Interfaith Strength

Hindus, facing existential attacks in Bangladesh

Originally published on News Bharati, December 10, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

Pakistan’s 1951 census counted Hindus to be a third of the East Pakistan population. Today, in that same territory now known as Bangladesh, Hindus are about one in fifteen. That is a tragic fact—that Hindus are disappearing in another ancestral land of theirs. Two things make it even worse:

- That their disappearance is the result of atrocities including murder, gang rape, land seizures, child abduction, forced conversion, religious desecration, and more; which continue to occur at an average rate of at least one per week.

- Every Bangladeshi government—from the first government under Sheikh Mujibar Rahman through the current one under his daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed—has been complicit in these atrocities and in the deliberate attempt to eliminate Hinduism from their nation.

One nine-day period in May 2012 saw a Hindu community leader murdered in broad daylight, the abduction of a child walking to a Hindufestival, and gang rapes of two Hindu women. Four horrific actions in nine days andthe government took it as nine normal days in Bangladesh. In July 2013 alone: Hindu human rights advocate Rabindra Ghosh was attacked multiple times and harassed by an Awami League MP; a Hindu college student was abducted and murdered so his girlfriend could be forced to marry Muslims, and after she refused, police arrested her and let the perpetrators go; Hindu land seizures by a Member of Parliament were exposed, and the government protected the MP allowing him to continue committing crimes while remaining in office; police covered up massive attacks on Hindu communities that involved, rape, looting, arson, and assault, and they also tried to extort “protection money” from the Hindu communities. And these are only the atrocities we confirmed with our limited resources and at least two independent witnesses.

More disturbing news: Evidence keeps coming to me about a disturbing trend that indicates how ingrained anti-Hindu atrocities are in Bangladesh. For several years, Bangladesh has seen an influx of Rohingya Muslims fleeing inter-religious conflict in neighboring Myanmar. According to several credible and independent sources, an unknown number of these refugees have joined with the radical groups and engaged in anti-Hindu activities. If Bangladesh is not actively supporting anti-Hindu ethnic cleansing, it is at the very least enabling it by looking the other way when it happens ad sending even its newest residents a message that such actions will go unpunished in Bangladesh. Stay tuned for more information.

Imagine the horror of living under constant threat, having friends and family members brutalized or worse. Now imagine how much more horrifying it is to live like that knowing that the rest of the world simply does not care, which it is like for Hindus in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi officials are so confident that their crimes will go unnoticed that they do not even try to be credible in their denials. Akaramul Qadar, the Bangladeshi ambassador to the United States for instance, tried to tell me that the reason why Hindus are disappearing from Bangladesh is voluntary: “They cannot find suitable matches for their children [in Bangladesh] so they go to India where there are more Hindus.” Bangladeshi Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir would not even acknowledge that Hindus are disappearing instead implying to me that, as an American, I should mind my own business because “33 people were killed in Connecticut,” reference to a criminal act that the US government did prosecute.
That might be changing, however, and the change is coming from half way around the world.

The United States is one of the top importers of Bangladeshi garments. In 2012, the US had a $4.4 billion trade deficit with Bangladesh; through October of this year, the deficit is on track to be even worse. Companies like Wal-Mart and all major jeans makers buy heavily from Bangladesh. Several other countries from Asia and Latin America export garments to the US and would love to grab a bigger piece of the large US market; countries that would move in quickly if the Bangladeshis were no longer competitive and not be ready to cede their new market share if the Bangladeshis decide to do the right thing. If discussions going on in Washington now bear fruit, Bangladeshi garments will be harder to get and more expensive when purchased unless that country stops it ethnic cleansing of Hindus. That would be a serious blow to the current Bangladesh government that is just clinging to power as next year’s election looms. That severe economic blow could spell the end of its reign—and the Awami League knows it.

Are the Bangladeshis reacting already?

For the past year, I have been following the case of one young Hindu woman who was abducted when her family refused demands by local Muslim thugs and a few government officials to abandon their family land. When I was in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka earlier this year, I met with her family, who told me about the incident and the government’s complicity. They asked for my help and by this time were not even interested in getting justice so long as their daughter was returned to them unharmed. Thus far, the government had turned a deaf ear to their pleas; and even after I submitted the evidence they provided to the Home Minister—as he asked me to do—he ignored it and the girl remained missing.

Recently, however, I received word from associates inside Bangladesh who spoke with the young woman’s sister. After we raised the issue, the case evidently came to the attention of Sheikh Hasina. The family met with her, and she said she would direct the local government to take action to retrieve the young woman. That is particularly interesting because it suggests that even the Prime Minister understood that the problem was complicity by the government; that it would take nothing more than appropriate action to save the woman. As is the modus operandi of the Bangladeshi government, words never translated into action and the woman is still missing. While Sheikh Hasina’s action is better than the inaction of the Home Minister and the ridiculous prattling of the Ambassador; it is far from enough and far too little for us to stop pressing at full speed with our efforts. The government’s wish to appear civilized, however, could be the beginning of a turning point in our struggle.

More initiatives are underway in the United States, including a move to have individual localities recognize the ethnic cleansing of Hindus and how the media and others have been ignoring it. The first success came on October 1, 2013, when the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect did so, noting, “scant attention is being paid to the plight of Bangladeshi Hindus who live each day in fear of atrocities being committed against them for their religious beliefs.”

Ultimately, it is up to the Bangladeshi government to choose between injustice and the radicals they fear or justice for all citizens and the ideals that Bangladeshi voters want them to have the courage to maintain.

[An Appeal- Anyone wishing to help by contacting Members of the US Congress, letting Bangladesh’s large customers like Wal-Mart and Levis that their purchases support ethnic cleansing, or convincing their local government to do as Mount Prospect did should feel free to contact me at drrbenkin@comcast.net.]

Hope for Bangladeshi Hindus from USA

Originally published on News Bharati English, October 5, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

It is tragic fact—not an opinion—that Bangladesh’s Hindu population is dying; at least it will die if we don’t do something to stop it. Hindus have gone from a third of East Pakistan’s population in 1951 to a fifth when East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971. They are somewhere around one in 15 today. Demographers have made it clear that this precipitous population shift could not have occurred normal phenomena like birth rates. Nor is it the result of “voluntary migration… to find suitable matches for their children,” as alleged—and with straight face no less—by Bangladesh’s US Ambassador Akramul Qader. Their deaths have come from several decades of atrocities; atrocities in which successive Bangladeshi governments have been complicit; atrocities to which the “civilized world” has turned a blind eye.

The world’s governments, international bodies like the UN, major news media, and the most “respectable” human rights organizations have pretended not to see what had to be in front of their faces and instead turned away from them in silence. This is indeed, as my book calls it, “a quiet case of ethnic cleansing.” Recently, however, there have been signs from the United States of America that this might be about to change:

A Chicago suburb will soon issue a proclamation around Durga Puja that recognizes the plight of Bangladesh’s Hindus.The staff of two US Congressmen have approached the US Commission on International Religious Freedom about Bangladesh’s anti-Hindu actions, and the Commission agreed.Several Members of the US Senate and House are becoming concerned about the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh, including a powerful committee chair who was recently visited by a delegation of his constituents looking for action.

Chicago Suburb to Issue Proclamation

For the past several years, the village of Mount Prospect, a well-established Chicago suburb, has been issuing proclamations on behalf of Holocaust victims during the annual Days of Remembrance commemoration. Each year as I accept the proclamation, I note that as uniquely evil and ghastly that the Holocaust was, its legacy is for us to be mindful of current atrocities and do all in our power to live up to our watchwords, “Never again.” And while I do this, I remind listeners that what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh requires us to take action.

Next month, Mount Prospect will issue a formal proclamation for the Hindu festival of Durga Puja and recognize the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh, many of whom will not be able to celebrate fully this important Hindu festival. Similar efforts are underway in other American localities for Diwali, Holi, and other important Hindu observances.

Congressmen Bring Concerns about Bangladesh to USCIRF

In 2009, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) removed Bangladesh from it perennial place on the USCIRF Watch List for its extensive human rights violations. As its staff explained it to me, this was done to recognize Bangladesh’s return to democratic rule and to encourage the Awami League government to take necessary actions to alter Bangladesh’s sad history, especially in its treatment of religious minorities. The attempt at encouragement did not work.

At several points since that move, I have spoken with USCIRF and provided it with documentary evidence of continued atrocities against Hindus and the government’s refusal to take the steps needed to stop them. In August, the staff of two influential Members of the US Congress approached USCIRF about Bangladesh and the ongoing anti-Hindu atrocities. USCIRF staff told them that Bangladesh’s anti-Hindu atrocities are “high on their radar,” and according to one of the bi-partisan delegation’s leaders, “we’ll be checking in with them on the issue.”

Hindu Americans Bring Bangladesh Concerns Foreign Affairs Head

On September 23, a delegation of California Hindu community leaders met with Congressman Ed Royce, the powerful chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. After presenting Congressman Royce with a copy of my book, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus, and other evidence of anti-Hindu atrocities, the delegation expressed their concerns and asked the powerful Congressman if he could help.

Congressman Royce replied that he has become aware of the atrocities perpetrated against Bangladesh’s Hindus, promised to take action on the matter, and called his Chief of Staff to get things started. The group presented a number of proposals, all of which the Congressman took under immediate advisement. There was some suggestion that the Congressman might empanel hearings about Bangladesh’s Hindus.

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There are more initiatives underway, many of which strike at the core of Bangladesh’s economic resources. Those resources support the ethnic cleansing of Hindus and further give lie to the Awami League’s false posturing as “moderate” or “pro-minority.” The USA is the second largest importer of Bangladeshi exports. Once Bangladeshis get the message that they stand to lose a significant part of their income as long as they continue their blatant human rights violations, they will have little choice but to do the right thing.

Mideast Peace Talks Chance for Peace or Just Talk?

Originally published on the Diplomatist, September 30, 2013

Dr Richard Benkin

Will the eleventh major set of Middle East Peace talks since 1991 make the conflict more intractable or bring the region closer to peace than it was before the first? Will they ratify the status quo rather than changing it?

In October 2011, I posed the following to a panel of Middle East experts and diplomats in Chicago: “A peace process is only relevant if it leads to peace and not a mere cessation of hostilities … and I can tell you from first-hand experience that the signs do not point toward peace. Given the fact that by your own admission, you have been at this for a generation — and where has that brought us — and that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, do you think it is time to scrap the very notion of a peace process and instead focus on pragmatic options that parties can take that would qualify them at some point to engage in a real peace process?”

The panel uncomfortably avoided answering – understandably. The question challenged their ideological and career commitment to a failed process and demanded creative thought over knee-jerk, politically-driven reactions. Middle East Peace talks, like those set to begin, make the conflict more intractable, not less. They ratify the status quo rather than changing it. 

Expectations from Eleventh Peace Talks 

This will be the eleventh major set of talks since 1991, and the region is no closer to peace than it was before the first. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is driving the effort, said the parties “… can make peace for one simple reason: because they must.” Middle East expert David Ignatius, who favours the talks, calls that the key element in Kerry’s strategy; but it was not enough in the past and is still not enough. The core differences separating the two sides have not changed. These talks are likely to end in one of the following, all-too-familiar ways: The Palestinians will break them off.

There will be a statement about “progress” and future talks at some unspecified date; answers to questions about what that progress is will be insubstantial.

There will be a face-saving “agreement” that leaves core issues unresolved and the Middle East no closer to peace. 

Talks with no agreement are worse than no talks because they emphasise the gulf that separates the parties and the difficulty of bridging it. The only outcome worse than no peace agreement is a bad one: one that forces the parties to sign documents without resolving the issues that led to war or that contain untenable conditions. The Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, for example, imposed draconian conditions on Germany in an effort by external powers to remake and punish that nation; its results were Adolf Hitler and World War II. Pakistan’s 2009 peace agreement ceding the Swat Valley to the Taliban brought ethnic cleansing to Hindus and oppression to women, but not peace. Worse, despite initial western statements of “shock,” it became the template for US President Barak Obama’s current negotiations with Afghan Taliban and his curious search for “moderate Taliban.”

Can Peace Reign Supreme?

People who believe the Mideast conflict is about real estate, miss the point. In a true peace agreement, the parties accept each other’s states fully, end the strife between them, and relinquish all further claims on territory and individual property. A two-state solution might be part of any final agreement, but it is not its sine qua non. If a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital was really what the Arabs wanted, they could have had one any time before June 1967. Prior to Israel’s Six-Day War victory that year, Egypt controlled Gaza, and Jordan controlled eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. It even gave us the name, West Bank; the historical names are Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which later morphed into the Palestinian Authority, formed in 1964 when Egypt and Jordan — not Israel — were the occupying powers. Yet the group’s charter called for Israel’s destruction and did not appeal to either Arab state. It did not even mention Jerusalem. Palestinians could have had even more by accepting the UN’s 1947 Partition Plan as Israelis did; they did not. That was also before there were Arab or Jewish refugees in the region. Imagine the loss of life that could have been avoided if this is really what Palestinians wanted. Imagine where both states and peoples would be now if they spent the last six decades on development. Palestinians never demanded a state on the West Bank or Gaza Strip until Arabs realised that their decades-old demands for Israel’s destruction would never win them support among the wealthy and influential Western powers.

I was in Israel during the 2000 Camp David talks. There was a great deal of outcry over what then Prime Minister Ehud Barak was willing to cede. Opponents were giving out leaflets on street corners and road intersections, declaring “Barak is a traitor to the nation.” Yet, at the same time, there was a quiet understanding that if Barak and Arafat signed the agreement, the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) would ratify it, and the nation would enforce it. And that is the key to peace.

Negotiations mean that the end is not pre-determined before they begin; it means that both parties will leave the table with less than they want; it means that they pledge to enforce all tenets. Defining borders and territory is not the issue; people pretty much know what that will look like. Even the issue of Jerusalem, while more complicated, is not without multiple formulae for resolution. Settlements? They never stopped peace talks until Obama declared them obstacles. Access to holy sites, the status of refugees, water; none of these issues defy resolution as long as there are two parties willing to negotiate and live with the results; and for the past six decades, Israel has been the only party prepared to do that.

The flagship article for the pro-Palestinian version of what happened at Camp David notes that current Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas “… made clear to the Americans that the Palestinian side is unable to make concessions on anything.” As the 2010 talks began, he said, “If they (Israelis) demand concessions on the rights of the refugees or the 1967 borders, I will quit. I can’t allow myself to make even one concession.”

Nor is the problem a “right-wing” Netanyahu government in Israel. There was international hand wringing when Israel elected its first Likud Prime Minister, Menachem Begin; and it was he who ceded the entire Sinai and made peace with Egypt. Similarly, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, vilified as a “butcher” by the same crowd, unilaterally handed Gaza to the Arabs. Netanyahu has gotten his coalition allies to cross numerous red lines: releasing terrorists with blood on their hands, freezing settlement construction, and accepting a Palestinian State.

Abbas has acknowledged that Netanyahu’s liberal predecessor, Ehud Olmert, proposed a Palestinian state on 97 percent of the West Bank, accepted the principle of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and offered to resettle thousands in Israel. Abbas turned it down saying “the gaps were wide.” It is almost impossible to imagine any Israeli government going further.

William B Quandt knows what a peace agreement looks like. He helped broker the Israel-Egypt peace treaty that has survived major upheavals for over 30 years. On current efforts he wrote, the US “… has provided both a sense of direction and a mechanism. That, at its best, is what the peace process has been about. At worst, it has been little more than a slogan used to mask the marking of time.”

Even if the parties signed an agreement, would Arabs enforce it when rejectionists like Hamas violate it? In 1994, Baruch Goldstein walked into a mosque, opened fire, and killed 29 worshipers before the survivors killed him. The Israeli government condemned the massacre, arrested others with similar positions, and forbade certain settlers from entering Arab towns. Jews and Jewish leaders worldwide condemned Goldstein unequivocally; the Israeli Prime Minister described the act as “loathsome.” Five years later, when some people made a shrine out of Goldstein’s gravesite, the Israeli army dismantled it. No one watered down their criticism by saying we should “understand” Goldstein’s anger; or by generally condemning all terrorists. Criticism was unequivocal and specific.

In contrast, the Palestinian Authority and all its agencies glorify Arab terrorists, build monuments; and continue to do so as talks are about to begin. Its schoolbooks teach children that their goal is all of Israel, and their media and leaders congratulate terrorists like Samir Kuntar whose “heroism” included killing a four-year old girl with a rifle butt. That sort of thing makes it hard for me — as a Jew and a human rights activist — to walk in Palestinians’ shoes. If they stopped referring to my people as apes and pigs, celebrating terrorists like Kuntar, and denying our rights to live in our ancestral land; empathy might be possible; and that would have a chance of bringing peace. 

Editor’s note: Since Dr Benkin wrote this article, Palestinians have broken off the peace talks. Despite denials from US Secretary of State Kerry’s office, the Palestinian decision was widely reported and confirmed by Palestinian spokespersons, one of whom also said that the talks had gotten off to a “rocky start,” with the two sides unable even to agree on an agenda. It is not clear at this point if the Palestinian pullout is permanent halt or a temporary protest. The action indicates frailty of the talks and the lack of commitment to see them through to an agreement.
 

Time is Running Out for Bangladesh’s Hindus—and for us

Originally published in News Bharati English, September 18, 2013

Dr Richard Benkin

If you suddenly found yourself in Germany in the early 1930s, knew what was going to happen in a few short years, and had a chance to prevent it, would you? Even if you were not certain that you could stop it, would you at least try? Adolf Hitler and his Nazis are gone, but the questions are just as important today.

