Persecution of Hindus

Persecution of Hindus refers to the religious persecution inflicted upon Hindus. Hindus have been historically persecuted during the Islamic rule in the Indian subcontinent and the Portuguese rule in Goa. In modern times, Hindus in Kashmir, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda and Fiji have suffered persecution. Persecution of Hindus during Islamic rule was conducted by massive "ethnic cleansing", forced religious conversion, enslavement, desecration and demolition of Hindu temples and ashrams, and mass-rapes of Hindu women and sexual abuse of Hindu children. Christian persecution of Hindus in Goa, during the Portuguese rule, included defamation of Hinduism through forced conversions, burnings, lootings and other violent means. Persecution also extend to the confiscation or destruction of private Hindu property, or incitement to violence though propaganda.

During Islamic rule in the Indian sub-continent

The Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent led to widespread carnage as Muslims regarding the Hindus as infidels slaughtered and converted millions of Hindus. Will Durant argued in his 1935 book "The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage" (page 459):

...the Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex order and freedom can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without and multiplying from within. Almost all the Muslims of South Asia are descendants of weaker elements of the population who had succumbed to forcible Islamic conversion.

The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride of the slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD. Millions of Hindus were converted to Islam by sword during this period.

There is no official estimate of the total death toll of Hindus at the hands of Muslims. Estimates have stated that over 13 centuries and over the entire subcontinent, the number of Hindus that died at the hands of the Muslims goes up into the millions. There have been several occasions when the Bahmani sultans in central India (1347-1528) killed around 80,000-100,000 Hindus over a short period of time, which they set as a minimum goal, to their anti-Hindu campaigns

In a 1999 interview, the French journalist and writer François Gautier says ,

The massacres perpetuated by Muslims in India are unparalleled in history, bigger than the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis; or the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks; more extensive even than the slaughter of the South American native populations by the invading Spanish and Portuguese.

Prof. K.S. Lal, suggests a calculation in his book Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India which estimates that between the years 1000 AD and 1500 AD the population of Hindus decreased by 80 million. Even those Hindus who converted to Islam were not immune to persecution, as per the Muslim Caste System in India as established by Ziauddin al-Barani in the Fatawa-i Jahandari. , where they were regarded as "Ajlaf" caste and subjected to severe discrimination by the "Ashraf" castes.

By Arabs

Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent began during the early 8th century, when the Umayyad governor of what is now Iraq, Hajjaj responded to a casus belli provided by the kidnapping of Muslim women and treasures by pirates off the coast of Debal, by mobilizing an expedition of 6,000 cavalry under Muhammad bin-Qasim in 712 CE. Records from the campaign recorded in the Chach Nama record temple demolitions, and mass executions of resisting Sindhi forces and enslavement of their dependents. This action was particularly extensive of Debal, of which Qasim is reported to be under orders to make an example of while freeing both the captured women and the prisoners of a previous failed expedition. Bin Qasim then enlisted the support of the local Jat, Meds and Bhutto tribes and began the process of subduing and conquering the countryside. Capture of towns was also usually accomplished by means of a treaty with a party from among his "enemy", who were then extended special privileges and material rewards. However, his superior Hajjaj is reported at objecting to his method by saying that it would make him look weak and advocated a more hardline military strategy:

It appears from your letter that all the rules made by you for the comfort and convenience of your men are strictly in accordance with religious law. But the way of granting pardon prescribed by the law is different from the one adopted by you, for you go on giving pardon to everybody, high or low, without any discretion between a friend and a foe. The great God says in the Koran [47.4]: "0 True believers, when you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads." The above command of the Great God is a great command and must be respected and followed. You should not be so fond of showing mercy, as to nullify the virtue of the act. Henceforth grant pardon to no one of the enemy and spare none of them, or else all will consider you a weak-minded man.

In a subsequent communication, Hajjaj reiterated that all able-bodied men were to be killed, and that their underage sons and daughters were to be imprisoned and retained as hostages. Qasim obeyed, and on his arrival at the town of Brahminabad massacred between 6,000 and 16,000 of the defending forces.. The historian, Upendra Thakur records the persecution of Hindus and Buddhists:

When Muhammad Kasim invaded Sind in 711 AD, Buddhism had no resistance to offer to their fire and steel. The rosary could not be a match for the sword and the terms Love and Peace had no meaning to them. They carried fire and sword wherever they went and obliterated all that came their way. Muhammad triumphantly marched into the country, conquering Debal, Sehwan, Nerun, Brahmanadabad, Alor and Multan one after the other in quick succession, and in less than a year and half, the far-flung Hindu kingdon was crushed, the great civilization fell back and Sind entered the darkest period of it's history. There was a fearful outbreak of religious bigotry in several places and temples were wantonly desecrated. At Debal, Nairun and Aror temples were demolished and converted into mosques.[Resistors] were put to death and women made captives. The Jizya was exacted with special care.[Hindus] were required to feed Muslim travellers for three days and three nights..

