ISNOINews
Independent Scientology and Nation of Islam news
Pushback against letter joined by Church of Scientology National Affairs Office to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
The Church of Scientology may learn that there can be a cost to expressing an opinion on international issues.
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First, the letter that was joined by the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office joins letter urging the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to recommend to the US Department of State that it designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
Clarion India: Religious Persecution: Rights Groups Want India Declared ‘Country of Concern’
April 14, 2021
Religious Persecution: Rights Groups Want India Declared 'Country of Concern'/
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Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of international civil rights organisations and hundreds of individuals have urged the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to recommend to the US Department of State that it designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for the “rapidly escalating persecution of religious minorities and for the Indian government’s complicity in the massive violations of religious freedom.”
In a letter sent on April 12 to USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and the eight other Commissioners, the signees said, “the behaviour” of India’s federal and state governments in enabling religious freedom violations had “spectacularly worsened” since last year when USCIRF had first recommended that India be designated as CPC.
“Indeed, the reasons for designating India as a CPC are more compelling now by an order of magnitude than ever before, and the situation is set to get worse without significant international pressure,” the letter said. The letter was sent days ahead of the USCIRF’s upcoming 2021 Annual Report which is scheduled to be released on April 21.
Among others, the letter is signed by Hindus for Human Rights, International Christian Concern, Indian American Muslim Council, Church of Scientology National Affairs Office, Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America, Dalit Solidarity Forum, American Muslim Institution, American Sikh Council, Center for Pluralism, Global Christian Ministers Federation, India Civil Watch International, International Organization to Preserve Human Rights, International Society for Peace and Justice, Justice For All, Just Law International Parity, Plateau State Youth Council, and Progressive India Collective Voices for Freedom.
The USCIRF had last year recommended India’s designation as CPC “for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).” Former President Donald Trump’s administration had, however, declined to designate India as CPC, claiming that India’s worsening religious freedom was due to non-state actors and not by the government.
“We hope that this letter shows that state actors are playing a central role in India’s declining religious freedom and that the 2021 Annual Report will make this clear,” the letter said.
Citing key features of the deterioration in religious persecution in 2020, the letter mentioned the anti-Muslim violence in Delhi in February 2020 that killed over 50 people. “In its aftermath, the Delhi Police failed to arrest the Hindu perpetrators who led the violence and instead arrested hundreds of Muslims, accusing them of the anti-Muslim violence,” the letter said.
It said that investigations by Amnesty India and the Polis Project confirmed that the “Delhi Police were themselves complicit and an active participant in that violence.” Yet, the Indian Government had “refused to open any investigation” into their role. Delhi Police had also failed to arrest leaders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including two federal lawmakers, who had incited the violence. “When a Delhi judge ordered that he (Mishra) be charged, the judge was transferred overnight.”
The letter said India’s Christians suffered “225 incidents of religiously motivated violence” in the first ten months of 2020, many at the hands of vigilante mobs. “At least eight incidents were recorded in two weeks after the nationwide lockdown was lifted.” These included physical assaults, damage to Christian properties, and threats issued by radical Hindu nationalists. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, anti-Christian violence rose from 147 in 2014, when Mr. Modi became prime minister, to 328 in 2019.
The letter also mentioned 83-year-old Fr. Stan Swamy, a prominent Indian Jesuit priest who ails from Parkinson’s disease and has been imprisoned on the basis of tampered evidence. He has also been denied bail.
Elaborating further on the continued persecution of minorities, the letter highlighted the increasing criminalisation of marriage between Muslim men and Hindu women, with Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh joining the list of states that had passed the so-called “love jihad” laws. It said “nearly one in four Indians” now lived under such laws. Karnataka and Assam were also legislating similar laws, while Gujarat and Haryana had announced their intention to draft similar legislation. The BJP had also added love jihad laws to its campaign slogans in Kerala and West Bengal, the letter said.
“After the Uttar Pradesh government passed a love jihad law, the state police arrested 10 Muslims in just one week and accused them of forcing their adult Hindu wives to convert to Islam,” the letter said.
The letter said 2020 started with the Modi government “intensifying its campaign of brutal repression against tens of thousands of Muslims and people of all faiths” protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
“We have seen similar police brutality during the ongoing farmers’ protests, which are being led by members of the Sikh community. Additionally, there has been a rise in anti-Sikh rhetoric, including threats of genocidal violence against the Sikh community, with Hindu nationalists calling for a need to “repeat 1984” and protesters being branded as ‘terrorists’ and ‘anti-nationals’,” the letter said.
India also allowed the scapegoating of Muslims, including foreigners, accusing them of spreading coronavirus. Police across India arrested members of the Tablighi Jamaat on the false charges that they had violated government prohibition on large gatherings and concealed that some of them were infected with the SARS-CoV-2. “That this was motivated by Islamophobia became apparent as the courts rejected the prosecution’s case and acquitted the Muslim men citing a lack of evidence,” the letter said.
The letter also noted that India had built “numerous detention centers” to hold hundreds of thousands, mostly Muslims, who are being targeted under CAA-NRC “with the sole intention of turning them into foreigners in their own country. Already, the government has announced it would start the NRC soon as Covid-19 abates.”
“There can be no doubt that instead of ending the persecution of India’s religious minorities, Mr. Modi’s administration has doubled down on its resolve to move India closer to becoming a Hindu nation, as desired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the nearly-a-century-old Hindu supremacist organization to which he belongs,” it said.
“We hope that USCIRF will continue to powerfully speak the truth on India and recommend this year, too, that the US Government designate India as a CPC,” it added.
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Next, the pushback.