Bangladesh’s Hindu population is dying. This is a fact; not opinion; not Islamaphobia; and saying it does not make anyone “communal.” According to Pakistan’s 1951 census, Hindus were just under a third of East Pakistan’s population. When East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, they were less than a fifth; thirty years later, less than one in ten; and an estimated one in 15 today. If you still are having trouble wondering where this is going, take a look at Pakistan where Hindus are down to one percent or Kashmir where they are almost gone. Take a look at the future of Bangladesh’s Hindus if we do not act.

According to Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York, over 49 million Hindus are missing in Bangladesh. Are their lives or the millions still living there worth any less than the hundreds gassed by Syrian President Bashir Assad, who are now the reason for talk of a military strike; or the thousands of Bosnian Muslims whose plight sent NATO troops to war? No? Well, we seem to act as if they are. They number twice that of all Israelis and Palestinians put together. Compare the number of UN resolutions or major media articles and editorials about them with the number that concern Bangladeshi Hindus. That would be too many to count versus zero.

What has your government of India done to give aid to the victims? What has my USA government done? What has any government done? Nothing.

What have we heard from CNN, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, Times of India, Times of London, the left-wing media, the right-wing media, or the other “important” media and journalists? Except for a day or two of headlines during nationwide Islamist attacks on Hindus that were too large to ignore—again, nothing.

What about the “great” human rights outfits that obsess on falsely demonizing democracies like Israel and leaders like Narendra Modi, but turn away in silence at the atrocities Bangladesh’s Hindus face daily? Amnesty International‘s human rights reports and articles leave us wondering if Bangladesh even has a significant Hindu population. Its 2013 report on Bangladesh, for instance, has sections on “Indigenous Peoples’ Rights” and “Workers’ Rights,” but nothing about the persecution of Hindus. The section labeled “Communal Violence” notes only one incident for the year, stating that “20 Buddhist temples and monasteries [and] one Hindu temple” were set ablaze. That’s it! It is the only mention of the word, Hindu, in the entire report. The last time Human Rights Watch gave Bangladesh’s Hindus even passing mention was 2006. Oxfam never has.

These same experts told us that the Awami League’s 2008 victory would bring a new Bangladesh where all citizens will live in peace and prosperity. Rubbish!
Awami League no better

In January 2009, a consortium of Hindu groups there asked me to advise them on what to do next. “The last thing you should do,” I said, “is to go back to sleep.” I urged them to act precipitously and push the Awami League to live up to its posturing as a “pro-minority” party, which is what won it the vast majority of Hindu votes. If you don’t, I said, “we will see that their words are nothing more than words.” Unfortunately, most of the Hindu leaders wanted to place their trust in the new government rather than in themselves: a bad decision that has proven deadly.

• During the Awami League’s first year in office, major anti-Hindu incidents occurred at the rate of almost one per week.
• The number and intensity of anti-Hindu atrocities did not drop the next year and included one period with anti-Hindu actions every three days.
• The Hindu American Foundation, Bangladesh Minority Watch, and others document a similar level of atrocities in the third year, 2011.
• As 2012 began, there were at least 1.25 similar incidents a week in the first quarter; as it ended, one a week during the fourth. In between, there was a nine day period in May that saw an abduction, a murder in broad daylight, and two gang rapes, one of a child on her way to a Hindu festival: four horrific crimes in nine days and no action against known perpetrators.

Human rights activist Rabindra Ghosh, my own associates, and I investigated and confirmed these incidents. They were reported in local media, yet major media ignored them. Each incident met all of the following criteria:

• They occurred under Awami League rule.
• They were confirmed by at least two independent sources.
• They were anti-Hindu and not just random.
• The government did not prosecute the crimes or help retrieve victims.
• They were major crimes: murder, rape, child abduction, forced conversion, physical attacks, land grabs, religious desecration, and so forth.

In 2009, a three-day attack on a poor Hindu community occurred right behind a Dhaka police station. In 2012, angry Muslims stormed a tiny Hindu village in a remote part of Dinajpur in northern Bangladesh, destroying homes and farms, looting possessions, and abusing women. The government did not punish criminals in either, yet participated in cover-ups and threatened human rights activists investigating the incidents. I went to both places to see for myself, met with victims, and confirmed both the attacks and government complicity.

Anti-Hinduism enshrined in Bangladeshi Law
On April 30, 2009, Sheikh Hasina told a visiting French military commander that her government would repeal Bangladesh’s “anti-minority laws,” making her perhaps the first sitting Prime Minister in history to admit that her country has anti-minority laws. She has not kept her promise and even passed on easy opportunities to be the sort of Prime Minister we were told she would be.

Toward the end of the military’s rule, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court directed the government to explain why the Vested Property Act—that law which empowers the Bangladeshi government to seize minority land and distribute it to its cronies—should not be declared null and void. One of the ruling generals told me that responding would exceed its mandate; and, besides, there would be a new, elected government soon that could respond. It left that new government with the ability to neutralize that terribly racist law with the Court taking the political fall; but the Awami League refused to take advantage of it. In 2011, the Supreme Court declared several constitutional amendments problematic and directed the Awami League controlled Parliament to propose new ones. It did—for every amendment but one: the Eighth, which made Islam Bangladesh’s official religion, provided advantages and funding for Islamic institutions, disabilities and duress for other faiths.

Things are not improving, and they will not improve without outside intervention. In May 2012, I met with Bangladesh’s US ambassador in Washington for an honest dialogue about moving forward. He categorically denied that Hindus face any difficulties in Bangladesh no matter what facts I produced, and insisted that his government did not have to take any action. When I reminded him that demographers have said that the decline of his country’s Hindu population is so severe that it cannot be attributed to birth and death rates plus voluntary emigration, he attributed the decline to the fact that “they [Bangladeshi Hindus] “cannot find suitable matches for their children, so they go to India where there are more Hindus."
With no repercussions for their ethnic cleansing of Hindus, Bangladeshis do not even find it necessary to be credible in their denials.

In February 2013, I had the same sort of confrontation with Bangladesh’s Home Minister in Dhaka. He avoided the ambassador’s ridiculous explanation, instead denying his country’s guilt and equating the murder of Hindus with declining union membership in the United States. As I continued to press the matter, he said that if anything was happening, he would personally address it. He just needed me to send him the evidence, to which I responded: “It is rather odd that you, Bangladesh’s Home Minister sitting in Dhaka, would be dependent on some man from Chicago for evidence of human rights abuses in your own country. If that is the case, it suggests even more serious problems.”

That night, I met the family of a 23-year old Hindu woman who was abducted after they refused demands by thugs and local officials to abandon their land to them. I sent the extensive documentation and testimony to the Home Minister. To date, he has not even responded, and the young woman remains missing.

Dr. Richard L. Benkin is an American human rights activist fighting to defend Hindus in Bangladesh.  His book, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing:  the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus, is about to enter its second printing.

Library in Eastern UP with literature on Israel

(Originally published APRIL 8, 2013 in Beyond News Blog)

AMITABH TRIPATHI

India and Israel have special relationship between them and especially since both the nations came in diplomatic relationship after a long gap. India and Israel are being seen as natural allies mostly because of their common problems of hostile neighbor and terrorism but I strongly believe that both the nations have more in common rather than commonality of problems.

India is country of more than billion people with its continuity of old heritage and culture identity and Israel is also have the same historical background with it. Both the nations have sacrificed for their survival as both of them have the harsh memories of persecution for being what they were.

India is the only place where neither Jews have been persecuted nor they have been discriminated.

Both the nations got their independence from British colonial powers in almost in the gap of one year.

When the Zionist movement started around 1880’s it was the same time when Indian National Congress was formed in India which later become the pivotal to freedom struggle. On the one hand Jews around the world were galvanizing to fulfill their cherished dream of their promised homeland on the other India was readying itself to come out from the hundreds of years of cultural and political slavery. Both the nations were drawing the outline of the rebuilding of their nation standing on the solid rock of their tradition and continuity with a vision to embrace the modernity.

The new century will be reshaped with alliance of India and Israel as both are complementary to each other. India has the numbers and Israel has the technology and might and for this purpose both of them need each other.

This dream can be fulfilled only if people to people contact grows between two countries and people in India learn more about the tradition, history and achievements of Israel. I have started an initiative with help of my wife and generous friends  to build the chain of library in remote parts of country which will also contain the literature of Israel with other materials to educate people particularly youth more and more about Israel. It will explore the new horizons and opportunities to make India developed and more prosperous at the same time  numbers and stature of India will ensure the safety and security of Israel from various threats.

 The first library in Baharaich district the eastern part of the most populated state of Country Uttar Pradesh has been started . We hope with help of generous people we will be able to expand it to several other places to not only educate children and youth but will also give them exposure to international issues which never been in their reach.    

Address to Bharatiya Vichar Manch

Dr. Richard L. Benkin

Address to Bharatiya Vichar Manch

(Indo-American Intellectual Forum) Cerritos,

CA Sunday, July 14, 2013

Namaste.

I would like everyone here to engage in a little exercise and do so very personally. Do it thinking about yourself and your own personal sense of morality.

If you suddenly found yourself in Germany in the early 1930s, knew what was going to happen in a few short years, and had a chance to prevent it, would you? Even if doing so was inconvenient or involved personal sacrifice? Would you? Maybe you did not know for certain that you could stop it, but you knew for certain what was going to happen if you did not. Would you still try, or would you go back to your pleasant life and pretend you did not know what you did?

Let’s bring it a little closer to home. If you awoke tomorrow morning and instead of it being July 15, 2013, it was September 10, 2001 or November 25, 2008; you knew what was about to happen and had a chance to prevent it; would you?

In all three instances, would you not do everything in your power to avert these terrible losses of life?

If you answered yes, then history is giving you a second chance. For in many ways, today is September 10, 2001. Time is running out for the Hindus of Bangladesh, and so far, most people seem content to let it run.

The Holocaust, 9/11, and 26/11 have become shorthand for evil, for tragedy, for massive loss of life; and they deserve to be. Consider, though: 160 people were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks; just under 3,000 on 9/11; and an estimated 10-11 million in the Holocaust. According to Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York, over 49 million Hindus are missing in Bangladesh. Are their lives or those of the 12-15 million Hindus still living there worth any less than those that were lost in these other tragedies? No? Well, we seem to act as if they are. And that makes my blood boil. More importantly, it should boil the blood of everyone in this room and move you to act.

The Inescapable Facts

The number of Hindus remaining in Bangladesh is about double the population of my home state, Illinois; about the same as all six New England states combined. Are we, as human beings, that much more valuable than the Hindus I met in Bangladesh? The number of Bangladeshi Hindus is twice that of all Israelis and Palestinians put together. Compare the number of LA Times articles and editorials about them with the number that concern Bangladeshi Hindus—which I am pretty sure is zero.

Let us review the facts and go where they take us.

Fact #1: Bangladesh’s Hindu population is dying. After the population transfers that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, they made up a little less than a third of East Pakistan’s population. When East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, Hindus were less than a fifth; thirty years later, less than one in ten; and several estimates put the Hindu population at less than eight percent today. If you still are having trouble wondering where this is going, take a look at Pakistan where Hindus are down to one percent or Kashmir where they are almost gone. Take a look at the future of Bangladesh’s Hindus if we do not act.

Fact #2: Throughout that period, we have received litany after litany of verified anti-Hindu atrocities that successive Bangladeshi governments have not prosecuted. The few high profile cases that they were forced to prosecute involved an initial flurry of activity followed by the criminals being let out the back door of their “justice” system.

Fact #3: Those who claimed that the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina would bring change and end Bangladesh’s anti-minority and specifically antiHindu actions and policies were wrong. Not only are the ongoing atrocities evidence of that, compounding matters, the Awami League has passed on easy opportunities to repeal anti-Hindu laws; is getting ready to pass a new one; and its officials have made it clear that their government has no intention of admitting it has a problem or of fixing it.

Fact #4: Major media, world governments, and major organizations claiming to be the champions of human rights, should be outraged, should be defending these victims of ethnic cleansing, but have been silent. Which leads us to…

Fact #5: If we have even an ounce of decency, WE must act to end these atrocities—and continue acting until they stop. Remember what the Dalai Lama once said: “It is not enough to be compassionate; you must ACT.”

First, let’s get something out of the way. You cannot divorce what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh from radical Islam; and you cannot blame all that is happening on “a few radicals,” which is what Bangladeshi and other apologists try to do. “A few radicals” by themselves could not be responsible for all of this and more, and the apologists know that.

That being said, it would be equally wrong to condemn the majority of Muslims or Islam per se. Muslims have been with me in the West Bengal villages and refugee colonies where many Hindu refugees have settled. I have met young Muslims in Dhaka who have been beaten by the Bangladeshi police and Islamists for trying to stop the ethnic cleansing of Hindus. In one tiny Hindu village in Bangladesh’s far north, that an angry Muslim mob recently savaged, the only thing that was preventing further attacks was the effort of four Muslim policemen who guarded the village of their own volition. And the first human rights victim for whom I put myself in danger was an anti-radical Muslim, thrown in prison and tortured for his stance.

I just do not have time—strike that—the Bangladeshi Hindus do not have time for me to say all this every time I point out that Muslims commit these atrocities, Muslim officials abet and enable them, and that it is related to a larger movement within Islam that Muslims are not stopping.

Let’s be less concerned with who might be offended than we are about the lives of millions of innocent people.

Legal Discrimination 

On April 30, 2009, Sheikh Hasina told a visiting French military commander that her government would repeal Bangladesh’s “anti-minority laws.” There are two significant things about that. First, she was probably the first sitting Prime Minister in history to admit that her country has anti-minority laws. Second, she did not keep her promise.

Worse still, the Awami League had two opportunities to repeal anti-Hindu laws with no repercussions, and it passed on both of them. Toward the end of the military’s rule, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court issued a Rule Nisi, directing the government to explain why the Vested Property Act—that law which empowers the Bangladeshi government to seize minority land and distribute it to its cronies—should not be declared null and void. One of the ruling generals told me that it was not going to respond because it exceeded its mandate; and that there would be a new, elected government soon that could respond. It left that new government with the ability to neutralize that terribly racist law with the Court taking the political fall; but it refused to take advantage of it. In 2011, the Supreme Court declared several constitutional amendments problematic and directed the Bangladeshi Parliament—which was overwhelmingly controlled by the Awami League—to propose new ones. And it did—for every one except the Eighth Amendment that made Islam Bangladesh’s official religion and provided benefits and funding for Islamic institutions, not those of other faiths.

The Evidence

All of that is the law; bad enough; but what about the people. Let’s look at the evidence.

In January 2009, shortly after the Awami League came to power in Bangladesh, I was asked to advise a consortium of Hindu groups there on what to do next. “Well,” I said, “the last thing you should do is to go back to sleep.” I urged them to act precipitously and push the Awami League to live up to its posturing as a “pro-minority” party, which is what won it the vast majority of Hindu votes. If you don’t, I said, “we will see that their words are nothing more than words.” Unfortunately, most of the Hindu leaders wanted to place their trust in the new government rather than in themselves. Bad decision. Worse, their wait and see attitude proved deadly.

• As documented in my book, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus, during the Awami League’s first year in office, major antiHindu incidents occurred at the rate of almost one per week. They included murder, rape, child abduction, forced conversion, physical attacks, land grabs, religious desecration; and at least one three-day pogrom that occurred right behind a Dhaka police station.

• Things were no better the second year. The number and intensity of antiHindu atrocities did not drop, and in my book, I document one 26 day period in 2010, when there were seven major anti-Hindu actions or almost one every three days. The Hindu American Foundation, Bangladesh Minority Watch, and others document a similar level of atrocities in the third year, 2011.

• As we moved into 2012, I confirmed at least 15 similar incidents in the first quarter alone—almost 1.25 every single week—and as we were moving out, almost one major incident a week during the fourth quarter. In at least two cases, Bangladeshi officials warned human rights activists to stop investigating the matter or face serious consequences.

• In between, there was a nine day period in May that saw an abduction, a murder in broad daylight, and two gang rapes, one of a child on her way to a Hindu festival: four horrific incidents within a nine day period and no police actions against the known perpetrators.

• Do any of these names sound familiar: Samrity Rani, Sanju Rani Dev, or Julie Sinha? Probably not; certainly not if you were looking in major media. Samrity Rani was a young wife and mother from Vingravo village in Dhaka state, murdered in broad daylight. Twenty-eight year old Sanju Rani Dev was gang raped. And Julie Sinha, 23, was abducted on her way to class at Sha Jalal University in Sylhet.

All of these incidents were reported in local media, investigated and confirmed by human rights activist Rabindra Ghosh, and by my own associates as well. With my limited resources, I verified some of them first-hand and others with at least two independent witnesses. But they were not reported in The LA Times, New York Times, Times of London, Times of India or any other major paper. You did not hear about them on BBC, CNN, any network news, the left wing media, the right wing media, or any other major media. We have to wonder how much these media giants could have done—if they cared enough to do so.

Not getting better

Unfortunately, despite the empty utterances of the Bangladeshis themselves and international elites, including our own State Department and the current Indian government; things are not improving for Hindus under the Awami League. In May 2012, I met Bangladesh’s US ambassador in Washington with the intention of having an honest dialogue about how we can move forward. He categorically denied that Hindus face any difficulties in Bangladesh. No matter what facts I produced, he continued to insist that Hindus in Bangladesh were just fine, thank you very much, and that his government dd not have to do anything further. I reminded him that demographers have said that the decline of his country’s Hindu population is so severe that it cannot be attributed to birth and death rates plus voluntary emigration. “Oh yes it can,” he said. The reason for the decline— make sure you are sitting down for this—is that Bangladeshi Hindus “cannot find suitable matches for their children, so they go to India where there are more Hindus."