Other historians and archealogists such as J E Lohuizen-de Leeuw, takes the following stance of events proceeding the sack of Debal:

In fact, we have clear evidence that the Arabs were very tolerant towards both Buddhists and Hindus during the rest of the campaign and throughout the time they ruled Sind...Of course that does not mean that no monuments were ever destroyed, for war always means a certain amount of damage to buildings but it does prove that there was no wanton and systematic destruction of each and every religious center of the Buddhists and Hindus in Sind.

Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni was an Afghan Sultan who invaded the Indian subcontinent during the early 11th century. His campaigns across the gangetic plains are often cited for their iconoclastic and plundering targeting of Hindu temples such as those at Mathura and looked upon them as "jihad".

Pradyumna Prasad Karan further describes Mahmud invasion as one of putting "thousands of Hindu's to the sword" and making a pastime of "raising pyramids of the skulls of the infidels". Holt et al. hold an opposing view, that he was "no mere robber or bloody thirsty tyrant" . Mahmud shed no blood "except in the exegencies of war", and was tolerant in dealings with his own Hindu subjects, some of whom rose to high posts in his administration, such as his Hindu General Tilak

Mahmud of Ghazni sacked the second Somnath Temple in 1026, and looted it of gems and precious stones and the famous Shiva lingam of the temple was destroyed and it's fragments taken away to Ghazni where they were used as stepping stones of a mosque.

In the Delhi Sultanate

The first Muslim Empire of India, the Sultanate of Delhi, was established in 1210 CE by Turkic tribes that invaded the subcontinent from Afghanistan. Many temples were looted and destroyed. Infamous cases are the destruction of the Somnath.

Muhammad Ghori

Muhammad Ghori conducted genocide of Hindus at Koi (modern Aligarh), Kalinjar and Varanasi, according to Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir, 20,000 Hindu prisoners were slaughtered and their heads offered to crows.

Qutb-ud-din Aibak

Historical records compiled by Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the iconoclasm of Qutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the "Quwwat al-Islam" was built after demolishing the Hindu temple built previously by Prithvi Raj and leaving certain parts of the temple outside the mosque proper . This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign, although an argument goes that such iconoclasm was motivated more by politics than by religion.

Iltutmish

Another ruler of the sultanate, Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, conquered and subjugated the Hindu pilgrimage site Varanasi in the 11th century and had continued the destruction of Hindu temples and idols that had begun under the first attack in 1194.

Firuz Shah Tughlaq

Firuz Shah Tughluq was the thirdruler of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The "Tarikh-i-Firuz Shah" is a historical record written during his reign that attests to the systematic persecution of Hindus under his rule. In particular, it records atrocities on Hindu Brahmin priests who refused to convert to Islam:

An order was accordingly given to the Brahman and was brought before Sultan. The true faith was declared to the Brahman and the right course pointed out. but he refused to accept it. A pile was risen on which the Kaffir with his hands and legs tied was thrown into and the wooden tablet on the top. The pile was lit at two places his head and his feet. The fire first reached him in the feet and drew from him a cry and then fire completely enveloped him. Behold Sultan for his strict adherence to law and rectitude.

Under his rule, Hindus who were forced to pay the mandatory Jizya tax were recorded as infidels, their communities monitored and, if they violated Imperial ordinance and built temples, they were destroyed. In particular, an incident in the village of Gohana in Haryana was recorded in the "Insha-i-Mahry" (another historical record written by Amud Din Abdullah bin Mahru) where Hindus had erected a deity and were arrested, brought to the palace and executed en-masse.

In 1230, the Hindu King of Orissa Anangabhima III consolidated his rule and proclaimed that an attack on Orissa constituted an attack on the king's god. A sign of Anangabhima's determination to protect Hindu culture is the fact that he named is new capital in Cuttack “Abhinava Varanasi.” His anxieties about further Muslim advances in Orissa proved to be well founded. In 1361, the Indian region of Orissa was conquered by the Delhi Sultan Feroze Shah and he destroyed the Jagannath temple and the stone deity of Krishna, but the indigenous wooden image of the deity was saved.

Vijayanagara

Main article: Vijayanagara

The city flourished between the 14th century and 16th century, during the height of the Vijayanagar Empire. During this time, it was often in conflict with the kingdoms which rose in the Northern Deccan, and which are often collectively termed the Deccan Sultanates. The period saw brutalities from both sides. In 1366, Bukka I captured the Muslim region of Mudkal and slaughtered all but one inhabitant. The lone survivor of this carnage is supposed to have taken the news to Mohammad Shah, the Sultan of the Bahamani sultanate. In response the sultan ravaged the Hindus . In 1565, the empire's armies suffered a massive and catastrophic defeat at by an alliance of the Sultanates, and the capital was taken. The victorious armies then razed, depopulated and destroyed the city over several months. The empire continued in slow decline, but the original capital was not reoccupied or rebuilt.