NOTE: The below letter is addressed to Greg Mitchell, who is a Scientologist, a lobbyist for the Church of Scientology, and the Managing Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable.
PGurus: Letter to IRF-RT: Reject Islamic propaganda against India
By Purnima Nath
Letter to IRF-RT: Reject Islamic propaganda against India - PGurus
Letter To Irf-Rt: Reject Islamic Propaganda Against India | Persecution | Pakistan
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Dear Mr Greg Mitchell.
Namaskar!
Regarding the letter circulated by IRF-RT (International Religious Freedom Roundtable) campaign to collect signatures, propagated by Hindus for Human Rights and Indian American Muslim Council, to designate India as CPC ‘Country of Particular Concern’, and to urge USCIRF (US Commission on International Religious Freedom) to include India in 2021 report is unfair, absolutely baseless, extremely venomous, and pure Islamic propaganda. This action of IRF-RT does not support the data, history, facts, and ground reality. These organizations are cohesively creating and pushing false narratives against Hindus and India, the only remaining Land of Hindus. Unfortunately, United States is falling prey to their lies and Islamic agendas; and interfering unjustly in India’s internal matters. The US has NO right to interfere in India’s laws and affairs.
Country of Particular Concern
I write to you, today, as an Indian-American, community leader, President of Spindle India, Inc. a nonprofit organization strengthening India-US relationships and promoting true diversity and inclusion. I am deeply concerned about IRF-RT’s agenda and expressing strong opposition to the above act of IRF-RT. I’d like a process to refute this massive international propaganda against Hindus and India.
You must know that the foundation of the partition was religion – Islam and Islam’s supremacist demands of separate land. Hence the demand for Pakistan as an Islamic state and India remains Hindu land.
This is an international matter and United States’ constant interference in a sovereign country’s laws, where Hindus are massacred massively Every Single Day in their own land, is a practice of deceit.
I have been observing in the IRF RT meeting that – India and Hindus are being unfairly portrayed. I have attempted many times & requested to be included in the IRF India working group led by Mr John Prabhudoss, but was not added after multiple requests and follow-ups. I have been requesting a brief time to communicate in IRF-RT about “Atrocities on Hindus in India” (every week). Once I was given a couple of minutes and it was cut short. I was also not allowed to share the presentation while speaking. Before I could share the presentation in chat, the meeting ended abruptly, immediately, and quickly. Attacks on Hindus by the so-called minority community are everyday acts in India, that are not being reported by the liberal Western media channels.
Atrocities on Hindus in India
Kindly find below the details about why the IRF-RT act is deceitful and hypocritical.
Historical facts about India and its neighbours:
In 1947, a severe amputation of ancient India’s important regions occurred. Sindhu land of Indus Valley Civilization [Mohenjo Daro/ Harappa] was given to Muslim League 2 – state propaganda to create a separate Islamic state of “Pakistan”. India [Bharat] lost 8,22,000 sq. km of territory to Muslims then. India and Hindus respect and uphold democracy – But none of the 56 Muslim countries has the concept of democracy [it is simple supremacy]. With 1.38 billion people, India is the world’s largest democracy that carries a Muslim population of 250+ million (3rd largest Muslim population in the world), Muslims are living in India, even after 1947 India-Pakistan land separation when the Muslim League demanded and got a separate Islamic nation – Why? You must know that the foundation of the partition was religion – Islam and Islam’s supremacist demands of separate land. Hence the demand for Pakistan as an Islamic state and India remains Hindu land.
Hindus never invaded any country. Hindus have exactly zero countries today when Islamists have 56 countries, about 1/3rd of the world. Besides, the majority are Christian countries today and some are Buddhists and there is one Jew country. Ridiculing and shaming India is a direct attack on Hindus. Humiliating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attack on his government and India’s laws are a direct attack on every Hindu (regardless of where they are situated).
CAA is a humanitarian law that sheltered and expedited citizenships to 31,313 religiously persecuted non-Muslim refugees (Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi) who ran away from these 3 Muslim countries for being non-Muslims.
India is currently surrounded by 3 Islamic countries. Afghanistan (~99.99% Islamic, erased non-Muslims quickly), Pakistan (~96% Islamic, erasing non-Muslims rapidly), Bangladesh (~91% Islamic, erasing the Hindus/Buddhists swiftly). Minority Hindu numbers reduced in Pakistan from ~27% in 1947 to less than ~1% now, and in Bangladesh from ~23% to ~8%. A systematic genocide [ethnic cleansing] is occurring for decades in order to erase non-Muslims communities in these Muslim countries. Non-Muslim minorities have no voice in Muslim countries.
On the contrary, minorities enjoy lavish religious freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression in India, and the proof is in their sheer growing population number. Muslims are given more subsidies and reservations in India. Remember, this is after India was broken and the land was stolen to create a separate Muslim country. 80% of government scholarships were given to the Muslim population 2018-2019[1]. India produced Muslim President, Muslim ministers, Muslim leaders, Muslim celebrities from all walks of life (sports, arts, media, literature, politics, education, corporate, movies, music, and so on). Painting a political party, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India “Islamophobic” is a pure travesty. Can you name me One Hindu president, politician, bureaucrat, celebrity, in the Islamic state of Pakistan? I can name many successful but “Thankless” Muslims of India who were/ are given massive freedom in India.
India and the US are natural allies due to certain fundamental ideologies [democracy, freedom, capabilities, resources]. Although the United States is the oldest democracy, India is the world’s largest democracy. India remains far diverse and complex due to its ancient heritage, history, religions, a vast array of languages, and the substantial volume of large-scale population. The extent of the bias in this baseless propaganda is a grave attack on India and an assault on the Hindu majority by misrepresenting the CAA [Citizenship (Amendment) Act] dishonestly and deceptively.