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked. But he insisted he was not. And this was around the time of that horrific nine-day period noted above.

With no repercussions for their ethnic cleansing of Hindus, Bangladeshis do not even find it necessary to be credible in their denials.

This past February, I had the same sort of confrontation with Bangladesh’s Home Minister in Dhaka. After his categorical denials, he chastised the United States for “the enclaves of the Red Indians” and the Sandy Hook murders in Connecticut. As I pointed out to him, their relation to his government’s refusal to prosecute those who commit atrocities against Hindus is strained at best and ridiculous on their face; that his great revelation seemed to be that people die in the US, as well as Bangladesh. After we argued for a good while longer, he did say that if anything was happening, he would personally address it. He just needed me to send him the evidence, which I did but first said that “it is rather odd that you, Bangladesh’s Home Minister sitting in Dhaka would be dependent on some man from Chicago for evidence of human rights abuses in your own country. If that is the case, it suggests even more serious problems.”

Before moving on, I want to tell you about Eti Biswas, a 23 year old Hindu woman from Bangladesh’s Bagerhat district. The same day that the Minister denied any problems for Hindus in Bangladesh, her family met me in Dhaka and said that local officials and other local thugs abducted her on December 21, 2012, after the family refused the attempted seizure of their land. Police and other officials refuse to even question, let alone arrest known perpetrators; and the family’s pleas for the police to help them at least recover the young woman have fallen on deaf ears. They asked me to help, and I brought the matter to the Home Minister with the evidence he demanded. He never even responded, and Eti Biswas remains missing to this day.

What we can and should do about it:

First Action Our biggest problem is that so few people know about the ethnic cleansing of Bangladesh’s Hindus. I am convinced that most people, if they knew, would be outraged and would want to do what they could to help. Shedding more light on this issue is one of our primary tasks.

There are two immediate actions you can take that will advance this cause. Here is the first one. Last week, I met with the Mayor of my town, Mount Prospect, Illinois, in suburban Chicago, and asked the town to issue a proclamation about the Bangladeshi Hindus. Mount Prospect, working with me, had issued successive proclamations honoring Holocaust victims during the “Days of Remembrance,” which is the time of year when we officially do that. It seemed to me that the Bangladeshi Hindus deserve no less. So, I approached Mayor Arlene Juracek with a sample proclamation I wrote that recognized them during the several days of Durga Puja, October 9-13 this year. You see, there should be some rationale for when you are doing this, and this also gave her enough time to consider the matter.

I believe we will have the proclamation, and I have no doubt that the final form will be different form my initial mock up. Now, it is time for you to do the same. Cerritos, California, is known for its large Hindu population, which means that you should have the ability to approach your locality and get something done. Ask for about a half hour of the Mayor’s time (or in Cerritos, it might be a City Council member; you should know the person to contact), and tell the person about what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh. Emphasize the important Hindu celebration of Durga Puja and the fact that many Bangladeshi Hindus will not celebrate it out of fear. Present the sample proclamation and make sure to say that you are happy to work with the official in wording and such so that it is acceptable as a proclamation. Then, follow up. Make sure your town knows how important this is to you and other citizens of Cerritos.

Those of you who live in other towns can do the same. Who will coordinate this effort for Cerritos? Vinot Amb……..; good. Here is the sample. Please work with me. If we get one or two towns then a few more, we can expect this to turn into something that more and more towns will adopt perhaps every year around Durga Puja. Once those first few do it, other towns will have the ability to do the same, and we will help educate people about this issue.

What we can and should do about it:

Second Action Let’s talk about something else you can do. I have been working with a group of people in Bangladesh—mostly Hindu, but Muslim, too—who have now held three public demonstrations about this.

• They get little press coverage—but a little more each time.

• They know that each demonstration is not going to change the world, but having them again and again and again might.

• They keep doing it regardless of each action’s success.

• They did not wait for massive numbers of people before acting.

We live in a free country where constituent groups are encouraged to make their voices heard, unlike Bangladesh where my colleagues are beaten and arrested. If they can act, we can. In fact, we should be ashamed if we do not.

The Bangladeshis are not getting away with their attack on Hindus because they are so powerful or so smart; but we act as if they are. We accept words and empty promises, though we should know better. We pretend that bad regimes will somehow do good if we pretend they will; they do not. Weak and self-serving governments get away with human rights abuses because we allow it. Remember the phrase attributed to Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

The Bangladeshis will never stop atrocities against Hindus because it is the right thing to do. We must force a change. Hit them where it hurts. Personal outrage does not hurt; threats do not hurt; action does.

The Bangladeshi economy is inordinately dependent on two things, the export of readymade garments and the provision of UN peacekeeping troops. Hit either sphere hard, and Bangladesh’s resistance to moral behavior will collapse.

The garment industry employs millions of people, and the BGMEA—Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association—is Bangladesh’s only effective lobbying group. Do you remember that Home Minister? He was haughty and defiant until I suggested that continuing his course of action might make it difficult for Bangladesh to sell its products on the international market—at which point he did what the Bangladeshis love to do when forced to own up to their sins. He played the “poor me” card, whimpering that what I suggest would be costly to his poor country. We are the second largest importer of Bangladeshi goods, and each time we buy their products, we support their ongoing human rights atrocities against Hindus. We need to use that leverage and stop funding ethnic cleansing.

Who funds UN peacekeeping missions? American taxpayers provide 27.14 percent of the peacekeeping budget plus uncounted additional support—multiple times greater than any other country. Would we continue to do so if we knew it supported gang rapes, pogroms, and ethnic cleansing? Bangladesh and Pakistan swap places as the countries providing the most and second most peacekeeping troops every month: odd when you consider that neither can keep the peace within their own borders. Without those receipts, both countries are in trouble.

Many of you might recall Bangladesh’s 2007 coup. I was there when it happened. There was violence in the streets as the major parties were locked in conflict over charges of election fraud. Western democracies were urging Bangladesh not to hold the elections until they can guarantee that they would be fair ones. The military gave the government an ultimatum to fix it in 24 hours or it would. Shortly thereafter, the government resigned, the military took over, and the elections were cancelled. Why did it act? Sources within the military told me at the time that they acted because they thought the UN would join the Western democracies and then pull their peacekeeping troops. Besides losing the money, they had to face the prospect of having thousands of angry, unemployed, and armed young men flooding their already volatile country. Can you blame them?

With this information, we need to think and act strategically.

Working with our elected officials I learned that they will do the right thing, but they need the voters to tell them about it. Legislators have such a wide range of issues to consider that they need our help to identify those things that are most important. I think we all would agree that saving 12-15 million lives should be a priority.

There are more Hindus in California than in any other state, an estimated 600,000 according to the Santa Barbara based Institute of American Religion; and a lot of them live here in the 39th Congressional District. Your Senators and House Members will listen to you but only if you yell loud enough for them to hear.

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are known for their strong stance opposing violence against women. Both would be outraged about that Hindu girl raped on her way to a religious festival or the 14-year-old gang rape victim who talked to me shortly after she and her family escaped to India; but they cannot be outraged unless they know about it.

Here is another important piece of information. Senator Boxer is the number two Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and chairs its Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's Issues: Human Rights and Women’s Issues. Do you think she might be able to do something if we press our case and our political might?

Let’s take your Congressman, Ed Royce. He has an established history of supporting the Hindu community, and I have regular contact with his staff in Washington. Good start. Congressman Royce also chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. I have no doubt he will help us—I know his staff support us— but he has to know it is important to us.

To get this done, no one has to go to remote Bangladeshi villages with me or even be part of a delegation to Washington. Senator Boxer has an office in Los Angeles, and Congressman Royce has offices in Brea and Rowland Heights; all between 17 and 23 miles from here. Imagine the reaction if 50 people showed up there and— forcefully but respectfully—asked to speak with the Chief of Staff or whoever was in charge. Although you want to see the most senior person there, do not worry if this first foray gets you an audience with a lower level staffer. There will be others opportunities and you will have gotten your message across. Congressman Royce has demonstrated his ongoing support. Know, however, that he and every member of the US House of Representatives are up for election next year and every two years. If you live in another Congressional district, do not miss this chance to give your voice added weight with your Representative. One other thing you must always remember. Even though elections are important to all staff, you must never talk about elections, donations, or anything like that with Congressional or Senatorial staff. It is illegal.

The Action

We must implement a three-pronged action to inform them just how important this is and how important it is to each of us personally: successive visits to their offices; faxes; and phone calls.

First, who will be responsible for organizing it and making sure it happens? I have a space here on my paper to write that name Vinot, Good. Next, who here will participate? Vinot, can someone circulating a sign-up sheet? How many can get at least one friend, colleague, or family member to go with you to these offices? Good, we have taken the first step: committing ourselves to act.

When we act here is what we need to do:

• One, be strong and passionate, not deferential, but respectful.

• Two, grab their attention within the first minute or you will lose them. • Three, be clear and concise, taking no more than a few minutes to make your point. You can give more exposition after that.

• Four, be clear what you want the Senator or Representative to do. If not, no matter how compelling your case, they will be left wondering why you bothered to talk to them about it.

• Fifth, begin with the assumption that you are dealing individuals who want to do what is right. These are good people, and we should treat them as such.

Choose a first date for the visit, and then choose follow up dates based on what happens. The first visit might involve anywhere from a dozen to 50 people. The larger number is to emphasize the importance. Some might not meet with the staff, but their very presence will make an impact. Think about it from their perspective. If 50 people are willing to leave their homes, brave traffic on the 605, just to make a point; it probably means there are a lot more people back home who care about this. Before choosing a day and time, call the District office and find out when senior staff are there; what would be the best time to see them. If the person asks why, be general. Always remember, these people work for you!

On the appointed day, you all show up and present your case. I can help with the information, but only as suggestions. You have to make it yours and be prepared to respond intelligently to questions.

Here is a brief opening for Senator Boxer: “Hindus are being ethnically cleansed in Bangladesh and our families face regular atrocities. The Hindu population has dropped from about a fifth to under eight percent since Bangladesh won its independence. Its governments, including the present one, refuse to prosecute the crimes or punish the perpetrators. We need your help or women and girls will continue being raped, villages will continue to face pogroms, and the US will continue funding it. Without strong action, Bangladesh’s Hindus will be nothing more than a memory perhaps in our lifetime.” That is your attention getting start. 

As the discussion progresses, make sure you can make the following points:

• One, these atrocities have been verified by at least two independent sources and in many cases first-hand by my associates or me;

• Two, they occurred under the current government; •

Three, that government has not only failed to prosecute these crimes, but in many cases participated in them;

• Four, multiple government officials have made it clear that they intend to take no further action to protect their Hindu citizens;

• Five, Muslims, as well as Hindus, have tried to stop this only to be attacked by Islamists and the government for doing so;

• Six, Bangladesh actually has laws that are anti-Hindu in their design and implementation. One of them, the Vested Property Act, continues in full force despite government denials and provides the economic engine of ethnic cleansing.

What do you want Senator Boxer to do about it?

• Given her leadership role on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee and its Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's Issues; have Committee hearings on these government tolerated acts of violence against women and about anti-Hindu ethnic cleansing;

• Introduce a bill tying tariffs and trade with Bangladesh to their stopping these human rights atrocities;

• Send a formal letter of concern to the Bangladeshis about this. The ranking Republican on the Committee, Senator Bob Corker, should have information about this, too, making it a bi-partisan issue.

For Congressman Royce, you can use the same attention getting opening and other elements and note the following changes:

• Note his history of support for the Hindu community.

• Given his leadership role on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; have Committee hearings on these government tolerated acts of anti-Hindu ethnic cleansing;

• As a member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, he also can have them hold hearings and have me testify.

• Introduce a bill tying tariffs and trade with Bangladesh to their stopping these human rights atrocities;

• Send a formal letter of concern to the Bangladeshis about this. A number of committee members, including ranking Democrat Eliot Engel should support the issue, making it bi-partisan.

• You can also note that I have been working with his staff, Melissa Medina and Worku Gachou.

Feel free to mention my name, provide contact information, and give them a copy of my book. But in everything you do, be concise. Offer to work with staff and ask when the Senator or Representative is in town next so you can meet face to face.

Once you get a name, keep calling, and make further visits, each with a specific purpose in mind. Make weekly calls and send weekly faxes until we succeed. Emails mean little and snail mail takes forever to get to the right people. Telephone calls, faxes, and visits will get their attention. The calls should be concise, let them know how concerned you are about what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh, and be specific about what you want them to do. Faxes can be a little longer but also concise. I have telephone and fax numbers for the Washington and District offices for Senator Boxer and Congressman Royce; which I will email later.

Be prepared for inaction on our side and lies from the Bangladeshis. Our obligation is to overcome both until the atrocities stop. Give up only when you are okay with the atrocities. Call on me for whatever help I can give. Thank you. I will take questions.

Senator Barbara Boxer

DC Phone: 202-224-3553

DC Fax: 202-224-0454

LA Office: 312 North Spring Street, Suite 1748;

Los Angeles 90012-4701

Phone: 213-894-5000

FAX: 202-224-0357

Congressman Ed Royce

DC Phone: 202-225-4111

DC Fax: 202-226-0335

Brea Office: 210 West Birch Street, Suite 201;

Brea 92821

Phone: 909-420-0010

FAX: 909-225-0109

Rowland Heights Office: 1380 South Fullerton Road, #205;

Rowland Heights 91748

Phone: 626-964-5123

FAX: 626-810-3891

For all California Senatorial and Congressional offices: www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=ca

Thank you, Narendra Modi

The Real War In South Asia

Originally published in Folks Magazine, April 8, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

Trained as a social scientist, I learned that if a factor appears in event after event, ignoring it is intellectually dishonest and ineffective analysis.  As the recent terror blasts in the South Indian city of Hyderabad reminded us, Islam is terrorism’s repeating factor; and no one has yet to explain effectively why it would not be dishonest to summarily dismiss it as one.  Moreover, the refusal of Muslim leaders lay and clerical to act assiduously against those who commit terror in their name is troubling, to say the least.  It should be inconceivable that we live in a world where a group calling itself Indian Mujahadeen sets off terrorist bombs in a crowded Indian market, and stuffs them with nails to create the maximum amount of human suffering; and every single Muslim in South Asia is not hunting down the terrorists.  But we do.  And the rest of the world is not calling them on it, which is our part of the problem.

Yet, having just returned from Bangladesh where Islamists and their appeasers are eliminating its Hindu population, I can confidently say that on the ground this is not a war between Hindus and Muslims but one between decent people and people who have no decency regardless of religion.

In the country’s far northern district of Dinajpur, I recently visited a remote village of 85 Hindu families, cut off from the rest of Bangladesh in almost every way:  no electricity, bad roads, not even a signal for my cell phone.  Some time before our visit, more than 100 marauding Muslims attacked the village; moving from home to home, taking some possessions and destroying the rest; from farm to farm stealing livestock and destroying crops.  They torched the homes burning many to the ground; and they abused many of the women (an all-too-common feature of such attacks).  By the time human rights attorney Rabindra Ghosh and I arrived, the villagers had largely rebuilt, but charred remnants were there, too.  More chilling, the attackers are threatening to return and finish the job if the people do not leave Bangladesh.

Those attackers have no decency; and neither do the Bangladeshi officials, local and national, who refuse to help the victims or prosecute the attackers and are thereby complicit in the terror.

Right now, however, the only thing that stands in the way of renewed attacks is four local Muslim policemen.  They told us that prior to the attacks, no one ever came to the village but that since then, they get there as frequently as possible, often multiple times daily, to let the villagers’ tormenters know that they will have to get through them if they want to renew the attacks.  (Villagers confirmed this.)  They are doing this largely on their own since, as they admit, the government is taking no action.  They fear for the villagers, however, because they know they cannot be there all the time.

In a country where decisions by public servants are based on how much money they get for it, these Muslim policemen represent the apogee of decency.

On the other hand, two Hindu Members of Parliament (MPs) visited me, and I asked them why neither they nor their 15 colleagues (by their count) have done a thing to save their co-religionists or even raised their voice against it.  I indicated Bangladeshi human rights lawyer and tireless activist, Rabindra Ghosh, beside me and said he could provide them with a fresh atrocity that they can read into the record at every session of the Jatiya Sangsad.  They could protest the non-repeal of the Vested Property Act and introduce bills to rescind this economic engine of ethnic cleansing until it is.  I pointed out that 17 MPs is a large bloc, and that the only thing preventing them from acting was their personal greed and moral cowardice.

They are not decent people, but the many young Bangladeshis I met—both Hindu and Muslim—who are trying to fight for the safety of Hindus are.  For their sacrifice, their service to their country, the Bangladeshi police and government—who are not decent—rewarded them with beatings and arrests.

Then there is Bangladesh’s Home Minister, Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, particularly indecent because he is able to do something to stop the atrocities but refuses to do so.  On February 20, he and I had a rather acrimonious (and semi-private) argument when he insisted that the government was doing just fine, thank you, in preventing attacks on Hindus.  I wondered how the people I met in that Dinajpur village would have responded.  His most insistent reply was that he “saw the enclaves of the Red Indians” in the United States.  He also reminded me that “33 people were killed in Connecticut,” finished by reminding me that “union membership has declined in the United States.”  Whether he really thought they have any relation to their government-aided ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh, or he was being cynical; the man has no decency.  Finally, he did ask me to provide him with evidence of any atrocities and he would have them investigated; but I asked him if he did not find it odd that he, the nation’s Home Minister sitting in its capital, was dependent on “some guy from Chicago” for information about events in Bangladesh.