In the Mughal empire

The Mughal Empire was marked by periods of tolerance of non-Muslims, such as Hindus, Christians and Sikhs, as well as violent oppression and persecution of those people. The reign of Aurangzeb was particularly brutal. No aspect of Aurangzeb's reign is more cited - or more controversial - than the numerous desecrations and destruction of Hindu temples. Aurangzeb banned Diwali, placed a jizya (tax) on non-Muslims and executed the tenth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur.

During his reign, tens of thousands of temples were desecrated: facades and interiors were defaced and their murtis (divine images) looted. In many cases, temples were destroyed entirely; in numerous instances mosques were built on their foundations, sometimes using the same stones. Among the temples Aurangzeb destroyed were two most sacred to Hindus, in Varanasi and Mathura. In both cases, he had large mosques built on the sites.

The Kesava Deo temple in Mathura, marked the place Hindus believe was the birth place of Shri Krishna. In 1661 Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of the temple, and constructed the Katra Masjid mosque. Traces of the ancient Hindu temple can be seen from the back of the mosque. Aurangzeb also destroyed what was the most famous temple in Varanasi- the Vishwanath Temple. The temple had changed location over the years, but in 1585 Akbar had authorized its location at Gyan Vapi. Aurangzeb ordered its demolition in 1669 and constructed a mosque on the site, whose minarets stand 71 metres above the Ganges. Traces of the old temple can be seen behind the mosque. Centuries later, emotional debate about these wanton acts of cultural desecration continue. Aurangzeb also destroyed the Somnath temple in 1706.

The Mughals also destroyed the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, at the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama. On top of it, they built the Babri Masjid, which has since been a source of tensiosn between the Hindu and Muslim communities.

In Kashmir

The Hindu minority in Kashmir have also been historically persecuted by Muslim rulers. While Hindus and Muslims lived in harmony for certain periods of time (primarily with the Sufi Muslims), several Muslim rulers of Kashmir were intolerant to other religions. Sultãn Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413) is often considered the worst of these. Historians have recorded many of his atrocities. The Tarikh-i-Firishta records that Sikandar persecuted the Hindus and issued orders proscribing the residence of any other than Muslims in Kashmir. He also ordered the breaking of all "golden and silver images". The Tarikh-i-Firishta further states: "Many of the Brahmins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mahomedans. After the emigration of the Bramins, Sikundur ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down......Having broken all the images in Kashmeer, (Sikandar) acquired the title of ‘Destroyer of Idols’".

During European rule in the Indian subcontinent

The Goa Inquisition, was established in 1560 by Portuguese missionaries. It was aimed primarily at Hindus and wayward new converts and by the time it was suppressed in 1774, the inquisition had had thousands of Hindus tortured and executed by burning. The British East India Company engaged in a covert and well-financed campaign of evangelical conversions in the 19th century. While officially discouraged conversions, officers of the Company routinely converted Sepoys to Christianity, often by force. This was one of the factors that led to the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Persecution of Dalits

Main articles: Dalit and Indian Caste System

Dalits, formerly known as "untouchables", include the members of Hindu society who are not included in the "caste system" as having a varna. Many Dalits have converted from Hinduism to Christianity. However, there has been at least one alleged instance of conversion back to Hinduism from Christianity after it was alleged that Christians gave the Dalits "neither financial security nor social status."

Under the 2,500 year old caste system, Dalits were considered as the lowest or outside the system. They were assigned the most menial of jobs, and enjoyed none of the rights that higher-caste Hindus did. They were not allowed to enter toilets, share water or food, or even so much as to touch or let their shadow fall over a higher-caste Hindu. In general, the sons of Dalits also took up these same tasks and in this way the entire Dalit community were relegated in Hindu society and persecuted by some Hindus. The caste system is now formally banned by the Indian government, and acts of violence against Dalits are considered crimes. Much of the legislation in regards to protecting Dalits remains completely unenforced. Dalits are presented with university quotas which allow them to achieve better paying jobs with lower marks than the higher castes. While this practice was meant to last 10 years after independence, it has instead increased. This has caused uproar amongst higher castes, leading to the 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests. They have been at least one attempt to encourage them to take on roles of leadership in Hindu society.

Discrimination against Dalits has all but disappeared in the urban public sphere, though prejudices remain in the private sphere. However incidents of violence still occur, especially in rural regions, that Dalits are still subject to persecution. In the Indian province of Rajasthan alone for instance, between the years 1999 and 2002, crimes against Dalits average at about 5024 a year, with 46 killings and 138 cases of rape. According to Human Rights Watch, over 100,000 cases of rape, murder, arson, and other atrocities against the Dalits are reported in India every year. Human Rights watch suspects the actual figure to be higher, given that Dalits do not tend to expect justice from their police for crimes against them. Dalits were also targeted by Muslim rioters in the Gujarat riots, many being burnt alive..