Attacks on Hindus have increased multifold since 2014 after the Narendra Modi government is elected[2].
If the IRF-RT is truly compassionate about the marginalized population, it is only fair that it recommends #CPC against the Muslim countries who are religiously persecuting non-Muslim minorities on a daily basis, instead.
If Muslims are living in fear in India:
Why have the Muslims not moved to their 56 Islamic nations?
Why are the Rohingya-Muslims illegally entering Indian soil? [instead of the 56 Islamic nations?]
Why India has a minority commission? WAQF board? Shari’a (Muslim Personal Law Board)?
Why India still has Muslim universities where the seed of the Islamic State of Pakistan was sewed, Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Milia Islamia, so on?
Why aren’t Islamic nations sheltering Rohingya Muslims?
For lack of a better word, Muslims certainly do not have the freedom to attack the Hindus deceptively, turn India into Dar-ul-Islam in order to fulfil their dream of #GhazwaEHind.
Sources referenced and circulated for signature collection omitted facts:
1) Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) humanitarian law
CAA is an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955 where both countries, India, and Pakistan, agreed to protect minority rights regardless of faith and religion. However, non-Muslim minorities in 3 neighbouring Muslim countries [i.e., Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh] are tortured and slaughtered; young girls and women raped, abducted, forcibly converted, and married off to Muslim rapists; lost lands and properties to Muslim mobs; Hindu temples, places of worship, and Hindu idols desecrated[3]. Muslims defecated, urinated, and ruined Hindu idols and trampled on them to terrorize the Hindu community. How many Hindus were killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh[4]?
CAA is a humanitarian law that sheltered and expedited citizenships to 31,313 religiously persecuted non-Muslim refugees (Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi) who ran away from these 3 Muslim countries for being non-Muslims. CAA is equivalent to the Lautenberg Amendment that passed in the United States of America in 2002 that shelters persecuted Jews that gave entry to 350,000-400,000 Jews into America from the Soviet Union. Should the US overturn the 2002 Lautenberg Amendment and throw the persecuted Jews out of the United States?
2) Delhi riots orchestrated by Muslims against Hindus
It was an organized, planned, and foreign-funded propaganda, aligned with President Donald Trump’s India visit for international attention, by anti-India anti-Hindu forces, against the Hindus. The Muslims orchestrated the Delhi riots. Organized by mastermind Muslim politician of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Tahir Hussein[5], who mobilized the mobs with Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi. Investigators found a massive amount of stones, petrol bombs in Hussein’s residence[6][7], established a connection to Islamic preacher Zakir Hussein (absconding in Malaysia spewing venoms against Hindus) & terror funding through Islamist group PFI (Popular Front of India)[[8]. Delhi riot was a terror script to uproot the elected government of Narendra Modi. India has elections, and people vote (unlike the United States of America, India is still maintaining the largest democracy). United States has NO authority to dictate other democracies. Why does IRF-RT support terror?
Since the Democrat city councils and politicians meddled with laws of a sovereign country for which you have no knowledge or jurisdiction, as a legal citizen and contributor to the United States, it is my responsibility to educate you with historical facts.
Assertions of 250 million Indian Muslims will be stripped off of Indian citizenship due to the Islamic faith is categorically false. Can you tell us how many Indian Muslim citizens have lost Indian citizenships with the implementation of CAA?
The malicious allegation against the Hindu community for defending their land, people, faith, and heritage, is monstrously disingenuous. This defective recommendation by 2 Muslim organizations has clear Islamic agenda. This attack unfairly and strangely targets the democratically chosen Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a political party of India. This is highly irresponsible, troublesome, and erroneously foolish of IRF-RT.
3) Corporate media [BBC/ Foreign policy/ Huffington Post] spreading lies
BBC was recently banned in China for pushing anti #CCPChina propaganda and for lying (according to #CCPChina State). India did not ban BBC, nor any Western liberal media, even if they are lying. Reuters, BBC, New York Times, Washington Posts, Huffington Post, and so on continue to push propaganda against Hindus and India. The audacity of their lies is beyond misleading and fraudulent. Please do not lecture Hindus and India on morale, ethics, and tolerance.
4) #Jihad – The holy war against non-Muslims/ non-believers
Hindus are paying the price of being “Hindus” with their blood for 1000s of years. Hindus lost rich civilizational land, temples, men/ women/ children and their livelihood. Hindus continue to lose everything and are living under constant threats. #LoveJihad #LandJihad #EducationJihad #EconomicJihad…in essence #Jihad (holy war against non-Muslims/non-believers) against idol-worshiper worthless Hindus and India, in general.
Have you seen the Muslims hiding their identity to trap Hindu girls[9]? Luring them in #LoveTrap, then marrying, then impregnating, then pressuring to convert, then trashed headless in suitcases? Or burnt? Or hanged? Or stabbed? Or acid was thrown in the face? Or limbs chopped off? Or dismembered? Body thrown off in the drain, dumped, and drowned? Would you like me to send those gruesome photos to you?
The latest Hindu girl kill was not carried by any Western liberal media corporates. These are everyday news and there are many cases like this – not reaching the Western liberal babu(s). The liberal Western media refuse to carry this news. Do you know why? Because Hindus are not complaining to you. Hindus are not burning communities. Hindus are not causing riots. Hindus are not causing riots. Is this how you call yourself civilized society[10]? Hindus have been tolerating this non-sense of Islamic supremacy for centuries.
