about 3000 Sikhs.
Blatant discrimination births frustration leading to violent expressions, when that happens the foreign investors will pull out, who wants to invest in a place where their investments are not secure. It’s happened in India in the mid-60’s, mid 70’s and it has happened in South Africa. The consequences do not bring goodwill.
There is a significant crisis brewing in India, and the Supreme Court will render a judgment about the disputed land and authority to build or not build a Hindu temple, where a 500-year-old Muslim Mosque was razed to the ground.
The Supreme Court of India would review the documents if that Mosque were built razing a temple. The internationally famed Guru of Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has sowed the seeds of discontentment. Instead of suggesting the public to respect the Supreme Court’s decision, he has predicted civil war if the Court decides one way or the other. He has shown disrespect to the average Hindu and average Muslim who have demonstrated respect to the decisions of the Apex Court, several times in the recent past.
We pray that the Modi government and the State Government will offer strong safety protections to the public at least for a few months after December 5, 2018, the new date of the verdict.
Pakistan
Harassment of all minorities continues unabated. Ahmadiyya Muslims are denied their right to call themselves Muslims. There are numerous billboards that proclaim that it is legitimate to kill Ahmadiyya. The Hindu population is steadily declining as a percentage of the overall population with forced conversions. Christians are targeted with blasphemy and apostasy laws; these are the fake encounters. The Apostasy and Blasphemy laws were created to appease the tyrant kings and have no basis in the religion of Islam, and both are tools of oppression.
Bangladesh
The Atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, and Ahmadiyya Muslims live in apprehension; the Atheist bloggers have been killed. There is a deficiency of law and order.
Sri Lanka
The ethnic violence continues between the Buddhists and Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims. Sri Lanka’s president declared a state of emergency Tuesday amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks in several central hill towns could spread. The emergency announcement came after Buddhist mobs swept through the cities outside Kandy, burning at least 11 Muslim-owned shops and homes. The attacks followed reports that a group of Muslims had killed a Buddhist man. Police fired tear gas into the crowds, and later announced a curfew in the town. The government will “act sternly against groups that are inciting religious hatred,” Cabinet minister Rauff Hakeem said after a meeting with the president.
Nepal
It seems this nation is free from religious strife at this time, as it has undergone tumultuous political conflicts including a change in the form of Government from Monarchy to a democratic Republic.
A full report is available upon request to Mike Ghouse.
(The author is Chair, South Asia working group – IRF Roundtable. He can be reached at Mike@CenterforPluralism.com / Phone no. (214) 325-1916
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond concluded that it ‘second-guesses our nation’s dedication to religious freedom and tolerance’
RICHMOND (TIP): President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban on travelers from six largely Muslim countries is “unconstitutionally tainted with animus toward Islam,” a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, Feb 15, delivering another blow to the policy.
In a 9-4 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said it examined statements made by Mr. Trump and other administration officials, as well as the presidential proclamation imposing the ban, and concluded that it “second-guesses our nation’s dedication to religious freedom and tolerance”.
The 4th Circuit is the second federal appeals court to rule against the ban. In December, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Mr. Trump exceeded the scope of his authority with the latest ban.
The 4th Circuit court upheld a ruling by a federal judge in Maryland who issued an injunction barring enforcement of the ban against people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen who have bona fide relationships with people in the U.S.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed to hear the travel ban case in April. In December, the high court said the ban could be fully enforced while appeals made their way through the courts.
In its ruling, the 4th Circuit said the ban has a “much broader deleterious effect” than banning certain foreign nationals. The ban, the court said, “denies the possibility of a complete, intact family to tens of thousands of Americans”.
“On a fundamental level, the Proclamation second-guesses our nation’s dedication to religious freedom and tolerance,” Chief Justice Roger Gregory wrote for the court in the majority opinion.
American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Legal Director Cecillia Wang, who argued the case before the court, said she was not surprised by the ruling.
“The Constitution prohibits government actions hostile to a religion,” Ms. Wang said.
The International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the groups challenging the ban, said the policy has had a “devastating impact” on U.S. families waiting to reunite with their family members and foreign students seeking educational opportunities in the U.S.
“Today’s ruling affirms that they are being unjustly targeted by this ban,” said Mariko Hirose, the group’s litigation director.
The administration has said the ban is a legitimate measure to protect national security.
During a hearing before the 4th Circuit in December, Deputy U.S. Assistant Attorney General Hashim Mooppan told the judges that the President has broad authority to bar foreign nationals he believes would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. He said the latest restrictions were the product of a global, multiagency review that found the specified countries do not share enough security-related information with the U.S. He said the ban is designed to protect the nation from terrorism and other threats.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Paul Niemeyer said the 4th Circuit’s ruling was an attempt to “second-guess U.S. foreign policy, in particular, the president’s discretionary decisions on immigration, implicating matters of national security”.
Mr. Niemeyer said the majority should have based its decision on the text of the presidential proclamation alone and not considered statements Trump made on the campaign trial and after he became president.
“At bottom, the danger of this new rule is that it will enable a court to justify its decision to strike down any executive action with which it disagrees. It need only find one statement that contradicts the official reasons given for a subsequent executive action and thereby pronounce that the official reasons were a pretext,” Mr. Niemeyer wrote.
The ruling was the second time the 4th Circuit has rejected a travel ban. In May, the court cited Mr. Trump’s remarks on Muslim travelers while rejecting an earlier version of the ban, finding it “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination”.
Mr. Trump announced his initial travel ban on citizens of certain Muslim-majority nations shortly after taking office in January, bringing havoc and protests to airports around the United States. A federal judge in Seattle soon blocked it, and courts since then have wrestled with the restrictions as the administration has rewritten them.
The latest version blocks travelers from the listed countries to varying degrees, allowing for students from some, while blocking other business travelers and tourists, and allowing for admissions on a case-by-case basis.
(Source: AP)
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