Perhaps, however, the most indecent parties of all are the internationally referenced and well-funded  groups that claim the mantle of human rights defenders but who have actively ignored what has become an open secret in South Asia.  In its 2012 “Human Rights Report” on Bangladesh, Amnesty International did not even mention oppression of Hindus.  It claimed to have visited Bangladesh three times that year but could not find a trace of what has become an open secret that has been well-documented by organizations like the Hindu American Foundation, Global Human Rights Defence, and Bangladesh Minority Watch for years.

Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; the UN with its misnomered human rights commission; the finger-wagging European Union, CNN, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, Times of India, Times of London, the left-wing media, the right-wing media, and pretty much every other major “media” you want to cite:  indecent for their willful ignorance of the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and of those Islamists and appeasers that are guilty of doing it.

So let’s add it up.  Muslim police, Muslim and Hindu youth activists; decent.  Hindu MPs, Muslim attackers, Muslim cleric and political leaders, big name human rights organizations and media, and the Bangladeshi Home Minister; not so much.  The ledger seems tilted against decency right now, and it seems the only hope Bangladesh’s Hindus have is for decent people to change that.

Richard Benkin addresses the Bangladesh Crime Prevention Society

Gutless Hindu MPs in Bangladesh. Plight of Bangladeshi Hindus as We are Guilty.

Originally published in The Struggle For Hindu Existence, March 28, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

Look at ourselves to find Culprits for the Ethnic Cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh.

Dr Richard L. Benkin speaking in a public forum.

If my recent trip to South Asia taught me anything, it is that the solution to stopping the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh lies within us.  And so do the obstacles.  This is a serious human rights travesty that has been flying under the world’s radar for at least 40 years as Hindus went from almost a fifth of the new nation of Bangladesh (1971) to less than eight percent today.  Throughout that period, there has been a torrent of confirmed and specifically anti-Hindu atrocities that have proceeded with the tacit approval of successive governments representing all political stripes in Bangladesh.  According to Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York, the number of Hindus murdered, forced to emigrate, and forced to convert to Islam, or never born as a direct result come to 50 million.  That is a third of Bangladesh’s current population, which shows how that country is as much Hindu as Muslim—or would be were it not for this creeping jihad.

Bangladesh still has the world’s third largest Hindu population with about 12 million Hindus living without protection from radicals and others who can attack and abuse them with impunity because the government they helped vote into office turns a blind eye toward their victimization.  And yet, what major media outlets report this ongoing ethnic cleansing?  What internationally hailed human rights organizations champion a fight against it—or even mention it in any significant way?  That the answer to both questions is “none” does not mean they all are anti-Hindu or funded by of petro dollars.

As Ceasar said in William Shakespeare’s play, “The fault dear Brutus is not in the stars but in ourselves.”

On February 18, I was in Bangladesh where I embraced Hindu victims and confronted their victimizers, stood with their defenders Hindu and Muslim, and confronted Bangladeshi officials participating in and allowing these atrocities.  I had also spent a great deal of time with Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, who puts his own well-being aside to fight to stop the atrocities.

That night, I arrived at my hotel to find two Hindu Members of Parliament (MPs), waiting to speak with me.  They came expecting well-wishes, photo-ops, and hand-wringing about how bad others are.  But they represent Dinajpur and Khulna, two areas in Bangladesh where anti-Hindus abuse is a way of life, where the Awami League government continues its predecessors’ practice of purposely turning a blind eye to this “quiet case of ethnic cleansing,” and where these government officials who say they represent the Bangladeshi Hindu community sit silently while their co-religionists are slaughtered.  Having freshly returned from one of them where I met victim after victim, I was in no mood for their sort of false solidarity.  So, after a brief introduction, I asked, “Okay, tell me what you—as Hindu MPs—are doing about the ethnic cleansing of your people here.”

             “We have done many things. “  Answered the man from Khulna where fresh atrocities are occurring even while I am writing this.

            “Many things?  You know that’s [a lie],” I replied sharply.  “Hindus in your district are being raped and killed, their land snatched, Mandirs destroyed; and no prosecutions.  So, don’t tell me that you’re doing ‘many things.’  How many Hindu Members of Parliament are there?”

             “Seventeen.”

         ..“Seventeen?  That’s a lot of people; and you mean to tell me that with that many in parliament, you still haven’t done anything?”

             “Well, the party—“

             “That’s your other mistake, and I tried to tell this to Hindus before the last election.  Minorities need to form their own political party.  Right now, the Awami League doesn’t have to do anything.  They know you’ll vote for them anyway.  And the BNP doesn’t have to do anything because they know you won’t vote for them.”

Dr. Benkin with victimized Hindus in a Protest Rally in Bangladesh.

And I went on for some time, peppering them, demanding, egging them on, etc.  I told them that they should be ashamed that I come half way around the world while they do nothing here for their own people.  Pointing to Rabindra Ghosh, I said that “he has extensive evidence that there are Members of Parliament involved big time in grabbing Hindu land, even rapes and other atrocities.  You know what your enemies think of you as you sit next to them smiling?  ‘We can steal their land, rape their daughters and sisters, and just give them a few Taka.”

Someone started to say something about there being problems.  “Problems?  Problems?  I don’t want to hear about problems,” I said.  “You think I don’t have problems?  Or that he [Rabindra Ghosh] has none? ‘Problems’ are just an excuse for not doing what’s right.”

They sat either with their face buried in their hands (people in the lobby were beginning to take notice) or looked up at the ceiling; but I would not let up.  For years, we have been struggling against a system and a government that wants to keep the issue buried while keeping the destruction of Bangladesh’s Hindus going strong.  People like these two men are in a position to do something about it but do not.

I reminded them that an American Christian, former US Congressman Bob Dold raised the issue of the Bangladeshi Hindus on the floor of the US House, while they remain silent.  Referring again to Rabindra Ghosh, I noted that “this man has extensive, direct, and verified evidence of enough atrocities so that each Hindu MP can begin each session of the Jatiya Sangsad (Bangladeshi parliament) by reading a new one in the record.  Perhaps they can be the agents who force the government to act or the world to take notice.”

Right now, however, they refuse to acknowledge their responsibility to act.  And while they sit silently and watch their people being brutalized, organizations like Struggle for Hindu Existence under the leadership of Upananda Brhmachari, is providing a public forum to do what they are not:  exposing the truth of what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh so that people will act to stop the atrocities.

It has been more than a month since our encounter, and none of Bangladesh’s 17 Hindu MPs have taken any action or uttered a word of protest even while the atrocities continue and their constituents suffer.  If these “leaders” are too cowardly to act, perhaps the voters in their districts should vote for people who are not.

Young Hindu Woman Fights off Rapists, Arrested for It

Originally published in Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, April 3, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

In February, Hindu Samhati’s Animitra Chakraborty and I visited several places under the Diamond Harbour police station in West Bengal.  Joining us was Jayesh Patel of the United Kingdom and Arati (not real name), an Indian resident.  Our intention was to visit friends, communities, and such; but what we found was something more.

We first stopped at the home of 18-year-old Soumya (not real name), who lives with her disabled brother and aged parents in one of her village’s last Hindu homes. Local Muslims have been buying up or seizing Hindu lands and intimidating those who will not cooperate into fleeing the area.  Soumya and her family refuse to leave their home.  About “six or seven months” before we arrived, area thugs tried to rape Soumya. It was not the first time this petite young woman with a childlike laugh (we had to confirm her age because we thought she was a minor) was assaulted.  So she and her disabled brother went to the police seeking justice; but they got none.  Local police refused to act or even take her complaint.  Frustrated, Soumya’s brother traveled all the way to the state capital of Kolkata and the residence of the Chief Minister Momata Banerjee.  Her personal assistant promised to help, and police did arrest the accused; but also released him quickly.  Once out, he and his cohorts renewed their threats against the family and Soumya in particular.

Not to give up, the family filed a civil suit and secured an injunction; but the miscreants were able to ignore it without consequence from the police who refused to enforce it.  Things grew even tenser, and the threats grew more violent.  Soumya’s abusers cut down fruit trees on the property and dried up the family pond where their major source of income, fish, had been raised. Still, the family would not drop the suit. At around 2am on November 7, 2012, a group of men invaded the small home in an attempt to steal the original court papers.  (Fortunately, the family made three originals and hid each in different places.) While there, they tried to rape young Soumya who escaped only after her aged mother started screaming and raising a noise that was starting to draw attention.  They left without the documents but threatened more violence if the family did not drop the case. The next day, Soumya and her brother went to the local administration, but the latter refused to take any case except that of a simple burglary. So, they again traveled to Kolkata where the police accepted a wider case but have taken no action on it.

Then, in December, her tormentors struck again. They invaded the home and attempted to abduct the young woman. Fortunately, she struggled and fought until others came and the invaders ran off. So, again she went to the police and again filed a charge. Although she had eyewitnesses, the police did not want any evidence. She soon heard back from them. When the police presented this to the accused they denied the allegations. The police then arrested Soumya for filing a false accusation who was out on bail when we met her. Aarti from Mumbai, who helps Indian women start micro-businesses, spent some time with Soumya and told us that regardless of the smiles and brave front, the young woman is hurting and might even be traumatized. When we asked Soumya if she was concerned that talking to us would make for more trouble, she replied, “What more can they do besides kill me?”

Throughout the Diamond Harbour area, we encountered Hindus who complained of attacks, intimidation, and demands by local Muslims that they get out and do so quickly. They told us consistently that Hindu women and girls are afraid to move about because of insulting catcalls, random molestations and grabbing, threats, and the knowledge of what happened to other women.  They fear being raped, abducted, or both with no protection from the West Bengal police.

And that is the significant point.

Numerous residents of the area (who requested anonymity) told us that they fear an armed takeover by Muslims—some of them local, some recently arrived from Bangladesh. Muslims parade openly with their extensive arms cache, threatening Hindu residents, and police do nothing about it. Many asked us for “arms” so they could protect themselves “because the police will not.” While none of us are involved with any sort of arms and immediately made that clear whenever we were confronted by it, the fact remains that Diamond Harbour Hindus believe that the police will not protect them.

One group of Diamond Harbour Hindus are in the process of constructing a large Mandir in defiance of threats not to do so and of regular religious desecration of Hindu holy sites that goes unpunished by the police. They told us that they have to post their own guards around the clock to prevent their temple’s desecration.

Read more at: http://www.interfaithstrength.com/Young2.htm

Wharton’s Action a Wakeup Call

Dr. Richard Benkin, Address to Americans for Free Speech, Rally at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia March 23, 2013

Namaste.

My name is Dr. Richard Benkin, a Penn alumnus and a former Wharton School student.  I am also a human rights activist trying to stop the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh.  My apologies that illness has prevented me from being with you today, but I appreciate the opportunity to address you remotely.

I could sit here and rant about my alma mater’s actions; shake my fists and tell you how cowardly they were; how much they deprived students of needed information and are thus contrary to what Wharton advertises itself as.  I could tell you how the continued slander of the great man from Ahmedabad is a slap in the face of the Indian legal system that has exonerated him time and again, the Indian political system that has given him an unprecedented four consecutive terms as Gujarat’s Chief Minister, and the millions of Gujaratis from all faiths who gave him their votes.  And I could tell you how Narendra Modi is the only national Indian leader who has supported my human rights struggle—and that his support is not only principled but heartfelt as well.  But with the exception of the last point, I would no doubt be repeating what others have said already.

If there is anyone on this planet who knows what it takes to develop the Indian economy and has the chops to do it and therefore is germane to the Wharton Indian Economic Forum that was deprived of his presence, that person is Narendra Modi.  His economic miracle in Gujarat has captured the imagination of Indians of all political and religious stripes and stands as a potential model for development throughout the subcontinent.  It is a proven solution to the economic challenges facing India in the 21st century, and India’s future depends upon the open discussion of these various strategies.

But Wharton’s action had nothing to do with any of that or with academic freedom, human rights, or economics; it had everything to do with political strategy and the pivotal Indian elections a year away.  It should be a wake-up call for all of us.

The feeling right now in India is almost electric.  Cries for the BJP to name Narendra Modi its candidate for Prime Minister grow louder each day.  For the first time in years, it appears that the BJP, with Modi as its standard bearer, has a strong chance of unseating the almost dynastic left-center Congress Party.  And the anti-Indian and hyper-leftist nexus is scared to death.

They realize that in 2009 when they handed the BJP a crushing defeat in the last national elections, India had not yet experienced the economic dislocation of the worldwide recession that most other countries were feeling.  Since conditions seemed “okay,” they were not of a mind to vote for change.  But today things are different.  While many of those other economies have begun to recover, the Indian economy has stagnated.  My US dollars fetched fewer and fewer rupees with every successive trip I made to India—until this year when they got more than they did before 2009.  Inflation was at a double digit rate throughout most of 2010 and 2011; and it crept back up again in February as Indians saw prices on consumer items with the greatest impact on their lives rise dramatically.  And the Congress Party’s new budget promises even more price hikes on items like railway tickets, hitting both the rising middle class and the mass of people hard.

My own unscientific survey of taxi and rickshaw drivers, hotel clerks, street vendors, fellow train passengers, and others found a unanimous sentiment that things had to change, that current policies were not going to get it done, and that in the words that I heard again and again, “NarendraModi needs to do for the rest of India what he did for Gujarat.”  Making the Congress Party’s political strategists’ job even tougher is the fact that Modi’s personal life is beyond reproach, and he has never been credibly associated with any sort of corruption.  So, what are they left with?

Wharton provides a clue.  The one drumbeat that Modi ji’s opponents can always be counted on to sound is the decade-old charge, still unproven, that he had something to do with the 2002 communal riots there.  The problem for Congress is that the cry has been sounded so often, few Indian voters are likely unfamiliar with it.  Those who would not vote for Modi because of it long ago made up their minds; another round of screeds is not likely to have an impact on the election.  But what if Congress can convince voters that the charge itself—true or not, dismissed by the Supreme Court or not—has cemented Modi in the minds of too many foreigners as a human rights violator and therefore as someone unfit to lead the country?  Expect a non-stop effort by Congress and its coteries of allies on the left to try and make that point, truth be damned.

The good news is that this first foray seems to have caused more support for Modi than the negative press the strategists intended.  Sponsors pulled out of the conference in protest and as today’s gathering shows, the anger was directed against the foreigners who manipulated the situation and slapped the Indian legal system and people in the face.  It is the same strategy the left used to try and stop Ariel Sharon from becoming Israel’s Prime Minister with old and false charges.  It did not work then, and it will not work now.  The UK and the European Union among others have already had discussions with Modi ji, and US Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois noted from the floor of the United States House that Modi is “running on a platform of economic prosperity for all.”

So far, Modi ji and the party have done a good job of emphasizing his economic and administrative genius while avoiding any potentially divisive issues, and they cannot let annoyances like Wharton take them off topic.  Like Republicans here in 2012, the BJP is making the point that the incumbents have badly mishandled the people’s money and lives.  As the very long campaign season dragged on in the US, however, the point had been made so many times as the compelling reason to vote for a change, that even a slight upturn in the economy in the Fall was enough to convince enough Americans not to vote for one.  But while the Republicans failed to give the people a positive alternative, the BJP and Narendra Modi are providing a strong one.  And that is what scares the pants of those who manipulated Wharton into its shameful act!

It is now in our hands.  We will NOT let them hijack the elections and more importantly the Indian peoples’ future.  We will NOT let them go unchallenged with their lies.  And we will NEVER let them propagate their racist theories that would have us believe that only their legal system has validity!

Dhanyavaad.

Government vs. People:  Who can keep us safe?

Originally published in Canada Free Press, March 17, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

Sometimes, we Americans laugh at announcements to watch for suspicious behavior and unattended bags at airports and in other public places; but in India, where serious terrorist attacks have been no stranger, we just saw very clearly how seriously we should take these calls.

On February 10, police recovered a time bomb hidden in a shoe box that was left on a Varanasi bound bus.  As the bus got ready to leave Chunar—only 23 kilometers from Varanasi—a passenger noticed the abandoned box on a rear seat and alerted the conductor.  When he tried to check it, something fell from it and chaos ensued.  The passengers stampeded from the bus, and local police immediately called a nearby bomb disposal squad, which identified the object as a steel pipe with a timer affixed to it—a common device used in terror bombings here.  Sources also said that the bomb was timed to explode shortly after the bus entered Varanasi, which is also about the time that my plane landed there.  More importantly, not only is Varanasi Hinduism’s holiest city, but on top of that its population has swelled to several times its normal size because of the Mahakumbh in nearby Allahabad, which is drawing tens of millions of pilgrims.  The discovery of the bomb also comes at a time of high tension in India after the hanging of an Islamist terrorist for his role in the 2001 Islamist terror attack on the Indian parliament.

Although police and other authorities had stepped up security in Varanasi already, it took an alert citizen to avert a major terror attack that likely would inflame passions across this nation and cause massive casualties.

Contrast that to the successful Islamist bombings of a crowded market and theater in the South Indian city of Hyderabad.  The bombs were timed to explode consecutively beginning at 7pm local time at two crowded sites in the city of 7 million people.  There were 116 killed and wounded.  As the evening wore on and more evidence emerged the next day, it became clear that the bombings were the work of the Pakistan-funded Indian Mujahadeen (IM), a group responsible for terror attacks that have killed over 300 Indians and injured many times more.  As hours turned into days, widespread reports also confirmed that there were unequivocal warnings from intelligence about this, but the government chose to ignore them.  Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde visited the blast site and has become the left-center Congress government’s voice.  He has been scored in the media, and the tumult in the Lok Sabha (roughly like the US House) forced the legislature to shut down.