Democrats & politics:
Democrat politicians and city councils in the United States of America had been constantly meddling with India [influenced by special interest groups (SIGs)] with multiple areas of laws such as CAA, Kashmir 370 Abrogation, Shaheen Bagh aka Delhi riots, Farmers’ riots aka Khalistan separatist movement, propelling falsified narratives and misinformation about India, her sovereignty, her laws; and passing stupendously inaccurate (and absolutely outside the territory) resolutions against the government of India. Democrat city councils have purposefully overlooked facts and truth; and passed colossally faulty, divisive, harmful, superfluous, and cosmetic anti-India anti-CAA resolutions. This is incredibly damaging to India-US diplomatic relationship, and insulting the sentiment of the broader peaceful, tolerant, and accepting Indian-American communities, as well as creating rifts between communities.
Since the Democrat city councils and politicians meddled with laws of a sovereign country for which you have no knowledge or jurisdiction, as a legal citizen and contributor to the United States, it is my responsibility to educate you with historical facts. It is time to remind you that your action is hypocritical. Additionally, no country possesses any authority of passing judgment or interfering in the internal affairs of a democratic republic, let alone a small city council with a fraction of the population that wants to feed its member’s political ambition.
Directly, we are witnessing the Hinduphobia propagated through the liberal academic institutions of the United States. For instance, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Liberal Left Professors are being protected and paid to spew venom against the Hindu community and attempting to malign Hindu people, ethos, and heritage. Organizations such as Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) are involved.
Connecting the dots between the propaganda, the reality, and the hypocrisy:
I hope by now you have gotten a bigger picture of the untold story:
CAA is the most humane act of mercy.
CAA has nothing to do with Muslim Indian Citizens.
Indian Muslim organizations, including Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Hindu Rights, are pushing lies and propaganda against Hindus and India.
Fear, terror, violence was perpetrated by the anti-Hindu anti-India international forces, insulting India’s tolerance, and compassion; and are attempting to negatively impact India’s growth as an emerging leader.
Hindus are getting erased in Pakistan & Bangladesh by the radical Islamists. Hindus and Buddhists have been erased in Afghanistan. Yet, IRF-RT has failed to address the root cause.
Hindu lives matter too. Hindus have the right to safeguard Hindu lands, heritage, history, faith, religion, and lives.
Why is it that IRF-RT is pushing fake humanitarian lies against India without focusing on the root cause of the real persecution(s)?
In the Final Note:
I strongly urge the IRF–RT to reject outright such prejudiced, partial, baseless, and distorted propaganda against religiously persecuted non-Muslims (non-believers of Islam), Hindus & India (world’s largest democracy India). I urge you to stop insulting Hindus and ridiculing the oldest-living-civilization ethos. This act is a straightforward violation of the basic human rights of life, freedom, liberty, and expression. IRF-RT is not serving the true cause of religious freedom; instead fluttering its wings hypocritically in the tune of Islamic propaganda, in the name of religious freedom. Has the purpose of this organization become appeasement of ideological supremacist Islamist Muslims who clearly is not a minority?
There are ~830 million Muslims living in Afghanistan (~38 million), Pakistan (~200 million), Bangladesh (~150 million), and India (~250 million) region, i.e., more than double the population of the United States of America in a fraction of an area. Here I have not even counted the Muslim population of ~2 million in Sri Lanka, ~1 million in Burma (now Myanmar), and ~600,000 in Nepal. Islam (and Muslims) is not a minority in the South Asian region. In fact, Islam is taking over South Asia. Unfortunately, India and Hindus are the major targets. Hindus may be in majority in number in India. However, Hindus are not proselytizing, killing, beheading, burning, chopping, raping, spiting, belittling followers of other religions, that includes Abrahamic religions [who considers Hindus as non-Humans, and unworthy of life]. Hindus did not invade any country nor are trying to establish supremacist Hindu ideology. Please reconsider your decision. There will be a severe repercussion of global consequence on your ill-informed and wrong actions. Let us address the prime issue.
I look forward to an opportunity to work with you to address the root cause of this vicious propaganda against India and Hindus. Islamic terrorism is more than a national threat – it is a global threat, a pandemic that terrorized the world for 1400 years. It is time to address the real problem. I sincerely hope you will be open to addressing this massive global threat to the entire mankind. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Note:1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
References:
[1] Muslim students bag 80% of government scholarships – Jun 15, 2019, India Today
[2] Why Attacks on Hindus, Hinduism & Hindustan Increased Recently? – Jun 01, 2020, Nath Purnima.com
[3] Extremist Islamist group’s supporters attack 70-80 Hindu houses in Bangladesh: Police – Mar 20, 2021, India Today
[4] 1971 Bengali Hindu Genocide – Hindu American Foundation
[5] Petrol bombs and stones found at Tamir Hussain’s factory terrace; is he innocent? – Feb 27, 2020, YouTube
[6] Muslim Mob Shower Stones & Petrol Bombs From Tahir Husain’s Roof In Moonga Nagar – Feb 29, 2020, YouTube
[[7] Delhi Riots: Tahir Hussain not only planned and instigated the mob, but was also pelting stones and petrol bombs at Hindus: Chargesheet – Jul 04, 2020, OpIndia
[8] Suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain admits his role in Delhi violence – Aug 03, 2020, Newsroom Post
[9] ‘Love jihad’: UP youth uses fake religious identity to ‘lure’ minor girl, elopes with her to Delhi – Apr 06, 2021, Times Now News
[10] 15-year-old girl’s burnt body found in Karnataka, family says cops didn’t act for hours – Mar 31, 2021, The News Minute
Purnima Nath
An entrepreneur, a community leader and a Hindu. She is the founder of Spindle India, Inc., an Engineer and MBA from Northwestern University. Purnima writes on various topics including management, global issues, politics, policies, and philosophy. @PurnimaNath www.NathPurnima.com www.PurnimaNath.com
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The Church of Scientology may learn that there can be a cost to expressing an opinion on international issues.