Human Rights Watch also alleges religiously sanctioned "Devdasi" system as a form of persecution. Described as 'sexual slavery', Dalit women are forced into 'marriage' with a diety or a temple, forced to become prostitutes to upper-caste community memebers, and are later likely to be auctioned to urban brothels..The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)describes the Devdasi system, in one of its publications, as a form of "contemporary slavery", the abusive devadasi religious practices that violate children human rights, particularly those of dalit children,forcing them into sexual slavery and child marriages. In the Second World Congress (SWC) Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children(CSEC)hosted in Japan in December 2001, Gracy Fernandes from the College of Social Work in Mumbai (India) described the practice of Devadasi in India as one through which "thousands of young girls from poor, often Dalit, families are sold or “married” to a deity and enter a system of forced prostitution from which they can rarely escape." In the United Nations, through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,the General Assembly expressed "regrets" over the failure of India to enact national legislation to effectively eliminate the Devadasi practice, and recommended that the government take necessary steps to abolish the practice.

These views on Devadasi are hotly disputed by several groups and organizations in India and by western academics. Santhaa Reddy, a representative for the National Commission for Women in India, writes that these claims of religious prostitution are little more than vestiges of colonial Eurocentric propaganda. Others prefer to think of Devadasis as courtesans, like the Geisha of Japan, rather than the Eurocentric label of "prostitute"

Contemporary persecution

While the vast majority of Hindus live in Hindu-majority areas of India, Hindus in other parts of South Asia and in diaspora have sometimes faced persecution. The Hindu American Foundation's Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights 2005 report surveyed the status of human rights for Hindus in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Fiji, Pakistan, and the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The report was based on media coverage, reports from human rights organizations, and firsthand accounts related to human rights violations perpetrated against Hindus because of their religious identity.

In the Indian subcontinent

Hindus, like Muslims, Sikhs, and members of other religious groups, experienced severe dislocation and violence during the massive population exchanges associated with the partition of India, as members of various communities moved to what they hoped was the relative safety of an area where they would be a religious majority. Hindus were among the between 200,000 and a million who died during the rioting and other violence associated with the partition..

India

Jammu and Kashmir

Indian authorities have alleged that Pakistan has been covertly and financing Islamic Terrorism in Kashmir. Islamic terrorists have routinely engaged in attacks on Hindu pilgrims in both Kashmir and neighboring Jammu. Kashmiri militants have consistently persecuted Hindus in the region, as well as moderate Muslims suspected of siding with the India. Kashmiri Pandit Hindus, who have been residents of Kashmir for centuries, have been ethnically cleansed from Kashmir by Islamic militants.. In particular, the Wandhama Massacre in 1998 was an incident in which 24 Kashmiri Hindus were gunned down by Islamists disguised as Indian soldiers. Many Kashmiri Hindus have been killed and thousands of children orphaned over the course of the conflict in Kashmir.

Northeast India

In recent years, large parts of Northeastern India have become Christianized owing to the fervent activities of missionaries. In these states, especially Nagaland Hindus are not able to celebrate Durga Puja and other essential festivals due to harassment and killing by Christian Terrorist groups. In Tripura, the NLFT has targeted Swamis and temples for attacks. The Baptist Church of Tripura is alleged to have supplied NLFT with arms and financial support and encouraged the murder of Hindus, particularly infants. A conventional tactic of the terrorists is to torch houses of Hindus with the residents still in it. They have been known to raid Hindu sanctuaries and shoot all the members.

See also: Hinduism in India

West Bengal

Main article: Morichjhanpi

The Left Front communist party government of the state of West Bengal executed a brutal massacre of low-caste Hindus in Morichjhanpi in 1978. The Morichjhanpi massacre was perpetrated by the communist government on poor Bengali Hindu refugees who were ethnically cleansed from Muslim-majority East Pakistan/Bangladesh during the Partition of India. They were migrating from other states in India where they had settled as refugees after the Partition of India. The attempt was seen by the communists as an "aggressive encroachment" so they manufactured allegations of "violating the forest act" and used it as a pretext to harass the refugees.The Morichjhanpi incident refers to the actions throughout 1979 when thousands of settler families were brutally evicted from the island. The incident resulted, directly or indirectly, in hundreds of deaths, including 36 refugees killed in police firings on January 31, 1979. In spite of a pathetic fightback by some of the islanders, several thousand settlers were eventually removed over the course of the year.

Bangladesh

The HAF report documents the long history of anti-Hindu atrocities in Bangladesh, a topic that many Indians and Indian governments over the years have preferred not to acknowledge. Such atrocities, including targeted attacks against temples, open theft of Hindu property, and rape of young Hindu women and enticements to convert to Islam, have increased sharply in recent years after the Jamat-e-Islami joined the coalition government led by the Bangladesh National Party.