After a couple days of blaring headlines, however, both the media and politicians moved on to other matters.  While those matters are indeed serious, public debate has faded over the current Indian government’s failure to do what the lone citizen on a Varinasi-bound bus did:  recognize that protecting the people from a proven threat trumps political and personal considerations.  In one case, intelligence forces and police were allowed to do their jobs, and a disaster was averted thanks to that alert individual.  In the other, the government got involved and let their priorities determine what to do.  They prevented those same professionals from doing that job, which they do very well, and 116 families had their lives turned upside down forever.

Dr.Richard Benkin, 500 tribal women visit Narendra Modi

February 25, 2013

American Jewish journalist-author and an active figure in the field of human rights Dr.Richard Benkin paid courtesy visit to the Chief Minister Narendra Modi today. Dr.Richard Benkin has actively worked for human rights in Bangladesh and also raising voice against fanaticism in America.

About 500 rural women of Panchmahal District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union called on Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Assembly premises.

The rural women, led by Shahera MLA Jethabhai Bharwad, viewed the assembly proceedings under the Women Educational Training Programme, and received guidance from the Chief Minister.

“Is it okay if Hindus and Hinduism die in East Bengal?”

Address by Dr. Richard L. Benkin,

USA Fifth Foundation Day Celebration

Hindu Samhati Kolkata, India

14 February 2013

First allow me a moment to pay homage to Tapas Choudhury, the brave law enforcement official murdered the other day. When we approached the family’s home last night, they were too grief-stricken to meet us, but if we did meet I would tell them that along with all of India, I honor the memory of Tapas Choudhury and wish his family the blessing of peace.

I also want to thank Hindu Samhati and my friend, Tapan Ghosh; and my friend Animitra Chakraborty who will translate into Bangla. As a student of history, I am 100 percent certain that there is really only one Bengal and its division into East and West did not change that. There is but one Bengal, one Bengali people; and I have focused for the past several years on those living in East Bengal, also known as Bangladesh.

While Hindus in West Bengal remain a majority—albeit a shrinking one— Hinduism in East Bengal is dying. This is not the ravings of an ideologue. It is not “political,” and it is not “communal.” People can call it anything they want, but it is simply a sad fact; and here is the evidence. At the time of India’s partition, Hindus made up a little less than a third of East Pakistan’s population. When East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, Hindus were less than a fifth; thirty years later, less than one in ten; and reliable estimates put the Hindu population at between seven and eight percent today. Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York estimates about five crore Hindus are missing from the Bangladeshi census. Still having trouble wondering where this is going? Take a look at Pakistan where Hindus are down to one percent or Kashmir where they are almost gone. Take a look at the future of Bangladesh’s Hindus if we do not act.1

Other minorities in Bangladesh are under duress, too: Ahmadiyya who are threatened with being defined out of Islam, Rohingya Muslims forced to flee from neighboring Myanmar, and 15 lakh Chakmas and other indigenous peoples who suffer many of the same atrocities as Hindus. Why has my heart gone out to Bangladesh’s Hindus?

I could give you many reasons, but the fact is that everyone else has people to speak for them; but very few voices are heard for the 12 million Bangladeshi Hindus. Neither Hindu groups nor international bodies are effectively addressing this human rights travesty. The Amnesty International (AI)’s 2012 “Human Rights Report,” in its section on Bangladesh, does not even mention the oppression of Hindus. The only acknowledgement that there even are Hindus is so AI can praise the current Awami League government’s sham Vested Property Return Act and its Population statistics taken from the census of Pakistan (1951), and Bangladesh (1974 and 2001). Also see Dastidar, Sachi G.; Empire’s Last Casualty: Indian Subcontinent’s Vanishing Hindu and other Minorities. (Kolkata: Firma KLM Private Limited, 2008. prosecution of 1971 war crimes. Yet, AI claims to have visited Bangladesh three times that year. And it saw no evidence of the ethnic cleansing of Hindus?2

The goal of Bangladesh’s sustained attack is horrifying and nothing less than the complete elimination of Hindus from Bangladesh. From one third to one fifth to less than a tenth and now under eight percent; almost five crore people missing; and no one’s ever tried to explain numbers as powerful as that? No one’s ever made a stink about them? Not Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; the UN; my own United States including its State Department, CIA, and Presidents whether Democrat or Republican, Obama or Bush; India; CNN, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, Times of India, Times of London, the left-wing media, the right-wing media, and pretty much every other major “media” you want to cite? They do not even bother to deny that there is a problem; all we get from them is silence.3

Are we expected to believe that they are unaware of what is happening, that my ability to uncover the truth is that much greater than their combined power?

And let us lay aside forever the myth that the Awami League is any better in this respect than the Jamaat-loving BNP. It is not. Dhaka University’s own Professor Abul Barkat has shown that the Awami League has looted as much Hindu property as the BNP.4 And until today, Sheikh Hasina still has not kept her 2009 vow to visiting French commander, Gerard Valin, to repeal all anti-minority laws.5

At least when the military was in charge, their leaders admitted that this was a problem. I have had numerous meetings with Awami League officials and every one simply denied it and asserted that there was nothing they had to do—which I believe just as I believe their goal is to eliminate Hindus from their nation.

And even with my own meager resources, I have been able to confirm the following with at least two independent witnesses:

• During the Awami League’s first year in office, major anti-Hindu incidents occurred at the rate of almost one per week. They included murder, rape, child abduction, forced conversion to Islam, physical attacks, land grabs, religious desecration; and at least one three-day pogrom that occurred immediately behind a Dhaka police station.

• Things were no better the second year. The number and intensity of anti-Hindu atrocities did not drop, and one 26-day period saw seven major anti-Hindu actions or almost one every three days. The Hindu American Foundation, Bangladesh Minority Watch, and others document the same level of atrocities in the third year, 2011.6

• As we moved into 2012, I confirmed at least 15 similar incidents in the first quarter alone, and as we were moving out, almost one major incident a week during the fourth quarter. In at least two cases, Bangladeshi officials warned human rights activists that they better stop investigating the matter or face serious consequences.

• In between, there was a nine day period in May that saw an abduction, a murder in broad daylight, and two gang rapes, one of a child on her way to a Hindu festival: four horrific incidents taking place within a nine day period and no police actions against the known perpetrators. These were reported in local media, investigated and confirmed by Rabindra Ghosh and by my own associates as well.

The Awami League allowed all these anti-Hindu atrocities to occur by not prosecuting any of them.

Week after week, month after month, year after year; we know what is happening; and there is no use shaking our fists if we are not going to stop it.

And the Bangladeshis seem confident that no one will. When I confronted their US ambassador about it, he first denied anything was happening. Then after I kept pressing him with facts, do you know what he said? What kind of idiotic answer he gave me? He said that the reason why Hindus leave Bangladesh is because they cannot find matches for their children. So they go to India where there are more Hindus. He also said that if there were any problems, it was all because of “a few radicals.” Does he really expect us to believe that a few radicals can account for five crore missing people? That sort of nonsensical statement could be made only by someone who has no fear that his government will ever be called to justice for their crimes.

And that is what we must change.

I am working with lawmakers and others in the United States to take action that will force the Bangladeshis to stop these atrocities. I will not stop until they do, and I pray that everyone here will raise a cry so loud that they and officials everywhere understand that they will have no choice but to stop the atrocities and allow Hindus to live in peace. If not, I promise you that Hinduism in Bangladesh will soon be nothing but a memory to the eternal shame of all of us.

Dhanyavaad.

Dr. Richard L. Benkin is the author of A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus, which is available at http://www.InterfaithStrength.com/TEMP. You can follow him on his blog and web site, http://www.InterfaithStrength.com, or via email at drrbenkin@comcast.net.

1 Benkin, Richard L. A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus. (Akshaya Prakashan: New Delhi, 2012), page 30.

2 Amnesty International, “Annual Report 2012: The state of the world's human rights,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/bangladesh/report-2012#ai-visits.

3 Richard Benkin, “Bangladesh’s Hindus are dying. Are we okay with letting it happen?,” Address to Human Rights Center for Bangladesh, Dallas, Texas, January 19, 2013. http://www.inte-rfaithstrength.com/Dallas.htm

4 Barkat et. al., An Inquiry into Causes and Consequences of Deprivation of Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh through the Vested Property Act.

5 “Govt to ensure minority rights, CHT peace treaty: PM,” Daily Star [Dhaka], April 30, 2009.

6 Incidents through 2010 are documented in detail in Op. cit., Benkin, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing, pages 311- 331. Incidents after that time come primarily from Advocate Rabindra Ghosh and through him Bangladesh Minority Watch and Global Human Rights Defence; they all have been confirmed by his direct testimony and my own associates’ investigations. Also see “GHRD Submission: Bangladesh, Universal Periodic Review, 16th Session to theUN Human Rights Council, 2013,” Global Human Rights Defence, October2012. http://ghrd.org/FilesPage/4129/UPR-GHRD-2012-BD.pdf.

India Rocked by Islamist Terror Attack

Originally published in New English Review February 22, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

India was knocked on its heels yesterday by two terrorist blasts in the southern city of Hyderabad. The bombs were timed to explode consecutively beginning at 7pm local time at two crowded sites in the city of 7 million people. At this point, there are 20 killed and 30 injured, but those numbers are expected to grow.

As the evening wore on and the facts emerged on Friday, it became clear that the bombings were the work of the Indian Mujahadeen (IM), a group responsible for terror attacks that have killed over 300 Indians and injured many times more. It is well known here that IM receives financial and logistical support from the Pakistani intelligence wing, Inter-service Intelligence or ISI. Both the IM and ISI have been declared terrorist groups by the United States government and others.

Reports in India last night and today are that there were unequivocal warnings from intelligence about this, but the government chose to ignore them. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde visited the blast site and has become the left-center Congress government’s voice. He has been scored in the media and the tumult in the Lok Sabha (roughly like the US House) that it forced the legislature to shut down.

The debate is not over, nor is India’s reaction to the event in any way clear at this point.

Sound Familiar?

Originally published in Canada Free Press, February 14, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

It seems that the United States is not the only country with officials on the left who believe that they can continue their uncontrolled spending so long as they define their wealthy citizens’ “fair share” high enough.  Writing in the Times of India, columnist Lubna Kably, calls that “democratic theft.”  Her piece, “Don’t Punish High Earners,” is a response to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s suggestion of a higher tax burden on “high net worth individuals (HNIs).”  Suggestions like these in India are either trial balloons or more likely preludes to government dicta already in the works.

Kably reminds readers that India’s top one percent already carries a heavier personal tax burden, 63 percent, than their cohorts in other countries who pay 50 percent in the UK, 40 percent in the US, and only 22 percent in Canada.  The arguments she advances against the higher tax, specifically that it will retard economic growth and actually harm the tax base should be familiar to Americans.  To support them, she refers to a rather unlikely source:  the tax administration authority for left-leaning Britain.  A 2012 study by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs of the UK’s 2009 tax increase on HNIs determined “that the negative fallout of this higher tax was far-reaching and the underlying yield from the higher tax was much lower than forecast.”  And based on that, it recommended lowering the tax rate.

She also refers to evidence that increased tax rates “encourage migration by HNIs—which includes migration of highly skilled workers—to more tax favourable countries.”  Americans see this in movement from one state to another and also in offshore efforts and the re-opening of closed US plants in places like Mexico; in other words, the out migration of businesses and jobs.  Labny, who is also an accountant and therefore familiar with numbers, also talks about how reduced disposable income means reduced expenditures resulting in less indirect tax receipts (something that was not even included in the British study); and cautions that these forces pose a grave threat to India’s fragile five percent growth rate.  India never experienced the same dislocation of the worldwide recession that other nations did but has been living with declining economic conditions for the past year.  In anecdotal support, I have been coming to India for years, and every year since 2008, the dollar fetched fewer Indian Rupees than it did the year before.  This year, however, the Rupee has slipped to pre-2008 rates.

Kably argues that “even a casual glance at the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s reports for any year, pertaining to any ministry or department, shows wasteful expenditure.”  She identifies that problem as the culprit for India’s budget woes and concludes, “Imposition of a higher tax burden on HNIs will not solve the problems plaguing India.  It is inefficiency in utilization of taxpayer’s money that needs to be curbed and not growth.”

The upcoming Indian elections are shaping up as a monumental battle between “pro-growth” advocates who agree with Kably, represented by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi; and the left-leaning Congress Party whose minions still believe that taking more from the top earners will pay for their profligate ways.

Sound familiar?

Will India Bow to Censorship by Fatwa?

Originally published in the American Thinker, February 8, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

Two events occurred here last week that could foreshadow India's future -- and perhaps ours as well. In one, Indian film star and filmmaker, Kamal Hassan bowed to Muslim groups in the South India state of Tamil Nadu after they claimed his film Vishwaroopam "targets Muslims and their beliefs." The state responded by banning the film; and although Hassan was initially defiant (the film was well-received elsewhere in India), he eventually agreed to delete seven scenes that the groups deemed offensive. The action was even more egregious since the film had been approved by India's Board of Film Certification, which screens all films for possible offense, primarily to Muslims, and cleared Vishwaroopam. Indian activist Amitabh Tripathi told me that the groups' action was part of an effort "to test us [and] determine how we will react."

Others echoed his remarks and attribute the situation to a decades-long pattern of "appeasing Muslims" in an effort to secure their political support. Things have reached such an extreme level of timidity that in at least two instances I have observed personally, individuals were charged with "hate speech," and few people found out what they said because news outlets claimed the remarks were "too offensive to repeat." What they did not say is that India's laws are written so if they did replay them -- even as news -- they, too, could be charged with hate speech.

In last week's other high-profile event, three teenage girls were forced to go into hiding after Kashmir's Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-Din issued a fatwa against them for performing in an all-girl rock band. After their group, Pragaash, placed third in Kashmir's annual Battle of the Bands in December, the girls started receiving threatening emails and internet posts for acting "un-Islamic." They and their families were forced into hiding in Delhi, where they remain. Speaking incognito, however, one of the girls recently claimed that it was the cleric's action not the threats that drove them to scrap their dreams.

While there has been an outpouring of moral support for the girls, politicians are afraid to act in any way that might offend the Mufti. Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at first expressed public support for the girls but later noted the mufti's authority. When pressed by the media to take action against the clerical "intimidation of the girls," he had his police issue a case -- but against the unknown bloggers, leaving the Mufti and his minions untouched. One political insider told me that Abdullah "is very clever. He always tries to play sides, placating the radicals but trying to sound liberal."

So, in what are only the most obvious consequences of excessive political cravenness, both the Muslim pressure groups in the south and the Grand Mufti in the north have been allowed to impose their demands with impunity. And recall that this is not Wahabi Saudi Arabia or Muslim Brotherhood Egypt; this is India, a military and economic giant that will surpass China as the world's most populous nation in 2020.

The impending nomination of nationalist and conservative Narendra Modi for Prime Minister and the excitement surrounding it suggests that India is ready for a change in direction. Will he be successful, and will the rest of us take heed?

UPDATE: Almost a month later, the girls and their families remain in hiding, the band is no more, and there are no other girls playing music in Kashmir. The big stars who offered their "undying" support for the girls have gone back to their lavish lifestyles and not offered words or deeds of encouragement since those few days following the incident. And Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has long forgotten these girls and on to his next political gambit, is openly courting the Islamist vote by leading the charge in demanding that the body of executed terrorist Mohammad Afzal Guru (he attacked the Indian parliament and killed 14 people) be returned to his family on "humanitarian grounds."

The Left Demonizes India's Modi while his Popularity Soars

Originallt published in the American Thinker, February 7, 2013

Dr. Richard Benkin

Though India's nationwide elections are not scheduled until 2014, the campaign is already underway as the Conservative opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gets set to name Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its candidate for prime minister. As recently as this past summer, one of India's most astute public officials told me that would not happen because Modi's controversial nature would prevent him from forming a ruling coalition. While the left attempts to keep that controversy alive, however, calling Modi the "Butcher of Gujarat," a growing number of average Indians lionize him as the country's best hope for safety and prosperity.

Modi's Reaganesque message of optimism resonates with Indians discouraged with the left-center Congress Party that has ruled India for all but 12 years of its existence as a nation. Economic "malaise" has set in, confidence in the future has dropped, and people believe that the government is unable to deal effectively with either leftist or Islamist terror that has claimed the lives of over 10,000 Indian civilians and security personnel since 2004.

Under Modi's ten-year rule, in contrast, Gujarat has become India's state with the most consistently increasing prosperity, most recently showing a 17 percent growth in per capita income that was flat elsewhere. Early in his tenure, Modi took a strong hand in scrapping entitlements and big government programs in favor of a pro-growth, pro-business agenda and helping to eliminate India's notorious corruption in his state. My own, unscientific survey of Delhi taxi drivers, hotel workers, vendors, and others of modest means found that Indians want Modi to do the same in the rest of India. Many recalled how he stunned the country by bringing the automotive giant Tata to Gujarat in 2008 when the communist leaders of West Bengal led it to look elsewhere. Though several states vied for it, Modi put together the right package of incentives, reliable labor, and a lack of government overreach to win the day and help create thousands of jobs in Gujarat. Modi told me that he would intervene personally to create the same favorable conditions for any "joint ventures involving the United States or Israel."

Modi, however, has been a demon to the left whose article of faith is that he was responsible inter-religious riots in 2002 that killed 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus (although Modi's vilifiers rarely mention the latter). At the insistence of groups like the Congress on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the U.S. State Department refused Modi entry to the US on the basis of these accusations. Even though every Indian court, including the Supreme Court, has exonerated Modi , former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently reaffirmed the administration's position.

The good news for Modi, as I advised one Modi supporter, is that the left has raised the issue of 2002 so frequently that it is old news. Voters not swayed already are unlikely to be so during the campaign. It is a striking parallel to the left's mantra that Ariel Sharon was behind the massacres in Lebanon's Sabra and Chatilla camps. It did not stop Sharon from winning his election, and it is not likely to stop Modi.