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First, the letter that was joined by the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office joins letter urging the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to recommend to the US Department of State that it designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).
Clarion India: Religious Persecution: Rights Groups Want India Declared ‘Country of Concern’
April 14, 2021
Religious Persecution: Rights Groups Want India Declared 'Country of Concern'/
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of international civil rights organisations and hundreds of individuals have urged the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to recommend to the US Department of State that it designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for the “rapidly escalating persecution of religious minorities and for the Indian government’s complicity in the massive violations of religious freedom.”
In a letter sent on April 12 to USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and the eight other Commissioners, the signees said, “the behaviour” of India’s federal and state governments in enabling religious freedom violations had “spectacularly worsened” since last year when USCIRF had first recommended that India be designated as CPC.
“Indeed, the reasons for designating India as a CPC are more compelling now by an order of magnitude than ever before, and the situation is set to get worse without significant international pressure,” the letter said. The letter was sent days ahead of the USCIRF’s upcoming 2021 Annual Report which is scheduled to be released on April 21.
Among others, the letter is signed by Hindus for Human Rights, International Christian Concern, Indian American Muslim Council, Church of Scientology National Affairs Office, Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America, Dalit Solidarity Forum, American Muslim Institution, American Sikh Council, Center for Pluralism, Global Christian Ministers Federation, India Civil Watch International, International Organization to Preserve Human Rights, International Society for Peace and Justice, Justice For All, Just Law International Parity, Plateau State Youth Council, and Progressive India Collective Voices for Freedom.
The USCIRF had last year recommended India’s designation as CPC “for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).” Former President Donald Trump’s administration had, however, declined to designate India as CPC, claiming that India’s worsening religious freedom was due to non-state actors and not by the government.
“We hope that this letter shows that state actors are playing a central role in India’s declining religious freedom and that the 2021 Annual Report will make this clear,” the letter said.
Citing key features of the deterioration in religious persecution in 2020, the letter mentioned the anti-Muslim violence in Delhi in February 2020 that killed over 50 people. “In its aftermath, the Delhi Police failed to arrest the Hindu perpetrators who led the violence and instead arrested hundreds of Muslims, accusing them of the anti-Muslim violence,” the letter said.
It said that investigations by Amnesty India and the Polis Project confirmed that the “Delhi Police were themselves complicit and an active participant in that violence.” Yet, the Indian Government had “refused to open any investigation” into their role. Delhi Police had also failed to arrest leaders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including two federal lawmakers, who had incited the violence. “When a Delhi judge ordered that he (Mishra) be charged, the judge was transferred overnight.”
The letter said India’s Christians suffered “225 incidents of religiously motivated violence” in the first ten months of 2020, many at the hands of vigilante mobs. “At least eight incidents were recorded in two weeks after the nationwide lockdown was lifted.” These included physical assaults, damage to Christian properties, and threats issued by radical Hindu nationalists. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, anti-Christian violence rose from 147 in 2014, when Mr. Modi became prime minister, to 328 in 2019.
The letter also mentioned 83-year-old Fr. Stan Swamy, a prominent Indian Jesuit priest who ails from Parkinson’s disease and has been imprisoned on the basis of tampered evidence. He has also been denied bail.
Elaborating further on the continued persecution of minorities, the letter highlighted the increasing criminalisation of marriage between Muslim men and Hindu women, with Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh joining the list of states that had passed the so-called “love jihad” laws. It said “nearly one in four Indians” now lived under such laws. Karnataka and Assam were also legislating similar laws, while Gujarat and Haryana had announced their intention to draft similar legislation. The BJP had also added love jihad laws to its campaign slogans in Kerala and West Bengal, the letter said.
“After the Uttar Pradesh government passed a love jihad law, the state police arrested 10 Muslims in just one week and accused them of forcing their adult Hindu wives to convert to Islam,” the letter said.
The letter said 2020 started with the Modi government “intensifying its campaign of brutal repression against tens of thousands of Muslims and people of all faiths” protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
“We have seen similar police brutality during the ongoing farmers’ protests, which are being led by members of the Sikh community. Additionally, there has been a rise in anti-Sikh rhetoric, including threats of genocidal violence against the Sikh community, with Hindu nationalists calling for a need to “repeat 1984” and protesters being branded as ‘terrorists’ and ‘anti-nationals’,” the letter said.
India also allowed the scapegoating of Muslims, including foreigners, accusing them of spreading coronavirus. Police across India arrested members of the Tablighi Jamaat on the false charges that they had violated government prohibition on large gatherings and concealed that some of them were infected with the SARS-CoV-2. “That this was motivated by Islamophobia became apparent as the courts rejected the prosecution’s case and acquitted the Muslim men citing a lack of evidence,” the letter said.
The letter also noted that India had built “numerous detention centers” to hold hundreds of thousands, mostly Muslims, who are being targeted under CAA-NRC “with the sole intention of turning them into foreigners in their own country. Already, the government has announced it would start the NRC soon as Covid-19 abates.”
“There can be no doubt that instead of ending the persecution of India’s religious minorities, Mr. Modi’s administration has doubled down on its resolve to move India closer to becoming a Hindu nation, as desired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the nearly-a-century-old Hindu supremacist organization to which he belongs,” it said.
“We hope that USCIRF will continue to powerfully speak the truth on India and recommend this year, too, that the US Government designate India as a CPC,” it added.
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Next, the pushback.
NOTE: The below letter is addressed to Greg Mitchell, who is a Scientologist, a lobbyist for the Church of Scientology, and the Managing Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable.