Bangladesh has had a troublesome history of persecution of Hindus as well. A US-based human rights organisation, Refugees International, has claimed that religious minorities, especially Hindus, still face discrimination in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh, a nationalist party openly calls for ‘Talibanisation’ of the state. However, the prospect of actually "Talibanizing" the state is regarded as a remote possibility, since Bangladeshi Islamic society is generally more progressive than the extremist Taliban of Afghanistan. Political scholars conclude that while the Islamization of Bangladesh is real, the country is not on the brink of being Talibanized.In 1971 at the time of the liberation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan, the Hindu population accounted for 15% of the total population. Thirty years on, it is now estimated at just 10.5% The ‘Vested Property Act’ previously named the ‘Enemy Property Act’ has seen up to 40% of Hindu land snatched away forcibly. Since this government has come into power, of all the rape crimes registered in Bangladesh, 98% have been registered by Hindu women. Hindu temples in Bangladesh have also been vandalised . The United States Congressional Caucus on India has condemned these atrocities.

Bangladeshi feminist Taslima Nasrin's 1993 novel Lajja deals with the anti-Hindu riots and anti-secular sentiment in Bangladesh in the wake of the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India. The book was banned in Bangladesh, and helped draw international attention to the situation of the Bangladeshi Hindu minority.

On October 2006, the United States Commission on International Religion Freedom published a report titled 'Policy Focus on Bangladesh', said that since its last election, 'Bangladesh has experienced growing violence by religious extremists, intensifying concerns expressed by the countries religious minorities'. The report further stated that Hindus are particularly vulnerable in a period of rising violence and extremism, whether motivated by religious, political or criminal factors, or some combination. The report noted that Hindus had multiple disadvantages against them in Bangladesh, such as perceptions of dual loyalty with respect to India and religious beliefs that are not tolerated by the politically dominant Islamic Fundamentalists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Violence against Hindus has taken place "in order to encourage them to flee in order to seize their property".The previous reports of the Hindu American Foundation were acknowledged and confirmed by this non-partisan report.

On November 2, 2006, USCIRF criticized Bangladesh for continuing persecution of minority Hindus. It also urged the Bush administration to get Dhaka to ensure protection of religious freedom and minority rights before Bangladesh's next national elections in January 2007.

See also: Hinduism in Bangladesh

Pakistan

There have been severe persecution of Hindus by Muslims in Pakistan since its formation in 1947. The increasing Islamization has caused many Hindus to leave Hinduism and seek emancipation by converting to other faiths such as Buddhism and Christianity. Such Islamization include the blasphemy laws, which make it dangerous for religious minorities to express themselves freely and engage freely in religious and cultural activities .Minority members of the Pakistan National Assembly have alleged that Hindus were being hounded and humiliated to force them to leave Pakistan.. In addition to the ethnic cleansing of Hindus following the Partition of India in 1947, the Hindus in Pakistan are subjected to anti-blasphemy laws, hate propaganda, attacks, and forced conversions. Hindus in what is now Pakistan have declined from 23% of the total population in 1947 to less than 2% today. The HAF report condemns Pakistan for systematic state-sponsored religious discrimination against Hindus through "anti-blasphemy" laws. It documents numerous reports of Hindus being held as "bonded laborers" in slavery-like conditions in rural Pakistan, something repeatedly ignored by the Pakistani government. Pakistan aggressively portrays its struggle against India as a Hindu-Muslim conflict, making it clear that its own Hindu minority is fair game for persecution.

1971 Bangladesh Atrocities

Main articles: 1971 Bangladesh atrocities and Operation Searchlight

During the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities there were widespread killings and ethnic cleansing of civilians in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan under Pakistani occupation) and widespread violations of human rights carried out by the Pakistan Army, which was supported by political and religious militias during the Bangladesh Liberation War. In Bangladesh, the atrocities are identified as a genocide, which is disputed by Pakistan. Many of the victims were Hindus, and the total death toll was in the millions .TIME magazine reported that "The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Muslim military hatred."

Masih incident

On June 29, 2005, police in Nowshera, NWFP, arrested Christian janitor Yousaf Masih on blasphemy charges. Witnesses claimed Masih had burned pages of the Qur'an while disposing of trash for his employer. Following his arrest, a mob of between 300 and 500 protesters destroyed a Hindu temple and houses belonging to Christian and Hindu families in the city. While police arrested some perpetrators after the fact, under the terms of a deal negotiated between Islamic religious leaders and the Hindu/Christian communities, police released all of them without charge. Police released Masih from custody on bail on August 6, 2005.

Forced Conversions

Forced and coerced conversions of religious minorities to Islam occurred at the hands of societal actors. Religious minorities claimed that government actions to stem the problem were inadequate. Several human rights groups have highlighted the increased phenomenon of Hindu girls, particularly in Karachi, being kidnapped from their families and forced to convert to Islam.

Hindu women have also been known to be victims of kidnapping and forced conversion to Islam. Krishan Bheel, a Hindu member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, came into news recently for manhandling Qari Gul Rehman..

On October 18, 2005, Sanno Amra and Champa, a Hindu couple residing in the Punjab Colony, Karachi, Sindh returned home to find that their three teenage daughters had disappeared. After inquiries to the local police, the couple discovered that their daughters had been taken to a local madrassah, had been converted to Islam, and were denied unsupervised contact with their parents.