Americans are probably tired of hearing about "historical elections," but it is not hyperbole to characterize India's as one. Its economic miracle has stalled, and people have seen their purchasing power fall significantly under the Congress Party's increasing entitlements and handouts. Moreover, while Islamists are likely operating within our borders, there is no question of it in India. Narendra Modi and the people around him who will help shape foreign policy under a Modi government, have made it clear to me and others that they recognize the threat and know that it must be fought unequivocally. Even now, friend and foe alike expect that a Prime Minister Modi would not be shy about flexing India's muscles in response to the "soft and hard tests" that insiders expect from Islamists and Maoists.

Will Modi's popularity, which is at a zenith now, continue once the media and his opponents unleash their fury in the campaign? We will know soon as it has started already. Leftist students staged noisy demonstrations outside Modi's first major policy speech and its pro-growth agenda to youth in Delhi who responded with thunderous applause. Yet, eschewing the substance, many media outlets focused more on the noisy students outside.

Indians Ready to Nominate Left’s Favorite Whipping Boy

Originally published in the New English Review, February 2013

 Dr. Richard L. Benkin, reporting from India

Indian Conservatives are about to do what US Conservatives refused to do for the last eight years.  During the 2008 and 2012 primaries, Conservatives were split over what kind of Conservative to nominate.  One faction insisted on someone identified unambiguously as a Conservative who would eschew compromise on the gamut of issues associated with the right.  Only by emphasizing our basic principles and sticking to them, the narrative went, would we show voters that we offered them a real choice.  The other insisted that would mean sure defeat.  They believed that only a “moderate” standard bearer who would appeal to the vast number of voters in the middle had any chance of success.  The latter camp won out, and the results were two terms of Barack Obama as President. 

Whether the result would have been different if he first group prevailed is a matter of speculation, but Conservatives are going to have a chance to see how it works in the upcoming Indian elections that are scheduled for 2014, but according to several New Delhi insiders, could very well occur in time to have a new Prime Minister take office this October.

While India has many political parties, the battle is primarily between the Conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the left-center Congress Party, heir to the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty.  It is a parliamentary democracy which means that the party with the largest number of seats in the legislature, the lok sabha gets to name the Prime Minister, generally in coalition with other like-minded parties.  The Congress party has maintained that position for all but 12 years of India’s existence as a nation and for the past eight years unbroken.

For months, there had been a great deal of debate and speculation that the BJP would nominate the Chief Minister of Gujarat, NarendraModi as their candidate for Prime Minister and as the face of the party.  The position of Chief Minister is roughly the same as a US Governor, and under Modi’s ten-year rule and the strength of his character, Gujarat has become India’s state with the most consistently increasing prosperity.  That is a big part of his appeal.  Very early in his tenure, Modi took a strong hand in scrapping entitlements and big government programs in favor of a pro-growth, pro-business agenda.  He also helped eliminate India’s notorious corruption in his state.  The results have become canon here with Gujarat’s per capita income in the most recent measure rising by 17 percent.  Gujaratis are hopeful about their economic direction while polls show that much of the Indian population is pessimistic about theirs.  My own, unscientific survey of Delhi taxi drivers, hotel workers, vendors, and others of modest means found that Indians want Modi to stimulate the same prosperity in the rest of India.  Universally, they praised Modi as someone who would bring better jobs and an increased standard of living while eschewing more government handouts.  Many remember how he stunned the country by bringing the automotive giant Tata to Gujarat in 2008.  Tata was ready to abandon its not yet open plant in West Bengal, which was to produce an entirely new line of cars.  At the time, West Bengal was ruled by India’s Communist party, and concerns about land appropriation, government regulations, and violence in a state where the government was often part of it convinced Tata that it was time to go.  Several states were vying to become Tata’s new site, but Modi and Gujarat put together the right package of incentives, reliable labor, and a lack of government overreach to win the day and help create thousands of jobs in their state.   Modi told me that he would intervene personally to create the same favorable conditions for any “joint ventures involving the United States or Israel.”  (He is also a longstanding friend of Israel.)

Modi, however, has been a demon to the left both in India and worldwide.  They share an article of faith that Modi was somehow responsible for the 2002 inter-religious riots that killed 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus (although Modi’s vilifiers rarely mention the latter).  At the insistence of groups like the Congress on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and others, the US State Department refused Modi entry to the US on the basis of these accusations.  Even though every Indian court, including the Supreme Court, has exonerated Modi (as have the millions of people—Hindus and Muslims alike—who consistently vote for him); former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently re-affirmed the administration’s position.

How embarrassing for our country if this man becomes India’s Prime Minister and we ignore the people of India and their legal system.

While the mass of Indians, however, are focused on Modi’s administrative genius and the benefits he has brought his constituents in Gujarat, the left has already begun reprising their tedious and discredited arguments about 2002. 

The good news for Modi, as I said to one activist on the right and a major Modi supporter, is that the left has raised the issue of 2002 so frequently that it is old news; that is, if it has not already swayed voters away from Modi, it is unlikely to do so during the campaign.  They are unlikely to come up with other dirt, as Modi’s personal life is impeccable and there never has been even the hint of scandal associated with him.  The left may vilify him as “anti-Islamic,” but they cannot dismiss the vocal support he receives even from imams in Gujarat who appreciate the prosperity he has have brought their followers.

Americans are probably tired of hearing about “historical election,” but it is no understatement to characterize India’s as one.  Its economic miracle has stalled while its government has grown, and people have seen their purchasing power fall significantly under its increasing entitlements and handouts.  Moreover, while many of us recognize the Islamist threat that might already have come to our shores, there is no question of it in India.  Narendra Modi and the people around him who will help shape foreign policy under a Modi government, have made it clear to me and others that they not only recognize the threat but also known that it must be fought unequivocally.  Under Modi’s tenure, Gujarat has been free of the Islamist and Leftist terrorism that has plagued much of India and claimed the lives of over 10,000 Indian civilians and security personnel since 2004.  Amitabh Tripathi, a long time Modi supporter and someone with his finger on the pulse of things here, told me that he expects the two foes “to test us with soft and hard attacks and see how we react.”  He believes that the current policies would be disastrous in that context.

Right now, Narendra Modi’s popularity and intense backing seems to be at a zenith.  Will it continue at that level or even higher once the media and his opponents unleash their fury in the campaign?  And the left has started already.  This week, for instance, as Modi made a major policy speech at a Delhi school, setting out a pro-growth agenda for India to thunderous applause, leftist students engaged in noisy protests.  The more leftist media outlets spent more time on the noisy students outside than on the significant events inside.

I am betting that Modi’s popularity will continue.  For ten years, he has refused to address the left’s accusations, preferring to let the Indian court system do so.  It has proven a good strategy that allowed him to pursue his conservative principles without letting his opponents set the agenda.  Should Narendra Modi become India’s next Prime Ministers, expect him to usher in a new age for India and new opportunities for a mature US-India relationship.  His victory might also provide US Conservatives with some guidance in how to approach the next round of elections.

Bangladesh’s Hindus are dying.  Are we okay with letting it happen?

 Dr. Richard L. Benkin, Human Rights Center for Bangladesh (HRCB) Dallas, Texas January 19, 2013

Namaste.

People want to know how a non-Hindu—me—became so passionately devoted to the cause of saving Hindus in Bangladesh.  The answer’s simple:  because someone asked.  Several years ago, I successfully freed a political prisoner—actually a Muslim journalist—who was arrested and tortured for exposing the rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh and urging relations with Israel.  When I returned home, there was a fax for me that said roughly, ‘My name is Bikash.  I am a Bengali Hindu.  My parents fled Bangladesh when I was eleven, and I now live near Kolkata, India.  My people in Bangladesh are dying.  Please save us.’

Well, you just cannot turn away from something like that.  I had heard about anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh but after getting Bikash’s fax, I determined to really learn about it; and I was SHOCKED:    SHOCKED at how long it had been going on; SHOCKED at many millions of people were involved; and especially SHOCKED AND OUTRAGED that hardly anyone seemed to know about it, and almost no one was trying to stop it.  I thought about the Holocaust of my own people, the Jews, and how the rest of the world was content to let that happen.  And of course, I knew immediately that I had to do everything in my power to stop this atrocity.

Why did I become involved?  I became involved because someone asked; because one simple man, Bikash Halder, could not stand by and do nothing in the face of these atrocities against his brothers and sisters.  And because I had gotten the Bangladeshi government to do things it did not want to do, Bikash took a chance that I could do it again for his people.  He asked.  He took action.  He did not remain passive.  And that’s the first lesson we have to learn. 

Bikash’s story was probably not very different from that of so many others.  He knew he was not going to lead a mass movement or bring the Islamists to their knees; but he recognized his personal responsibility to fight the power that threatens to destroy Hinduism in Bangladesh and now India as well.  He seized the opportunity to do something; and his people are better off for it.  He took action; he did what he could do and did it with the utmost strength he could muster.

If that is the first lesson then the second is this:  it has not been easy, and you have to remain strong even as the opposition and especially the doubts try and dissuade you from doing what you know is right.  We romanticize the lone individual who keeps fighting for a cause against all odds, but the truth is that the world militates against it.  I cannot tell you the number of times people—credible people—have challenged the very notion that there is something serious happening to Hindus in Bangladesh; and if there was why have they heard nothing about it.  I cannot tell you the number of times I have asked myself what sort of effrontery I must have to insist that something so terrible is happening when all of the “respected” organizations say otherwise:  Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; the UN; my own United States including its State Department, CIA, and the President be he Democrat or Republican, Obama or Bush; India; CNN, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, Times of India, Times of London, the left-wing media, the right-wing media, and pretty much every other major “media” you want to cite.  It would be one thing if they denied the problem and I could crawl into a cocoon and yell, “Conspiracy!”  But we do not even get that; all we do get is silence, which is why in the title of my book and elsewhere, I refer to it as “a quiet case of ethnic cleansing.” 

But then I think of the victims—victims I’ve seen with my own eyes, spoken with as one person to another—and any lingering doubt turns into more outrage.  And that outrage strengthens the moral imperative fight and fight and fight until we win.  There are no other options.

And here comes lesson three.  I have spent enough time with the community here and in India to know that people who are morally outraged and want to do something are frustrated.  There are 1.1 billion Hindus, and we can almost count the number of them who are ready to act with us.  Well over a billion of them live in free countries where the law is on their side as regards speaking out and taking action.  There are over 100,000 in Dallas County alone—and how many are here today?  So here comes the third lesson:  we can act effectively without.

There is an expression:  Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan.

Start with what we have, be strategic in the actions we take, and people will join us.  It will take time (I know, it already has), but when the children and grandchildren of today’s young people ask what they were doing when 15-20 million Hindu lives were saved; they do not want to say ‘watching television.’

            A Model of Action Courtesy of a Friend

Those of us who were around in the 1970s and 1980s,  will remember that back then, you could not pass a synagogue anywhere without seeing a large banner proclaiming, “Save Soviet Jewry.”  Our people were being persecuted in the Soviet Union, whose leaders wanted to eradicate their Jewish religion and identity.  A few, like future Israeli cabinet minister Anatole Sharansky, got some attention, but most suffered silently.  The American Jewish community, however, saw our persecuted brothers and sisters and recognized our obligation to save them.  More important, we acted on that obligation.

Here is what we did.  We lobbied Washington and our local officials; prevailed upon other religious bodies to recognize the atrocity and make sure Washington knew their position as well.  Average Jews who you might see at the office or in the supermarket—people just like you—went to Russia at their own expense to smuggle in religious books and other Jewish artifacts at considerable peril to themselves.  Jewish children here and in the USSR became pen pals, and when the latter were prevented from celebrating their Bar and Bat Mitzvah, we “twinned” them with Jewish children here and did it for them.  Before it was over, we helped get 1.2 million Jews out of that communist hell.   It strengthened our identity, and every Jewish child who was part of that effort never forgot it or their own sense of Jewishness.  We also realized that we could in fact stand strong for our people, and that the only thing that could stop us is ourselves.

The greater our success, the more people wanted to be part of it.  Some people wrote checks; some people lobbied Congress; some people flooded the streets; and some people risked their lives.  Everyone who acted found something that they felt empowered to do so when their children asked them what they were doing when we saved 1.2 million Jews, they did not have to say “nothing.”

And remember:  this was the mighty Soviet Union.  We only have to face Bangladesh, and if we do not have the balls to overcome them, what chance have we with adversaries like Iran or North Korea.

If any of you are thinking, ‘Well, okay, but you Jews are strong and we Hindus are passive,’ think again.  It was not that long ago when we Jews were passive, when everybody with a shoe felt that they could kick us around.  That changed, though not for every Jew; but it did not have to.  We still have our share of Jews who think it better to “keep their heads down” and not “make waves.”  But it changed for enough of us, and it changed for us as a people.  It changed for Jews and it can change for Hindus.  After all, if history has shown us anything, it has shown that both groups—Hindus and Jews—have survivability; that no outside force wanting to eradicate us—and there have been many—has been able to do so.

And lesson four is:  we survive because of ourselves and not because we put our fate in the hands of some outside power.

            Hindus in Bangladesh:  Denial

Let’s briefly review the facts that people are not willing to acknowledge—facts that are rock solid evidence that something terrible is going on, something so terrible that if we do not stop it, we will wake up one day to find that Hindus in Bangladesh are nothing more than a memory; and we will be sitting with the rest of the world wringing our hands and wondering how it could have happened.  Well, let’s give everyone here a head start on the answer:  It happened because right here and right now, we let it happen.  It happened because those who knew what was going on did nothing. 

Remember the quote attributed to Edmund Burke:  “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

After India’s partition, Hindus made up about a third of East Pakistan’s population.  When East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, they were less than a fifth; thirty years later less than a tenth; and according to reliable estimates a bit over seven percent today.   According to Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York, over 49 million Hindus in Bangladesh are missing.  If anyone is having trouble figuring out where this is headed, just take a look at Pakistan where Hindus are down to one percent or Kashmir where they are almost gone.  Not only has no one explained that, but no one has even tried to explain it; at least not credibly.

One third, one fifth, less than one tenth; and 49million.  And no one’s ever tried to explain numbers as powerful as that?  No one’s ever made a stink about them?

Let me show you what sort of nonsense “keeping your head down” can cause.  Last May, I met with Bangladeshi Ambassador Akramul Qader at his country's embassy in Washington. I went there to remind the Bangladeshis of their request for my help; my ability to provide it; and my refusal to do so as long as it refuses to stop allowing its Hindu citizens to be brutalized or worse.

The meeting went pretty much as I expected, with the man representing 150 million Bangladeshis answering my charges with the stupidest denials I have heard to date; in fact, comments that make me wonder where the Bangladeshis found this guy.  Reality be damned, he insisted again and again that there was “no persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh,” though he changed his story with every lie I exposed.  First, he denied that there had been any problems after 1971.  Then, admitted after some discussion that there "were some incidents at the time of [the 2001] elections"; but he said that "all the perpetrators had been punished [and that] I know of no other incidents since then."

Can you believe he said that?  Usually, participants in ethnic cleansing at least try to make their denials seem credible; but evidently, the Bangladeshis see no need for that.

“Well then let me enlighten you,” I said provided evidence refuting his denial.  Okay, okay, he relented.  He told me he could think of “one incident” that occurred but dismissed it as the work of a few "religious fanatics”; when then became his refrain:  that if there are incidents, we should blame a small number of extremists who are not supported by the Bangladeshi government.

That is simply untrue, and I told him that.  His supposedly “moderate” Awami League government is as much in bed with Islamist radicals as was the previous BNP government; and their support, even more so than the BNP’s, is what allows Islamists to operate.

I said, “Your denials do not even make any sense.  You don't go from a third of the population to between seven and eight percent simply through 'voluntary emigration,'" which is what he was claiming; but he persisted; and here is where things got really bizarre.  “Oh, yes,” he said.  “This is happening because they [Bangladeshi Hindus] cannot find suitable matches for their children, so they go to India where there are more Hindus."

"You're kidding, right?" I said

No, he insisted; and he expected me to believe that he was serious.

Why is this significant?

The Ambassador’s “explanation” could have been the product of his assumption that Americans are naïve, get their information from Google, and will deferentially buy any crap that comes from people defining themselves as victims of western colonialism, which is our track record, at least as regards the last point.  But consider:  Would anyone buy that nonsense if he was trying to explain why a Muslim population was disappearing; or a Christian one?  Yet, Bangladesh’s top representative in Washington was ready to say pretty much anything, no matter how ridiculous, confident that without even the semblance of credibility, we would continue giving him a pass and allow Bangladesh's ethnic cleansing of Hindus to continue because no one was going to object—or even care.

Another reason why Ambassador Qader can say such things is because it is an article of faith among diplomats, the international human rights industry, media, and other so-called experts and elites that the current left-center Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina Wajedrepresents some sort of real break from its BNP and military-backed predecessors; that its self-billing as “pro-minority” reflects a commitment to actually being pro-minority.  This also means that we can expect resistance from that larger group of “experts” if we speak the truth to that convenient falsehood.

All are part of an overall attempt to pawn off responsibility for this and other  problems on “a few religious radicals.”  We hear it about 9/11; we hear it about Pakistan; and 70 years ago we heard about all the good Germans who could never have been part of the Holocaust.  It appeals to our sensibilities not to blame all Muslims, all Pakistanis, or all Germans; and it both correct and important that we do not.  If we did, we would be like the people we are fighting.