PGurus: Letter to IRF-RT: Reject Islamic propaganda against India
By Purnima Nath
Letter to IRF-RT: Reject Islamic propaganda against India - PGurus
Letter To Irf-Rt: Reject Islamic Propaganda Against India | Persecution | Pakistan
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
Dear Mr Greg Mitchell.
Namaskar!
Regarding the letter circulated by IRF-RT (International Religious Freedom Roundtable) campaign to collect signatures, propagated by Hindus for Human Rights and Indian American Muslim Council, to designate India as CPC ‘Country of Particular Concern’, and to urge USCIRF (US Commission on International Religious Freedom) to include India in 2021 report is unfair, absolutely baseless, extremely venomous, and pure Islamic propaganda. This action of IRF-RT does not support the data, history, facts, and ground reality. These organizations are cohesively creating and pushing false narratives against Hindus and India, the only remaining Land of Hindus. Unfortunately, United States is falling prey to their lies and Islamic agendas; and interfering unjustly in India’s internal matters. The US has NO right to interfere in India’s laws and affairs.
Country of Particular Concern
I write to you, today, as an Indian-American, community leader, President of Spindle India, Inc. a nonprofit organization strengthening India-US relationships and promoting true diversity and inclusion. I am deeply concerned about IRF-RT’s agenda and expressing strong opposition to the above act of IRF-RT. I’d like a process to refute this massive international propaganda against Hindus and India.
You must know that the foundation of the partition was religion – Islam and Islam’s supremacist demands of separate land. Hence the demand for Pakistan as an Islamic state and India remains Hindu land.
This is an international matter and United States’ constant interference in a sovereign country’s laws, where Hindus are massacred massively Every Single Day in their own land, is a practice of deceit.
I have been observing in the IRF RT meeting that – India and Hindus are being unfairly portrayed. I have attempted many times & requested to be included in the IRF India working group led by Mr John Prabhudoss, but was not added after multiple requests and follow-ups. I have been requesting a brief time to communicate in IRF-RT about “Atrocities on Hindus in India” (every week). Once I was given a couple of minutes and it was cut short. I was also not allowed to share the presentation while speaking. Before I could share the presentation in chat, the meeting ended abruptly, immediately, and quickly. Attacks on Hindus by the so-called minority community are everyday acts in India, that are not being reported by the liberal Western media channels.
Atrocities on Hindus in India
Kindly find below the details about why the IRF-RT act is deceitful and hypocritical.
Historical facts about India and its neighbours:
In 1947, a severe amputation of ancient India’s important regions occurred. Sindhu land of Indus Valley Civilization [Mohenjo Daro/ Harappa] was given to Muslim League 2 – state propaganda to create a separate Islamic state of “Pakistan”. India [Bharat] lost 8,22,000 sq. km of territory to Muslims then. India and Hindus respect and uphold democracy – But none of the 56 Muslim countries has the concept of democracy [it is simple supremacy]. With 1.38 billion people, India is the world’s largest democracy that carries a Muslim population of 250+ million (3rd largest Muslim population in the world), Muslims are living in India, even after 1947 India-Pakistan land separation when the Muslim League demanded and got a separate Islamic nation – Why? You must know that the foundation of the partition was religion – Islam and Islam’s supremacist demands of separate land. Hence the demand for Pakistan as an Islamic state and India remains Hindu land.
Hindus never invaded any country. Hindus have exactly zero countries today when Islamists have 56 countries, about 1/3rd of the world. Besides, the majority are Christian countries today and some are Buddhists and there is one Jew country. Ridiculing and shaming India is a direct attack on Hindus. Humiliating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attack on his government and India’s laws are a direct attack on every Hindu (regardless of where they are situated).
CAA is a humanitarian law that sheltered and expedited citizenships to 31,313 religiously persecuted non-Muslim refugees (Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi) who ran away from these 3 Muslim countries for being non-Muslims.
India is currently surrounded by 3 Islamic countries. Afghanistan (~99.99% Islamic, erased non-Muslims quickly), Pakistan (~96% Islamic, erasing non-Muslims rapidly), Bangladesh (~91% Islamic, erasing the Hindus/Buddhists swiftly). Minority Hindu numbers reduced in Pakistan from ~27% in 1947 to less than ~1% now, and in Bangladesh from ~23% to ~8%. A systematic genocide [ethnic cleansing] is occurring for decades in order to erase non-Muslims communities in these Muslim countries. Non-Muslim minorities have no voice in Muslim countries.
On the contrary, minorities enjoy lavish religious freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression in India, and the proof is in their sheer growing population number. Muslims are given more subsidies and reservations in India. Remember, this is after India was broken and the land was stolen to create a separate Muslim country. 80% of government scholarships were given to the Muslim population 2018-2019[1]. India produced Muslim President, Muslim ministers, Muslim leaders, Muslim celebrities from all walks of life (sports, arts, media, literature, politics, education, corporate, movies, music, and so on). Painting a political party, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India “Islamophobic” is a pure travesty. Can you name me One Hindu president, politician, bureaucrat, celebrity, in the Islamic state of Pakistan? I can name many successful but “Thankless” Muslims of India who were/ are given massive freedom in India.
India and the US are natural allies due to certain fundamental ideologies [democracy, freedom, capabilities, resources]. Although the United States is the oldest democracy, India is the world’s largest democracy. India remains far diverse and complex due to its ancient heritage, history, religions, a vast array of languages, and the substantial volume of large-scale population. The extent of the bias in this baseless propaganda is a grave attack on India and an assault on the Hindu majority by misrepresenting the CAA [Citizenship (Amendment) Act] dishonestly and deceptively.