Temple Destruction

Several Hindu temples have been destroyed in Pakistan. A notable incident was the destruction of the Ramna Kali Mandir in former East Pakistan. The temple was bulldozed by the Pakistan Army on March 27, 1971.The Dhakeshwari Temple was severely damaged during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and over half of the temple's buildings were destroyed. The main worship hall was taken over by the Pakistan Army and used as an ammunitions storage area. Several of the temple custodians were tortured and killed by the Army though most, including the Head Priest, fled to their ancestral villages and to India and therefore escaped death.

In 2006, the last Hindu temple in Lahore was destroyed to pave the way for construction of a multi-storied commercial building. The temple was demolished after officials of the Evacuee Property Trust Board concealed facts from the board chairman about the nature of the building. When reporters from Pakistan-based newspaper "Dawn" tried to cover the incident, they were accosted by the henchmen of the property developer, who denied that a Hindu temple existed at the site.

Several political parties in Pakistan have objected to this move, such as the Pakistan People's party and the Pakistani Muslim League-N. The move has also evoked strong condemnation from in India from minority bodies and political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress Party, as well as Muslim advocacy political parties such as the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat. A firm of lawyers representing the Hindu minority has approached the Lahore High Court seeking a directive to the builders to stop the construction of the commercial plaza and reconstruct the temple at the site. The petitioners maintain that the demolition violates section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code prohibiting the demolition of places of worship .

See also: Hinduism in Pakistan

Bhutan

The Hindus of Nepalese origin have been living in Bhutan since nineteenth century.. On a 1980 census, the Bhutanese Druk autocracy found a significant population of ethnic Nepalese (mostly Hindus) which they interpreted as a danger to the Druk domination. The monarch imprisoned a Brahmin democratic movement leader Tek Nath Rizal and forced the Hindus "to observe dress codes and etiquette characteristic of Northern Bhutanese, under threat of punishment". The Hindus were then tortured and expelled from the nation. Approximately 103,000 of such refugees including Hindus, Kirats etc are living in Nepal, which was the only Hindu nation left when they were exiled.

In other countries

The Hindu presence in countries outside South Asia is small but growing. Historically, there have been large Hindu populations in Indonesia,Cambodia, Fiji and the Philippines. There have been Hindus in Guyana, Suriname,and Malaysia since the 19th century. The twentieth century saw the growth of Hindu communities in Saudi Arabia,Russia,the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The persecution of Hindus have risen in several of these countries, especially in Muslim dominated countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

Afghanistan

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan had committed atrocities on the Hindu minority in the country. 500 Hindu families disappeared in Afghanistan shortly after the Taliban came to power.

During the Taliban regime, Sumptuary laws were passed in 2001 which forced Hindus to wear yellow badges in public to identify themselves as such. Hindu women were forced to dress according to Islamic hijab, ostensibly a measure to "protect" them from harassment. This was part of the Taliban's plan to segregate "un-Islamic" and "idolatrous" communities from Islamic ones. In addition, Hindus were forced to mark their places of residence identifying them as Hindu homes.

The decree was condemned by the Indian and United States governments as a violation of religious freedom. Widespread protests against the Taliban regime broke out in Bhopal,India. In the United States, chairman of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman compared the decree to the practices of Nazi Germany, where Jews were required to wear labels identifying them as such. The comparison was also drawn by California Democrat and holocaust survivor Tom Lantos, and New York Democrat and author of the bipartisan 'Sense of the Congress' non-binding resolution against the anti-Hindu decree Eliot L Engel.In the United States, congressmen and several lawmakers wore yellow badges on the floor of the Senate during the debate as a demonstration of their solidarity with the Hindu minority in Afghanistan.

Indian analyst Rahul Banerjee said that this was not the first that Hindus has been singled out for state-sponsored oppression in Afghanistan. Violence against Hindus has caused a rapid depletion in the Hindu population over the years. Since the 1990s many Afghan Hindus have fled the country, seeking asylum in countries such as Germany.

See also: Hinduism in Afghanistan

Fiji

Hindus in Fiji constitute approximately 38% of the population. During the late 90's there were several riots against Hindus by radical elements in Fiji. In the Spring of 2000, the democratically elected Fijian government led by Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was held hostage by a guerilla group, headed by George Speight. They were demanding a segregated state exclusively for the native Fijians, thereby legally abolishing any rights the Hindu inhabitants have now. The Hindu minority are denied any land owning rights and are routinely attacked and harassed. Several dozen Hindu temples have been vandalized or destroyed by arson or looting.

The methodist church of Fiji repeatedly calls for the creation of a Christian State and has endorsed forceful conversion of Hindus after a coup d'etat in 1987.