As wrong as it would be to blame all Muslims or all Germans, however, it is equally naïve to believe that only a small number are culpable.  Though not all Arabs are terrorists, the terrorists among them could not thrive without the ideological cover and tacit complicity of “the Arab street.”  Radical true believers did not provide the bulk of Nazi concentration camp guards; their numbers came from the same mass of German citizens who voted Hitler into office then turned away when his henchmen took their neighbors away never to be seen again.  And the vast majority of Bangladeshi Muslims who rape their Hindu neighbors or engage in other atrocities are not al Qaeda or Jamaat.  These atrocities will never end until we acknowledge that reality, and oppose it as vehemently as our adversaries promote it.

And if you call me “Islamaphobic” for saying so, I don’t care.

            Hindus in Bangladesh:  Reality

Minorities are attacked everywhere; the key is whether the government and society support it.  And that is what makes Bangladeshis culpable for these anti-Hindu attacks.  When Hindus students were attacked in Australia a few years ago, the people rose up and the government prosecuted the criminals as they would any others.  Not so for Bangladesh.

Several months after taking office, Sheikh Hasina told visiting French naval commander, Gerard Valin, that her government would repeal the nation’s “anti-minority laws”; and by doing so, admitted that her country has anti-minority laws.  Of course, she never did and all of these “anti-minority laws” remain in effect.  In May 2011, the Awami League passed on an opportunity to repeal the notorious 8th amendment to the constitution that enshrines Islam as the official state religion and carries discriminatory consequences.  In fact, they did not even have to repeal it but just follow the directions of the Supreme Court.  Shortly before it took office, the Supreme Court issued a “rule nisi” that set the table for the new government to repeal the Vested Property Act, which is the economic engine of ethnic cleansing.  It passed.  If we do not educate people who make decisions about aid and trade about this, no one else will.

Whether through ignorance or otherwise, the world is content to let the current Bangladeshi government posture itself as pro-minority without actually being pro-minority.  So, I provided lawmakers and others with evidence to the contrary in the form of ongoing ethnic cleansing of Hindus and the Awami League’s complicity.

• •          As documented in my book, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: The Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus, which is available here; during the Awami League’s first year in office, major anti-Hindu incidents occurred at the rate of almost one per week.  They included murder, rape, child abduction, forced conversion to Islam, physical attacks, land grabs, religious desecration; and at least one three-day pogrom that occurred immediately behind a Dhaka police station.
• •          Things were no better the second year.  The number and intensity of anti-Hindu atrocities did not drop, and in my book, I document one 26 day period in 2010, when there were seven major anti-Hindu actions or almost one every three days.  The Hindu American Foundation, Bangladesh Minority Watch, and others document the same level of atrocities in the third year, 2011.
• •          As we moved into 2012, I confirmed at least 15 similar incidents in first quarter alone—almost 1.25 every single week—and as we were moving out, almost one major incident a week during the fourth quarter.  In at least two cases, Bangladeshi officials warned human rights activists that they better stop investigating the matter or face serious consequences.
• •          In between, there was a nine day period in May that saw an abduction, a murder in broad daylight, and two gang rapes, one of a child on her way to a Hindu festival:  four horrific incidents taking place within a nine day period and no police actions against the known perpetrators.  These were reported in local media, investigated and confirmed by Rabindra Ghosh and by my own associates as well.
• •          Then just a few months later, according to Bangladesh Minority Watch and a fact finding team that included a former cabinet minister, thousands of Muslims attacked Hindus in Dinajpur when a Hindu landowner opposed their attempt to forcibly erect a mosque on his land.  Women were raped, others humiliated by being unclothed publicly; 50 homes destroyed; hundreds of livestock looted, and scores of Hindus sent to the hospital.  We have evidence that the entire attack was instigated by a local government official whose authority remains intact.   I personally have met scores of Hindu refugees from Dinajpur, who report similar, ongoing atrocities that are carried out with tacit government approval.

So, thousands of attackers and a government official involved; an incident serious enough for a former cabinet minister to investigate:  Do you think you will be seeing anything about that on CNN any time soon?

All of these incidents occurred under this Awami League government; were not prosecuted by that government, which often participated in their cover-up; have been verified by two or more independent sources; and were specifically anti-Hindu and not random.  Moreover, they are incidents that I have been able to confirm with my limited resources.  Samir Kalra, Director and Senior Fellow for Human Rights of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), noted “nearly 1,200 incidents of violence directed against religious minorities (mostly Hindus) between 2008 and 2011.”

Week after week, month after month, year after year; we know what is happening; and there is no use shaking our fists if we are not going to stop it. But before moving on, I want to relate one final incident that hit me particularly hard.  It took place in 2009 when I was in Northern Bengal.  Locals told about a family of Bangladeshi Hindus nearby who had crossed into India only 22 days earlier.  Unlike so many Hindu refugees I meet, who have been scared into silence, this family wanted to talk about what happened to them.  They told me how their little patch of land was overrun by Muslims and how they were thrown off their property while the invaders enjoyed the few creature comforts they had in their home.  They talked about the father being beaten, an uncle killed; but the one who got me was their 14-year-old daughter.  She kept trying to speak but her mother kept pushing her away.  Finally she started talking and kept repeating that “the Muslims chased [her].”  I asked her what she meant by that and if they caught up to her.  After a pause, she told me that they caught her and “did bad things to me.”  Do I need to be any more specific?

Since then, I have met with many Hindu women who were gang raped—heard the most horrible things—but that girl in particular continues to haunt me.  Her rapists were not some group of “religious fanatics”; they were her Muslim neighbors.  They believed that as Muslims they were entitled to have their way with the girl and her family and knew that they would not be prosecuted for it.

            Let’s stop shaking our fists and DO SOMETHING

So what are we doing about it?  Are the world’s 1.1 billion Hindus rising up in protest?  Are we demanding that our governments act?  How many times have we insisted that the UN Human Rights Commission take up the matter?  Has any Hindu victim of the Vested Property Act sued the Bangladeshi government for compensation in national or international courts?

That inaction must change.  I will continue doing what I do, as will several others like Rabindra Ghosh in Bangladesh and Tapan Ghosh in West Bengal.  But we are mere individuals doing what we can.  You will make the difference.  So, as we look at things we can do, each person needs to consider it as if I were speaking to you personally and that if you do not act, it will lead to the death of Hindus in Bangladesh and now West Bengal as well.

First, we must seize control of the narrative.  I am not sure if we ever had it, but we certainly do not have it now; and the consequences of that are deadly.

Sociologists of the last century used the phrase “definition of the situation” to refer to the way people use the elements surrounding them (both physical and otherwise) to understand what is expected of them and others and how to behave.  Let’s take a situation everyone should be familiar with:  the cartoons that depicted a picture of Mohammed.  How people defined that determined how they acted and into which camp they fell.  Was it an exercise of free speech that is enshrined as an essential value in liberal, western culture?  Or was it an offense against one of the world’s great religion and its 1.6 billion followers?  Was 911 a great blow against westerners who have been degrading non-western people and the values that have guided them for millennia?  Or was it a heinous act of terror?  How you answer the question determines how you understand your own appropriate response and understand why others behave as they do.

Let’s take one more because it is germane to our subject today.  When, in India, I talk about the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh, I believe I am promoting an important human rights issue and helping to save lives; that it is a moral imperative for us to speak out and identify both victims and victimizers so we can take effective action.  Others, however, define what I am saying as “communal” because it emphasizes one of the nation’s religious communities and, they believe, causes division among them.  Whoever controls the definition controls the dialogue with all of its consequences.

This issue is one that decent people of all communities everywhere should get behind.  It should not cause division but unity.  Yet, as long as we allow others to control its definition, they will determine how people react—or don’t. 

Last year, for instance, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which is a major human rights arm of the US Congress, held hearings on “Human Rights in Bangladesh.”  They talked a little about “minorities,” they talked more about labor unions; but they did not talk about Hindus; they did not even address the issue under some other name.  And why should they?  If Hindu Americans do not think there is anything wrong, why should they?  We need to change that, which I will get to in a moment.

US Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) once told me that my success in Washington was due to the fact that I came at things from a purely human rights perspective; no axe to grind, no political goals, just simple good vs. evil.  Is there any question that the gang rape of that 14-year-old girl is precisely that?  Then we need to say it again and again until others get it.  It sometimes makes you tedious to others; people might even roll their eyes in a “here he goes again motion”; but is that enough for us to let these terrible things continue to happen?

Next, who needs to accept our definition of this situation?

First and foremost, each of us; and we have to be clear that we are talking about a human rights travesty that has reduced the Hindu population in Bangladesh from one in three to one in 15, a travesty that still threatens 15-20million people.  When I talk about what is happening to the Bangladeshi Hindus and someone calls me “communal” or “Islamaphobic,” neither of which I am; I respond:  “What in the hell does whether or not I am have to do with those atrocities?  Does what you think of me do one blessed thing for that 14-year-old gang rape victim?

My response is similar when someone says, ‘what about what Israel is doing to the Palestinians,’ or ‘what about US actions in Afghanistan.’  I would enjoy destroying their arguments, but that would play right into their hands.  If I am talking about the Middle East, or why I am not communal; what am I not talking about?  The answer is the Bangladeshi Hindus; and it means that the terrible things being done to them are again being ignored.

Every one of those interruptions is designed to do one thing:  hijack the agenda by changing that definition of the situation. They are trying to define any human rights argument as insufficient because it does not address every potential human rights issue.  If I want to talk about the Bangladeshi Hindus, do I also have to talk about Darfur and Myanmar?  Of course not, but that is the definition they want to impose.  They want to define the situation to keep issues that make them uncomfortable from being discussed.  Of course, they demand no such thing if the issue fits their political narrative.  It is the same distraction that forces people to load their comments with self-evident qualifiers like “not all Muslims are bad.”

When Arabs rant about Israel, do we challenge them about ‘what Muslims are doing to Hindus in Bangladesh”?  Perhaps we should.

Our next audience is other religious groups; groups with some moral authority and followings who will listen to them.  Remember how we did this to gain support for saving Jews in the Soviet Union.  So, think about those religious bodies in your area, especially those who would respond to the idea of interfaith events.  My synagogue in the Chicago area, for instance, devoted an entire year to teaching congregants to understand other faiths, and one of our efforts was with a Hindu Mandir.  You will find Jews particularly sympathetic to the plight of the Bangladeshi Hindus since we have faced similar things throughout our history. 

Can one person here take responsibility not only for starting it but also for the content of whatever comes of it?  Whoever that is can see me today so we can start that interfaith outreach immediately.

It never fails to surprise me how few people know about Hinduism or what an important an part of America Hindus are becoming.  According to recent census data, Muslims make up about 0.6 percent of the country, Hindus 0.4; and according to one authoritative survey, the difference is only about 400,000.  But think about the different reactions by politicians to both groups by the media.

For instance, this year saw the nation’s first Hindu-American in Congress, Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).  I searched the major network and cable news channels for any mention of that historic event, or the fact that Congresswoman Gabbard took the oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita.  Not a word about it.  Yet, recall when Keith Ellison became the nation’s first Muslim Congressman.  That historic event was trumpeted all over the news, as was the fact that he took the oath of office on the Quran.

You must become politically savvy—just as other religious groups in the United States are.  My intention is to return from India and Bangladesh this year with the most compelling evidence yet that Hindus are being persecuted with impunity.  People in Washington are waiting for it, but if they believe I am the only person asking that they do something about it, the road will be much more difficult—and as we wait, more Hindus will die.  To be sure, I am working with groups like the Hindu American Foundation, but we need a groundswell of popular support for our initiatives.

Former Congressman (now Indiana Governor) Mike Pence said that any Member of Congress who receives ten calls from constituents about any issue or legislation will sit up and take notice; will consider it something important to the people he or she serves.  Are there at least then people in this room?  How many people here know who their representatives in the Senate and the House are?  [Pause for answers.]  I do.  Your US Senators are Jon Cornyn and Ted Cruz.  US House Members from Dallas County are:  Jeb Hensarling (5th), Kenny Marchant (24th), Michael Burgess (26th), Eddie Johnson (30th), Pete Sessions (32nd), and Marc Veasey (33rd).  Not only do you need to know whom to contact, but we cannot expect them to know about Hinduism—about the faith and the growing and voting population.  Get to their offices.  Invite them to local Hindu events and when they—eventually—come make sure there are a lot of people there.  Help me access their support when I push my initiatives in Congress later this year.  Know that their time is tight and they really might have that scheduling conflict.  But keep at it.  Be persistent.

Get to know their staffs both in the district and in DC.  If they believe you are good for their boss, they will open doors for you; if they believe you are not, they will shut them.  Invite them to events.  Give them that level of respect.

I ask that someone here—and I am looking at HRCB leaders—see me so we can coordinate our efforts.

Start small with specific actions.  I can help but you must organize and work with me; and if things seem difficult, always return to why we are doing this.  Think about the victims.  Think about 16-year-old Basana Chakravorty, who was abducted in the final days of 2012 and forcibly converted to Islam.  Think about her parents.  Sometimes picturing individuals helps motivate us.  I think about that 14-year-old gang rape victim I met.

And in all that you do, be positive.  Do not demonize others.  It provides downside for political leaders who are being asked to support the cause.  Neither can you pretend that everyone in the world has the same goodwill as you do.  Recognize that if something is going to get done, it must come from us; and if it does not come from us, it probably will not happen and we will have allowed those continued atrocities.

Heed the words of Dr. Subramanian Swamy who wrote, “Hindus must collectively respond as Hindus against the terrorist and not feel individually isolated or worse, be complacent because he or she is not personally affected. If one Hindu dies merely because he or she was a Hindu, then a bit of every Hindu also dies.”

Let the Bangladeshi Hindus be your Soviet Jews.  Hindus have the strength, but more important, Hindus have justice on their side if we join this struggle.

Dhanyavaad.

Country –specific Studies (1) STUDIES on IRAN 195

Iran and Balochistan: Human Rights and International Implications

Dr. Richard L. Benkin

[Dr. Richard Benkin is fighting on several fronts to stop the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh. He travels to remote villages and large cities in South Asia, ersatz refugee camps and porous borders to gather evidence, comfort victims, and confront governments and jihadis. His recent confrontations with Bangladesh’s US Ambassador in Washington and its Home Minister in Dhaka made it back to several members of the US Congress and Senate who are working with him on multiple initiatives. Some of his previous human rights accomplishments include freeing an anti-jihadi Muslim journalist from torture and imprisonment, forcing Bangladesh's RAB to release an abductee unharmed, and halting an anti-Israel conference at an official Australian statehouse. In 2005, the US Congress honored him for his human rights work. Benkin holds a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and has published and addressed audiences worldwide. His book, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of Bangladesh’s Hindus is available at http://www.interfaithstrength.com/TEMP.html.]

On 15 February 2007, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issued the following brief press statement:

The members of the Security Council condemned the terrorist attack on a bus in the south-eastern city of Zahedan in Iran, carried out on 14 February 2007, which killed at least 18 people and wounded many more. The members of the Security Council reiterated that no cause can justify the use of terrorist violence. They underlined the need to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of this terrorist attack, as with all terrorist attacks. The members of the Security Council extended their sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the Iranian people.1

Those victims and the target of the attack were all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and it is unusual to say the least for the Security Council to say anything positive about the IRGC. The Iranian government nevertheless accused the United States of being behind that blast and others2 in the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province; and while no savvy international observer would dismiss the possibility of US involvement in any efforts to destabilize the regime in Tehran, it would be missing the point to focus on that. The events in Zahedan and others like it had little to do with US foreign policy aims. The attack’s significance is that it happened in a province dominated by a distinct ethnic group that claims the area as its ancestral homeland. The Baloch,3 in fact, make up about two percent of the entire population in Iran, and with other non-Persian minorities comprise about 35-40 percent of the country. Any US involvement would merely underscore the international implications of the Baloch independence struggle in Iran. 4

So, we begin with some undisputed facts: Non-Persians make up a sizeable minority of the Iranian population; one of those groups, the Baloch, is an identifiable people with autonomy or independence aspirations; and de-stabilization efforts in the Islamic Republic of Iran are consistent with foreign policy aims of the United States and other powers.

Who are the Baloch?

The historical nation of Balochistan occupies a large swath of land that covers parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Accurate population figures for the Baloch are difficult to verify because of their dispersion outside of historical Balochistan, intermarriage, and general census issues in these areas. Thus the worldwide Baloch population is variously estimated between 10 and 15 million: about 8.8 million in Pakistan, 1.5 million in Iran, 300,000 in Afghanistan, and the rest outside Balochistan and its immediate environs. As an independent country Balochistan would rank around 75th in population (about the size of Portugal) and 45th in area (about the size of Ukraine). So, we are not dealing with an obscure or insignificant group. 5

According to Kokaislova, Baloch were first identified as the people in this area in the tenth century.6 Boyajian, however, suggests they are even older and quotes seventh century writings that refer to baloc, which he believes could be a variation of Baloch.7 The Baloch themselves trace their origins even further back to Herodotus and other ancient historians who speak of “Maka” in reference to roughly the same territory as Balochistan. They reference it as an important conduit for trade and communication between the ancient Middle East, including the Persian Empire of Darius I, and ancient India. There are also ancient maps that show Alexander the Great and his troops taking a route through an area identified as Gedrosia with borders that approximate Balochistan’s.

In the centuries that followed, the term Baloch came into common parlance and Balochistan was subject to the Khwarazm Empire, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, and later Tamerlane. Then in the 15th century, Mir Chakar united Baloch tribes into an independent empire that stretched over the entire area that today defines Balochistan. After his death, however, the state was torn asunder by civil war and for the next century or so, the Baloch are referred to as brigands rather than a national entity.

