Hindu American Foundation

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) is a Hindu American advocacy group founded on September 3, 2003 and headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. HAF is involved in the areas of human rights, civil rights and education among others.

Quotes

Survey of Human Rights, 2005

• At the time of Partition in 1947, the Hindu population, in what is now Bangladesh, was about 31%.4 By 1961, Hindus comprised 19% of the population. By 1974, the Hindu population had further reduced to 14%. And in 2002, it was estimated that the Hindu population was only about 9% of the total.5 By comparison, the Muslim population in India has grown from 10% of the total in 1947, to 13.2% in 2001.

• From our survey of events in 2004, we conclude that the direst threat to Hindus is in Bangladesh. They are the only remaining Hindu population of substantial size outside India that is suffering human rights abuses and being rapidly expelled by an Islamist regime. The massive number of documented atrocities in this report and those of the United States Department of State represent a small proportion of continuing attacks on Hindus in that country.

• In the case of Pakistan, access to information is more limited. Given the small number of Hindus in Pakistan and their vulnerable minority status, documentation is rendered difficult. This report provides a historical basis for violations against Hindus, clearly manifested by a population of Hindus that continues to contract and has nearly been completely erased. Human rights abuses in Pakistan are of a chronic nature that shows no indication of amelioration.

• In Jammu and Kashmir, the ethnic cleansing of Hindus from the Kashmir Valley is almost complete, and therefore, the attacks against specific Hindu targets are thereby reduced. The Hindus forced from the valley are settled in refugee camps throughout Northern India and the decrepit conditions of these communities remain a tragic abuse of fundamental rights to shelter and dignity. The fate of these nearly 350,000 people is in limbo as the Indian government strives to end the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and the complex geopolitical realities therein.

Survey of Human Rights, 2006

• As noted in HAF’s prior annual human rights reports, attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh constitute the most serious threat to the Hindu community anywhere in the world. This reality is confirmed in the current report as well. Bangladesh was created after the India-Pakistan War of 1971, that was preceded by the massacre of an estimated two million East Pakistani citizens and the ethnic cleansing of nearly 10 million (mostly Hindus) who fled to India. The Hindu population in Bangladesh has been reduced from about 31% in 1947 to about 9% now.

Survey of Human Rights, 2007

• HAF concurs with several other human rights organization in expressing serious concern over the Pakistani government's continued complicity in human rights violations against minorities. According to internationally recognized criteria, Pakistan is not a free country today.

Survey of Human Rights, 2008

• The gang rape of women and girls, murder, beatings, harassment, kidnappings, attacks on temples, looting of gold and jewelry, and illegal occupation of land constitute the litany of human rights abuses suffered by Hindus, tribal people, and to a lesser extent Christians and Buddhists.
  • Hindu American Foundation, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A survey of Human Rights 2008, p. 6. quoted in Benkin, Richard L. (2014). A quiet case of ethnic cleansing: The murder of Bangladesh's Hindus. p. 99.

Survey of Human Rights, 2009

• Over the past decade, the rights of minorities in Malaysia have eroded as the government shifts from its seemingly secular state to one that is rooted in conservative Islam. Religious freedom is not protected and for ethnic Malays, does not exist at all. Three urgent concerns are the lack of freedom of religion, the ongoing destructions of temples, and the threat of arrest of HINDRAF and other human rights activists under the draconian ISA. The Malaysia Supreme Court should abide by Article 11 in the constitution and not force religion upon residents of Malaysia.

Survey of Human Rights, 2010

• Violence against women is a common weapon used to intimidate and harass minority communities across the world. It has similarly been used in Bangladesh as a means to attack Hindus. For instance, in the period immediately following the 2001 elections, approximately 1,000 Hindu women and girls were raped. ... The systematic kidnapping, rape, and murder of minority women, particularly young Hindu girls, continued in 2010. Rapes and kidnappings of Hindus are often accompanied by forced conversion to Islam... (225)
  • Hindu American Foundation, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A survey of Human Rights 2010, p. 13-14. quoted in Benkin, Richard L. (2014). A quiet case of ethnic cleansing: The murder of Bangladesh's Hindus. p. 225