See also: Hinduism in Fiji and Church involvement in Fiji coups

Indonesia

Hinduism and Islam relationship in Indonesia have been benign for most parts of Indonesia due to the ingrained cultural influence. Hinduism was the indigeneous religion in Indonesia before the arrival of Islam in the 14th century, until the conversion of the local Acheh ruler to Islam. With the ruler's conversion, the majority of the people gradually converted to Islam. Islam spread east from Acheh to Java and gradually converted the people to Islam. Traces of Hindu influence remain in the Indonesia language, literature and arts. Early Hindu architecture can be seen in temples built by the Srivijaya, Kediri and Majapahit kingdoms.

In the present day, Hindus are subjected to renewed persecution to convert their faith by Christian missionary group and Christian evangelism in the temple town of Terupati has angered Hindus.Also, Hindus in Bali are persecuted by certain segments of the Muslim population.

Kazakhstan

In 2005 and 2006 Kazakh officials persistently and repeatedly tried to close down the Hare Krishna farming community near Almaty.

On November 20, 2006, three buses full of riot police, two ambulances, two empty lorries, and executors of the Karasai district arrived at the community in sub-zero weather and evicted the Hare Krishna followers from thirteen homes, which the police proceeded to demolish.

The Forum 18 News Service reported, "Riot police who took part in the destruction threw personal belongings of the Hare Krishna devotees into the snow, and many devotees were left without clothes. Power for lighting and heating systems had been cut off before the demolition began. Furniture and larger household belongings were loaded onto trucks. Officials said these possessions would be destroyed. Two men who tried to prevent the bailiffs from entering a house to destroy it were seized by 15 police officers who twisted their hands and took them away to the police car."

The Hare Krishna community had been promised that no action would be taken before the report of a state commission – supposedly set up to resolve the dispute – was made public. On the day the demolition began, the commission's chairman, Amanbek Mukhashev, told Forum 18, "I know nothing about the demolition of the Hare Krishna homes – I'm on holiday." He added, "As soon as I return to work at the beginning of December we will officially announce the results of the Commission's investigation." Other officials also refused to comment.

The United States urged Kazakhstan's authorities to end what it called an "aggressive" campaign against the country's tiny Hare Krishna community.

Malaysia

Approximately nine percent of the population of Malaysia are Tamil Indians, of whom nearly 90 percent are practicing Hindus.Indian settlers came to Malaysia from Tamil Nadu in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between April to May 2006, several Hindu temples were demolished by city hall authorities in the country, accompanied by violence against Hindus. On April 21, 2006, the Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur was reduced to rubble after the city hall sent in bulldozers .

The president of the Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam in Selangor State has been helping to organise efforts to stop the local authorities in the Muslim dominated city of Shah Alam from demolishing a 107-year-old Hindu temple. The growing Islamization in Malaysia is a cause for concern to many Malaysians who follow minority religions such as Hinduism.

Many Hindu advocacy groups have protested what they allege is a systematic plan of temple cleansing in Malaysia. The official reason given by the Malaysian government has been that the temples were built "illegally". However, several of the temples are centuries old.

On May 11, 2006, armed city hall officers from Kuala Lumpur forcefully demolished part of a 60-year-old suburban temple that serves more than 1,000 Hindus. The "Hindu Rights Action Force", a coalition of several NGO's, have protested these demolitions by lodging complaints with the Malaysian Prime Minister.

Another form of persecution is the requirement by the Malaysian government for the annual Thaipusam procession to obtain a police permit under the Internal Security Act, which by the anti-discriminatory standards of most nations, is flawed as it requires permits only for Hindu religious festivals.

See also: Hinduism in Malaysia

Russia

Hindus in Russia have been subject to discrimination. For example, significant obstacles have been placed to the construcition of a Hindu temple in Moscow. It was reported that some influential official of Russian Orthodox Church propagated misinformation and defamation, e.g., describing Krishna as an "evil demon".

See also: Hinduism in Russia

Saudi Arabia

There is a small population of Indians in the Islamic state of Saudi Arabia, numbering around 1.5 million. The majority of them are Hindus, with a minority of Muslims. The community typically consists of migrant workers from India.

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocracy, and officially does not tolerate any other religion. Hindus are considered polytheists by Islamic law, which is used as a justification for greater discrimination in calculating accidental death or injury compensation. According to the country's "Hanbali" interpretation of Shari'a, Hindus receive 1/16 of the amount a male Muslim receives.

On April 1 2005, Saudi religious police (Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice or Mutaween) destroyed a clandestine makeshift Hindu temple in an old district of Riyadh and deported three worshipers found there .

Trinidad

Indians, predominantly Hindus, came as indentured laborers in 1838 to British Guyana and later to Trinidad, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Surinam. During the initial decades of Indian indenture, Indian cultural forms met with either contempt or indifference by the Christian majority. Hindus have made many contributions to Trinidad history and culture even though the state historically regarded Hindus as second-class citizens.Hindus in Trinidad struggled over the granting of adult franchise, the Hindu marriage bill, the divorce bill, cremation ordinance, and others.After Trinidad's independence from colonial rule, Hindus were marginalized by the African-based People's National Movement. The opposing party, the People's Democratic party, was portrayed as a "Hindu group", and other anti-Hindu tactics were used against them. Hindus were castigated as a "recalcitrant and hostile minority".Hindus were alienated by such Christian communal groups. The support of the PNM government to creole art forms in Carnivals, while their public rejection and ridicule of Hindu art forms, was a particular source of contention for the Hindu minority.The displacement of PNM from power in 1985 would improve the situation.