Attacks on Hindus have increased multifold since 2014 after the Narendra Modi government is elected[2].
If the IRF-RT is truly compassionate about the marginalized population, it is only fair that it recommends #CPC against the Muslim countries who are religiously persecuting non-Muslim minorities on a daily basis, instead.
If Muslims are living in fear in India:
Why have the Muslims not moved to their 56 Islamic nations?
Why are the Rohingya-Muslims illegally entering Indian soil? [instead of the 56 Islamic nations?]
Why India has a minority commission? WAQF board? Shari’a (Muslim Personal Law Board)?
Why India still has Muslim universities where the seed of the Islamic State of Pakistan was sewed, Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Milia Islamia, so on?
Why aren’t Islamic nations sheltering Rohingya Muslims?
For lack of a better word, Muslims certainly do not have the freedom to attack the Hindus deceptively, turn India into Dar-ul-Islam in order to fulfil their dream of #GhazwaEHind.
Sources referenced and circulated for signature collection omitted facts:
1) Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) humanitarian law
CAA is an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955 where both countries, India, and Pakistan, agreed to protect minority rights regardless of faith and religion. However, non-Muslim minorities in 3 neighbouring Muslim countries [i.e., Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh] are tortured and slaughtered; young girls and women raped, abducted, forcibly converted, and married off to Muslim rapists; lost lands and properties to Muslim mobs; Hindu temples, places of worship, and Hindu idols desecrated[3]. Muslims defecated, urinated, and ruined Hindu idols and trampled on them to terrorize the Hindu community. How many Hindus were killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh[4]?
CAA is a humanitarian law that sheltered and expedited citizenships to 31,313 religiously persecuted non-Muslim refugees (Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi) who ran away from these 3 Muslim countries for being non-Muslims. CAA is equivalent to the Lautenberg Amendment that passed in the United States of America in 2002 that shelters persecuted Jews that gave entry to 350,000-400,000 Jews into America from the Soviet Union. Should the US overturn the 2002 Lautenberg Amendment and throw the persecuted Jews out of the United States?
2) Delhi riots orchestrated by Muslims against Hindus
It was an organized, planned, and foreign-funded propaganda, aligned with President Donald Trump’s India visit for international attention, by anti-India anti-Hindu forces, against the Hindus. The Muslims orchestrated the Delhi riots. Organized by mastermind Muslim politician of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Tahir Hussein[5], who mobilized the mobs with Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi. Investigators found a massive amount of stones, petrol bombs in Hussein’s residence[6][7], established a connection to Islamic preacher Zakir Hussein (absconding in Malaysia spewing venoms against Hindus) & terror funding through Islamist group PFI (Popular Front of India)[[8]. Delhi riot was a terror script to uproot the elected government of Narendra Modi. India has elections, and people vote (unlike the United States of America, India is still maintaining the largest democracy). United States has NO authority to dictate other democracies. Why does IRF-RT support terror?
Since the Democrat city councils and politicians meddled with laws of a sovereign country for which you have no knowledge or jurisdiction, as a legal citizen and contributor to the United States, it is my responsibility to educate you with historical facts.
Assertions of 250 million Indian Muslims will be stripped off of Indian citizenship due to the Islamic faith is categorically false. Can you tell us how many Indian Muslim citizens have lost Indian citizenships with the implementation of CAA?
The malicious allegation against the Hindu community for defending their land, people, faith, and heritage, is monstrously disingenuous. This defective recommendation by 2 Muslim organizations has clear Islamic agenda. This attack unfairly and strangely targets the democratically chosen Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a political party of India. This is highly irresponsible, troublesome, and erroneously foolish of IRF-RT.
3) Corporate media [BBC/ Foreign policy/ Huffington Post] spreading lies
BBC was recently banned in China for pushing anti #CCPChina propaganda and for lying (according to #CCPChina State). India did not ban BBC, nor any Western liberal media, even if they are lying. Reuters, BBC, New York Times, Washington Posts, Huffington Post, and so on continue to push propaganda against Hindus and India. The audacity of their lies is beyond misleading and fraudulent. Please do not lecture Hindus and India on morale, ethics, and tolerance.
4) #Jihad – The holy war against non-Muslims/ non-believers
Hindus are paying the price of being “Hindus” with their blood for 1000s of years. Hindus lost rich civilizational land, temples, men/ women/ children and their livelihood. Hindus continue to lose everything and are living under constant threats. #LoveJihad #LandJihad #EducationJihad #EconomicJihad…in essence #Jihad (holy war against non-Muslims/non-believers) against idol-worshiper worthless Hindus and India, in general.
Have you seen the Muslims hiding their identity to trap Hindu girls[9]? Luring them in #LoveTrap, then marrying, then impregnating, then pressuring to convert, then trashed headless in suitcases? Or burnt? Or hanged? Or stabbed? Or acid was thrown in the face? Or limbs chopped off? Or dismembered? Body thrown off in the drain, dumped, and drowned? Would you like me to send those gruesome photos to you?
The latest Hindu girl kill was not carried by any Western liberal media corporates. These are everyday news and there are many cases like this – not reaching the Western liberal babu(s). The liberal Western media refuse to carry this news. Do you know why? Because Hindus are not complaining to you. Hindus are not burning communities. Hindus are not causing riots. Hindus are not causing riots. Is this how you call yourself civilized society[10]? Hindus have been tolerating this non-sense of Islamic supremacy for centuries.