• For instance, in the period immediately following the 2001 elections, approximately 1,000 Hindu women and girls were raped. ... The systematic kidnapping, rape, and murder of minority women, particularly young Hindu girls, continued in 2011.
  • Hindu American Foundation, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A survey of Human Rights 2010, p. 11. quoted in Benkin, Richard L. (2014). A quiet case of ethnic cleansing: The murder of Bangladesh's Hindus. p. 225-6

• Hindus of Bangladesh continue to be victims of ethnic cleansing waged by Islamic fundamentalists that include daily acts of murder, rape, kidnapping, temple destruction, and physical intimidation.
  • Hindu American Foundation, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A survey of Human Rights 2010, p. ii-iii. quoted in Benkin, Richard L. (2014). A quiet case of ethnic cleansing: The murder of Bangladesh's Hindus. p. 100.

Survey of Human Rights, 2011

• A disturbing  trend  in  Pakistan,  particularly  in  Sindh  province,  is  the  abduction  and  forced  conversion   to   Islam  of   Hindu   girls.

Survey of Human Rights, 2013

• As in previous reports, we once again express serious concern over the Pakistani government's continued failure to protect minorities and its complicity in perpetuating human rights violations. However, we realize that the present government is weak and therefore, unable to institute any real meaningful change without the consent of the military establishment. Nonetheless, HAF calls on the Government of Pakistan to take immediate steps for the protection of religious minorities from violence, rape, kidnapping, and forced conversions.

Survey of Human Rights, 2014-5

• According to a human rights report released jointly on November 7, 2014 by Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW), Bangladesh Center for Human Rights and Development (BCHRD), and Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD), 1,699 Hindu temples were demolished over the previous two years (2013 and 2014)

• According to a human rights report by Bangladeshi rights groups, 706 Hindu girls were forcibly converted to Islam over a two-year period (2013 and 2014). The report also found that there were 292 incidents of rape and gang-rape of minority women and girls over the same time frame.

Survey of Human Rights, 2017

• Another Islamist organization, Hefazat-e-Islam, is thought to be a front for JeI, and controls many of the country’s madrassas. Hefazat was one of the prominent groups that said it would carry out jihad and use violence if necessary to ensure that Islam remained the state religion in the Constitution.

• In 2013, Hefazat called for the prosecution and execution of “atheist bloggers” as part of its 13-point Islamist agenda. The charter included, in part, “banning women from the work force by ending ‘free mixing’ of the sexes, a harsh new blasphemy law similar to Pakistan’s, and the declaration of the beleaguered Ahmadi sect as non-Muslim...’”

Hindus in Bangladesh: A Survey of Human Rights, 2020

• The period of 2019-2020 was once again marked by repeated attacks on Hindus and other religious minorities, institutionalized discrimination and legal restrictions, and the expanding influence of Islamist groups, such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefaazat-e-Islam. Although radical Islamist groups have played a major role in the violence and growing intolerance in the country, the Awami League government has also contributed to worsening human rights conditions by failing to protect religious minorities, subverting democratic processes, suppressing civil liberties, and maintaining and enforcing discriminatory laws and policies. Consequently, immediate steps are required by both Bangladesh and the US to improve conditions on the ground and alter the country’s current religious freedom and human rights trajectory.

Hindus in Jammu & Kashmir: A Survey of Human Rights, 2020

• Moreover, Kashmiri Pandits, thousands of whom continue to live in decrepit refugee camps, are optimistic about the future, but remain concerned about security and integration if they return to the Kashmir Valley.

2023 Special Report Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

• Religious minorities continue to suffer at an alarming rate, with several high-profile attacks on religious communities. Women of minority faiths, particularly Hindus and Christians, endure abductions, rape, and forced conversions, before forced marriages to Muslim men. Draconian blasphemy and apostasy laws are used to harass Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians. Such harassment, including long periods of pre-trial imprisonment, is done in collaboration with local judicial and law enforcement authorities. These and other discriminatory laws have left minorities as second class citizens and vulnerable to attacks by non-state actors.

External links

• Defending Human Rights for Hindus Around the World