There has been persistent discontent among the Hindus with their marginalization. Many Christianized groups portray Hindus as "clannish, backward and miserly".During the General Elections of 1986, the absence of the Bhagavad Gita and the Quran at polling stations for required oath-taking was interpreted as a gross insult to Hindus and Muslims. The absence of any Hindu religious texts at the official residence of the President of Trinidad and Tobago during the swearing in of the new Government in 1986 was perceived as another insult to the minority communities since they were represented in the government.The exclusivist Christian symbolism operative in the country's top national award, the Trinity Cross, has persistently stung Hindu religious sensibility. This was to climax in 1995 with the refusal of the Hindu Dharmaacharya to accept the award, while issuing a statement that his action should be seen as an opportunity for those in authority to create a national award that recognizes the plurality of religious beliefs in this country. The national education system and curriculum have been repeatedly accused of such majority-oriented symbolism. The use of discernibly Christian-oriented prayers at Government schools, the non-representation of Hinduism in approved school textbooks, and the lack of emphasis on Hindu religious observace evoked deep resentment from the Hindu community. Intensified protests over the course of the 1980s led to an improvement in the state's attitudes towards Hindus.The divergence of some of the fundamental aspects of local Hindu culture, the segregation of the Hindu community from Trinidad, and the disinclination to risk erasing the more fundamental aspects of what had been constructed as "Trinidad Hinduism" in which the identity of the group had been rooted, would often generate dissension when certain dimensions of Hindu culture came into contact with the State. While the incongruences continue to generate debate, and often conflict, it is now tempered with growing awareness and consideration on the part of the state to the Hindu minority. Hindus have been also been subjected to persistent proselytization by Christian missionaries. Specifically the evangelical and Pentecostal Christians. Such activities reflect racial tensions that at times arise between the Christianized Afro-Trinidadian and Hindu Indo-Trinidadian communities.

United States

The rise of the Indian American community in the United States has brought about some isolated incidences of attacks on them, as has been the case with many minority groups in the United States. Attacks specific to Hindus in the United States stem from what is often referred to as the "racialization of religion" among Americans, a process that begins when certain phenotypical features associated with a group and attached to race in popular discourse become associated with a particular religion or religions.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States,Indian American Hindus in the United States, together with adherents of other religions from the same community (mainly Muslims and Sikhs), have faced isolated instances of attacks on them, often for "looking Middle-Eastern" or being mistaken for Muslims. Notable instances include the attack on a Hindu temple dedicated to Krishna in Matawan, New Jersey which involved firebombing with a molatov cocktail and instances of some Hindus being verbally assasulted and/or harassed.

Further reading

• Trifkovic, Serge (Sept. 11, 2002). The Sword of the Prophet: History, Theology, Impact on the World. Regina Orthodox Press. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Sarkar, Jadunath. How the Muslims forcibly converted the Hindus of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to Islam.
• Firishta, Muhammad Qãsim Hindû Shãh (1829- 1981 Reprint). Tãrîkh-i-Firishta (History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India). New Delhi. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Nasrin, Taslima (1994). Lajja. India: Penguin Books India. ISBN 0-14-024051-9.
• Talib, Gurbachan (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947. India: Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.Online 1 Online 2 Online 3

See also

• Hinduism
• Anti-Hindu
• Religious persecution
• Anti-Brahmanism
• Persecution of Muslims
• Persecution of Jews
• Persecution of Christians
• Religious intolerance
• Religious persecution
• Religious pluralism
• Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947

External links

• Dr. Koenraad Elst Was There an Islamic "Genocide" of Hindus?
• Human Rights Commission for Bangladeshi Minoritites
• Hindu Human Rights
• Hindu Holocaust Memorial
• Peshawar Cantonment Board Poised to Raid Hindu homes - Daily Times (Pakistan)
• A Tribute to Hinduism
• The Magnitude of Muslim Atrocities in India
• Video Documentary showing the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits
• The Hindu Minority in Bangladesh
• Attacks on the Hindu Minority in Bangladesh - Amnesty International
• Atrocities on Hindus catch US Congressmen's attention - United States Commission on Religious Freedom
• Row over Krishna temple in Moscow
• World Hindus furious as Russian Archbishop calls Lord Krishna an ‘evil demon’
• Actual Letter to Moscow Mayor from Russian Archbishop calling the Hindu God Lord Krishna a Satan or Demon and forbidding the construction of the Hindu Temple in Moscow, Russia
• Petition to Govt. of Russia, USA , India and UNO to safeguard the rights of Hindus in Russia and their right to build a place of worship / Temple.