Democrats & politics:
Democrat politicians and city councils in the United States of America had been constantly meddling with India [influenced by special interest groups (SIGs)] with multiple areas of laws such as CAA, Kashmir 370 Abrogation, Shaheen Bagh aka Delhi riots, Farmers’ riots aka Khalistan separatist movement, propelling falsified narratives and misinformation about India, her sovereignty, her laws; and passing stupendously inaccurate (and absolutely outside the territory) resolutions against the government of India. Democrat city councils have purposefully overlooked facts and truth; and passed colossally faulty, divisive, harmful, superfluous, and cosmetic anti-India anti-CAA resolutions. This is incredibly damaging to India-US diplomatic relationship, and insulting the sentiment of the broader peaceful, tolerant, and accepting Indian-American communities, as well as creating rifts between communities.
Since the Democrat city councils and politicians meddled with laws of a sovereign country for which you have no knowledge or jurisdiction, as a legal citizen and contributor to the United States, it is my responsibility to educate you with historical facts. It is time to remind you that your action is hypocritical. Additionally, no country possesses any authority of passing judgment or interfering in the internal affairs of a democratic republic, let alone a small city council with a fraction of the population that wants to feed its member’s political ambition.
Directly, we are witnessing the Hinduphobia propagated through the liberal academic institutions of the United States. For instance, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Liberal Left Professors are being protected and paid to spew venom against the Hindu community and attempting to malign Hindu people, ethos, and heritage. Organizations such as Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) are involved.
Connecting the dots between the propaganda, the reality, and the hypocrisy:
I hope by now you have gotten a bigger picture of the untold story:
CAA is the most humane act of mercy.
CAA has nothing to do with Muslim Indian Citizens.
Indian Muslim organizations, including Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Hindu Rights, are pushing lies and propaganda against Hindus and India.
Fear, terror, violence was perpetrated by the anti-Hindu anti-India international forces, insulting India’s tolerance, and compassion; and are attempting to negatively impact India’s growth as an emerging leader.
Hindus are getting erased in Pakistan & Bangladesh by the radical Islamists. Hindus and Buddhists have been erased in Afghanistan. Yet, IRF-RT has failed to address the root cause.
Hindu lives matter too. Hindus have the right to safeguard Hindu lands, heritage, history, faith, religion, and lives.
Why is it that IRF-RT is pushing fake humanitarian lies against India without focusing on the root cause of the real persecution(s)?
In the Final Note:
I strongly urge the IRF–RT to reject outright such prejudiced, partial, baseless, and distorted propaganda against religiously persecuted non-Muslims (non-believers of Islam), Hindus & India (world’s largest democracy India). I urge you to stop insulting Hindus and ridiculing the oldest-living-civilization ethos. This act is a straightforward violation of the basic human rights of life, freedom, liberty, and expression. IRF-RT is not serving the true cause of religious freedom; instead fluttering its wings hypocritically in the tune of Islamic propaganda, in the name of religious freedom. Has the purpose of this organization become appeasement of ideological supremacist Islamist Muslims who clearly is not a minority?
There are ~830 million Muslims living in Afghanistan (~38 million), Pakistan (~200 million), Bangladesh (~150 million), and India (~250 million) region, i.e., more than double the population of the United States of America in a fraction of an area. Here I have not even counted the Muslim population of ~2 million in Sri Lanka, ~1 million in Burma (now Myanmar), and ~600,000 in Nepal. Islam (and Muslims) is not a minority in the South Asian region. In fact, Islam is taking over South Asia. Unfortunately, India and Hindus are the major targets. Hindus may be in majority in number in India. However, Hindus are not proselytizing, killing, beheading, burning, chopping, raping, spiting, belittling followers of other religions, that includes Abrahamic religions [who considers Hindus as non-Humans, and unworthy of life]. Hindus did not invade any country nor are trying to establish supremacist Hindu ideology. Please reconsider your decision. There will be a severe repercussion of global consequence on your ill-informed and wrong actions. Let us address the prime issue.
I look forward to an opportunity to work with you to address the root cause of this vicious propaganda against India and Hindus. Islamic terrorism is more than a national threat – it is a global threat, a pandemic that terrorized the world for 1400 years. It is time to address the real problem. I sincerely hope you will be open to addressing this massive global threat to the entire mankind. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Note:1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
References:
[1] Muslim students bag 80% of government scholarships – Jun 15, 2019, India Today
[2] Why Attacks on Hindus, Hinduism & Hindustan Increased Recently? – Jun 01, 2020, Nath Purnima.com
[3] Extremist Islamist group’s supporters attack 70-80 Hindu houses in Bangladesh: Police – Mar 20, 2021, India Today
[4] 1971 Bengali Hindu Genocide – Hindu American Foundation
[5] Petrol bombs and stones found at Tamir Hussain’s factory terrace; is he innocent? – Feb 27, 2020, YouTube
[6] Muslim Mob Shower Stones & Petrol Bombs From Tahir Husain’s Roof In Moonga Nagar – Feb 29, 2020, YouTube
[[7] Delhi Riots: Tahir Hussain not only planned and instigated the mob, but was also pelting stones and petrol bombs at Hindus: Chargesheet – Jul 04, 2020, OpIndia
[8] Suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain admits his role in Delhi violence – Aug 03, 2020, Newsroom Post
[9] ‘Love jihad’: UP youth uses fake religious identity to ‘lure’ minor girl, elopes with her to Delhi – Apr 06, 2021, Times Now News
[10] 15-year-old girl’s burnt body found in Karnataka, family says cops didn’t act for hours – Mar 31, 2021, The News Minute
Purnima Nath
An entrepreneur, a community leader and a Hindu. She is the founder of Spindle India, Inc., an Engineer and MBA from Northwestern University. Purnima writes on various topics including management, global issues, politics, policies, and philosophy. @PurnimaNath www.NathPurnima.com www.PurnimaNath.com
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