Another strong national figure, Mir Nasir Khan, emerged in the 17th century and subjugated the numerous local rulers into a unified Baloch state; and by the time Europeans arrived in the area, they recognized the strategic importance of the Kalat Khanate, as it was then known and still is to a certain extent. In 1839, the British signed an agreement with the Khanate guaranteeing Balochistan’s sovereignty in exchange for safe passage all the way to Afghanistan. When later in the century the British came to believe that Balochistan lost that strategic importance, they reneged on the 1839 agreement and along with Persia and Afghanistan, partitioned the country into Western (Persian) and Eastern (British) Balochistan. The two halves of the nation remain divided to this day with Eastern Balochistan now part of Pakistan.

The tri-national partition of Balochistan for the partitioners’ strategic and imperialist interests had precedent. Russia, Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire similarly swallowed up Poland a century earlier. Fortunately for the Poles, the dividing powers lost the First World War, and the victors restored Poland’s sovereignty. No such luck for the Baloch. Their experience was closer to that of Bengal, which the British split in two a few decades later; and although East and West Bengal were briefly re-united, they also remain separated today: the former is the nation of Bangladesh; the latter an Indian state.

The Baloch thought they espied independence when the British departed the region in 1948. Eastern Balochistan had retained some autonomy under the British, who promised an independent Balochistan with a shared currency and foreign and defense policy with the new Muslim state of Pakistan. Six months after the British left, however, in an event that remains seared into the Baloch identity, the Pakistanis invaded and forcibly annexed Eastern Balochistan. Since then some 17,000 people are believed to have been killed over six decades of Baloch opposition to Pakistani and Iranian rule.8

Baloch Independence Movement in Iran and International Implications

The Baloch have a long list of grievances against the Tehran regime, including the fact that between 2004 and 2009, 55 percent of Iran’s hanging victims came from two percent of the population: Baloch.9 A Baloch web site, “De Unknown Baloch,” lists the following actions by the Iranian government to deliberately suppress Baloch identity: forbidding the Balochi language in public places, including schools; demographic manipulation to make Baloch a minority in Balochistan; enforcing economic deprivation and lack of job opportunities; no Baloch representation in Tehran; stirring up enmity among Baloch tribes; repression of women in law even more severe than it is for Shiite women or Baloch males; human rights abuses; and forced assimilation.10

While the greatest part of Balochistan is situated inside modern-day Pakistan, and historically the Baloch freedom movement has been more prominent there, Western Balochistan has seen several terrorist attacks since 2000 that can be tied to Baloch desires for independence. Though largely episodic rather than part of an organized revolt, they have targeted symbols of the regime in Tehran; such as the 2007 attack noted above, a June 2005 abduction of Iranian military and intelligence personnel along the Iranian-Pakistani border, and clashes with the IRGC and provincial police forces in Iranian Balochistan in December 2008. Captured Baloch have been hanged, tortured, and subject to punishment including amputations. On January 3, 2008, Iranian forces fired on a vehicle delivering drinking water to a wedding ceremony on a busy street in Zahedan.11

Media and others often associate Baloch independence efforts with the radical Sunni group, Jondallah, or “Soldiers of God,”which the United States and Iran—rarely in agreement—have designated a terrorist group. The equation of Jondallah with Baloch independence efforts is problematic for many within the Baloch independence movement. The 35th (and current) Kalat Khan, Suleman Daud, told the BBC in a 2009 interview that “the only people who are secular in that region are the Baloch, and if you [the UK Government] want to lose your last ally on the ground... that is your choice.”12 He has made that point several times since, as well, and others in the Baloch independence movement also emphasize the secular nature of their struggle. They recognize that some Baloch, especially many youths, identify with Jondallah because of its bold operations against a regime that openly represses their nationality; yet insist that despite Jondallah’s high profile actions, “not all those struggling for Baluch rights in Iranian Baluchistan are religion motivated.” 13

It is both inaccurate and instructive to equate Jondallah and the Baloch independence movement. Inaccurate: The goals of the Baloch independence movement are nationalistic: the establishment of an independent Balochistan. Jondallah’s has repeatedly denied having any nationalistic goals and rather is pan-nationalistic: to oppose Iran’s Shiite theocracy and promote Sunni rights, which applies to several ethnic groups inside and outside of Balochistan. Its significance is tied to the Sunni-Shia divide; Baloch nationalists are equally opposed to Shiite Iran’s and Sunni Pakistan’s occupation of their country without distinction. Instructive: On the other hand, it makes tactical sense for the opponents of Baloch independence sitting in Tehran to identify the movement with radical Islam. It could be one reason why the British have not granted the Khan of Kalat the asylum he seeks. It also could be why the United States has been hesitant in its support for this potentially destabilizing effort in Iran—perhaps recalling its support for al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in their 1980s fight against the Soviets. If there is any tie between Jondallah’s radical Islam and Baloch independence efforts, however, it is a time-limited marriage of convenience. Baloch analyst Abdol Sattar Doshoki told Radio Free Europe that Jondallah’s leader was a “young Sunni religious devotee” who found support among some young Baloch after he had a falling out with the Iranian government.14 Doshoki notes that the Baloch’s Sunni faith is one reason for their discrimination in Shiite Iran, but ethnicity is at least as powerful. Anti-Baloch laws and forced assimilation pre-date the Islamist takeover in Iran, and “this friction and animosity between the regime and the people always existed.”

Iran’s role as an expansionist Shiite power intensifies its conflict with the Baloch, makes the continued existence of a vibrant Balochi culture an irritant to the overall aims of the Ayatollahs, and places the Baloch at the crossroads of a volatile international conflict. “Baluch are Sunni Muslims though but more because of rivalry against Shi'ism in Iran,” one Baloch told me. “After the Khomeini revolution, Western countries and Saudi Arabia aided the Baluch living in Iran to speed up the freedom fight. Baluch in Iran took this as the best opportunity to speed up their fight against Iranians, they needed money to buy weapons. Well the fight is still going on but for some reasons U.S.A. and other Western powers are not yet ready to take bold steps. This in turn is alienating the Baluch in Iran. India is the top most supporter of Baluch movement in Pakistan but [they provide] only moral support, but they don't support the Iranian Baluch for their own vital interests with Iran.” 15

Driving this concern, secular Baloch recognize that without support from democratic powers, increasing numbers of young Baloch will see radical Islamic groups as their best chance to counter the unrelenting oppression from Pakistan and Iran and restore Baloch independence. In addition to regional powers Iran, Pakistan, and India, all of which are involved in significant international conflicts, a Baloch rebellion would affect outside powerhouses including the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, and Saudi Arabia all of whom have foreign policy interests that would be advanced by Iran’s destabilization. China, which is developing a major port in Eastern Balochistan, could be drawn in as well. During a break at a May 2013 conference in Oslo, the Kalat Khan spoke about the Baloch and Israel, saying, “The world has interests – yours is that Iran shouldn’t be nuclear, and also that Pakistan be weak. I have my interests – independence.” An aide to the Khan added, “If Azeris, Kurds and Baloch revolt against Iran, the country is finished. We believe Baloch, Kurds, Azeris and Jews are natural allies… Baloch independence will not just weaken, but break, both Iran and Pakistan,” he says. “You Jews are just not even 15 million, and only half live in Israel, but every time the Israelis do anything the whole Arab world screams but does nothing.” 16

The Kurds long ago made contact with Israel and although their situation is more complex due to their independence movements in and opposed by four different countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey); they have at times been supported by outside powers. Iranian Azeris are in the main more comfortable with the Iranian regime than other minorities, but they do have grievances, and their territory in Northwest Iran borders the independent Azeri nation of Azerbaijan. Can a minority alliance, including the Baloch, be Iran’s Achilles Heel?

Conclusion

There are many ways that the United States and others can capitalize on the independence aspirations of Baloch and other minorities in Iran to remove one of its major foreign policy irritants. A 2007 British article quotes a former US State Department official agreeing that the 2007 Zahedan “attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilise the Iranian regime.”17

A report prepared for the US Congressional Research Service noted:

Although ethnic rioting in Iran has not been uncommon in the past, generally incidents of ethnic unrest seem to have risen steadily since President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad took office in 2005. Analysts argue that occasionally individuals and groups have briefly taken up arms, only to calm down again for years or decades. But rarely have so many snapped back at the government so furiously over so short a time… For these rash and abrupt outbursts, minority groups blame Ahmedinejad’s “Shia Persian chauvinism” as a primary provocation, along with the government’s abiding economic neglect.18

The report also notes that the “porous border” between Iran and Pakistan and “cross-border cultural or tribal affinities” among the Baloch on both sides encourage Baloch to ignore national laws. It adds that despite its few resources, Balochistan “remains an important region militarily because of its border with Pakistan.” Numerous articles and analyses elsewhere also report the importance of the region, especially as tensions between Iran and Pakistan grow.

Iranian reformers, opposed to the mullahs’ rule tend to support policies that recognize these different cultures and religions and end their discrimination. In the 2009 election, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi espoused the rights of religious minorities and vowed, if elected, to ensure them as guaranteed in Iran's constitution. Their defeat and arrest, as well as the post election repression of civil activists, seemed to close the door to that option. Whether or not reformers—with the right amount of outside help—will be able to remobilize ethnic minorities and human rights activists remains to be seen.19

The United States and its allies in the war against Islamic radicals, including radical Islamist states like Iran, seem to suffer most when their adversaries set the war’s agenda. This is what happened with the 9/11 attacks, which set in motion a number of US actions from airline security to the war in Afghanistan. A group of terrorists were stopped at London’s Heathrow trying to smuggle liquid explosives on an airplane, and soon Americans were restricted in the liquids they could carry on airlines. Another tried to blow up a plane with a “shoe bomb,” and passengers have been forced to take off their shoes at security checkpoints ever since. On the other hand, the war in Iraq—however one feels about it—took many Islamists by surprise and forced them to move assets to that theater and degrade others.

Insurrections by ethnic minorities in Iran would put the Islamic state on the defensive perhaps forcing it to abandon its expansionist plans in the Middle East. The Baloch in particular, could open a new front for the Iranians to the east, far away from where it wants to concentrate its offensive and defensive military resources. They could seize the momentum in this ongoing war and force the Iranians to abandon their current agenda.

1. United Nations Security Council Press Statement #SC/8957, issued 15 February 2007.

2. After a 2009 attack, for instance, IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, claimed that Iran's security services documents indicating that Abdolmalek Rigi, whose organization claimed responsibility for it was "in direct contact" with U.S., British, and Pakistani intelligence services. Aryan, Hossein, ―Iran Offers Short-Term Solutions To Long-Term Problems Of Baluch Minority,‖ Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, October 22, 2009.

3. To standardize, the people will be identified as ―Baloch‖ or ―Balochi‖ and their homeland as ―Balochistan‖ unless spelled otherwise in a direct quotation.

4. ―Report: Weapons used in attack in Zahedan, Iran come from U.S.‖ Xinhua news agency, 17 February 2007. Lowther, William, ―US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran,‖ London Telegraph, 25 February 2007.

5. Population figures taken from the CIA World Factbook and ―Country Profile: Iran,‖ Library of Congress Federal Research Division, May 2008.After Pakistan and Iran, Oman has over 400,000 Baloch, Afghanistan about 300,000, and the United Arab Emirates about 100,000.

6. Kokaislova, Pavla, ―Ethnic Identity of the Baloch People,‖ Central Asia and the Caucasus Journal of Political Studies, Volume 13, Issue 3, 2012; pp. 45-55.

7. Boyajian, Vahe, ―Towards the Interpretation of the Term baloc in the Sahname,‖ in Jahani, Carina and Korn, Agnes, editors, The Baloch and Their Neighbors: Ethnic and Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical and Modern Times. (Reichert Verlag: Wiesbaden, Germany, 2003).

8. Kessler, Oren, ―Baloch Nationalists Take on Iran and Pakistan, Vow Close Ties with Israel,‖ The Tower Magazine, May 15, 2013.

9. Zurutuza, Karlos, ―Inside Iran‘s Most Secretive Region,‖ The Diplomat, May 16, 2011.

10. De Unknown Baloch, http://de-unkown-baloch.blogspot.com/.

11. Zambelis, Chris, ―Insurrection in Iranian Balochistan,‖ The Jamestown Foundation, Volume 6, Issue 1 (January 11, 2008)

12. Roberts, Carl, ―Royal asylum seeker's Welsh home,‖ The Politics Show, Wales, BBC; 22 March 2009.

13. This quote and much of the other information in this article comes from direct statements by individuals inside the Baloch struggle for independence.

14. Siddique, Abubakar, ―Jundallah: Profile Of A Sunni Extremist Group,‖ Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, October 20, 2009.

15. Personal communication from member of Baluch independence movement.

16. Op. cit., Kessler

17. Op. cit., Lowther.

18. Hassan, Hussein D., ―Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities,‖ CRS Congressional Research Service, November 25, 2008.

19. Nader, Alireza and Robert Stewart, “Iran’s forgotten ethnic minorities,” Foreign Policy; April 3, 2013.

Look at ourselves to find Culprits for the Ethnic Cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh

(Originally published March 28, 2013 in Struggle For Hindu Existence)

Dr. Richard Benkin

If my recent trip to South Asia taught me anything, it is that the solution to stopping the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh lies within us.  And so do the obstacles.  This is a serious human rights travesty that has been flying under the world’s radar for at least 40 years as Hindus went from almost a fifth of the new nation of Bangladesh (1971) to less than eight percent today.  Throughout that period, there has been a torrent of confirmed and specifically anti-Hindu atrocities that have proceeded with the tacit approval of successive governments representing all political stripes in Bangladesh.  According to Professor Sachi Dastidar of the State University of New York, the number of Hindus murdered, forced to emigrate, and forced to convert to Islam, or never born as a direct result come to 50 million.  That is a third of Bangladesh’s current population, which shows how that country is as much Hindu as Muslim—or would be were it not for this creeping jihad.

Bangladesh still has the world’s third largest Hindu population with about 12 million Hindus living without protection from radicals and others who can attack and abuse them with impunity because the government they helped vote into office turns a blind eye toward their victimization.  And yet, what major media outlets report this ongoing ethnic cleansing?  What internationally hailed human rights organizations champion a fight against it—or even mention it in any significant way?  That the answer to both questions is “none” does not mean they all are anti-Hindu or funded by of petro dollars.

As Ceasar said in William Shakespeare’s play, “The fault dear Brutus is not in the stars but in ourselves.”

On February 18, I was in Bangladesh where I embraced Hindu victims and confronted their victimizers, stood with their defenders Hindu and Muslim, and confronted Bangladeshi officials participating in and allowing these atrocities.  I had also spent a great deal of time with Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, who puts his own well-being aside to fight to stop the atrocities.

That night, I arrived at my hotel to find two Hindu Members of Parliament (MPs), waiting to speak with me.  They came expecting well-wishes, photo-ops, and hand-wringing about how bad others are.  But they represent Dinajpur and Khulna, two areas in Bangladesh where anti-Hindus abuse is a way of life, where the Awami League government continues its predecessors’ practice of purposely turning a blind eye to this “quiet case of ethnic cleansing,” and where these government officials who say they represent the Bangladeshi Hindu community sit silently while their co-religionists are slaughtered.  Having freshly returned from one of them where I met victim after victim, I was in no mood for their sort of false solidarity.  So, after a brief introduction, I asked, “Okay, tell me what you—as Hindu MPs—are doing about the ethnic cleansing of your people here.”

             “We have done many things. “  Answered the man from Khulna where fresh atrocities are occurring even while I am writing this.

            “Many things?  You know that’s [a lie],” I replied sharply.  “Hindus in your district are being raped and killed, their land snatched, Mandirs destroyed; and no prosecutions.  So, don’t tell me that you’re doing ‘many things.’  How many Hindu Members of Parliament are there?”

             “Seventeen.”

         ..“Seventeen?  That’s a lot of people; and you mean to tell me that with that many in parliament, you still haven’t done anything?”

             “Well, the party—“

             “That’s your other mistake, and I tried to tell this to Hindus before the last election.  Minorities need to form their own political party.  Right now, the Awami League doesn’t have to do anything.  They know you’ll vote for them anyway.  And the BNP doesn’t have to do anything because they know you won’t vote for them.”

And I went on for some time, peppering them, demanding, egging them on, etc.  I told them that they should be ashamed that I come half way around the world while they do nothing here for their own people.  Pointing to Rabindra Ghosh, I said that “he has extensive evidence that there are Members of Parliament involved big time in grabbing Hindu land, even rapes and other atrocities.  You know what your enemies think of you as you sit next to them smiling?  ‘We can steal their land, rape their daughters and sisters, and just give them a few Taka.”

Someone started to say something about there being problems.  “Problems?  Problems?  I don’t want to hear about problems,” I said.  “You think I don’t have problems?  Or that he [Rabindra Ghosh] has none? ‘Problems’ are just an excuse for not doing what’s right.”

They sat either with their face buried in their hands (people in the lobby were beginning to take notice) or looked up at the ceiling; but I would not let up.  For years, we have been struggling against a system and a government that wants to keep the issue buried while keeping the destruction of Bangladesh’s Hindus going strong.  People like these two men are in a position to do something about it but do not.

I reminded them that an American Christian, former US Congressman Bob Dold raised the issue of the Bangladeshi Hindus on the floor of the US House, while they remain silent.  Referring again to Rabindra Ghosh, I noted that “this man has extensive, direct, and verified evidence of enough atrocities so that each Hindu MP can begin each session of the Jatiya Sangsad (Bangladeshi parliament) by reading a new one in the record.  Perhaps they can be the agents who force the government to act or the world to take notice.”

Right now, however, they refuse to acknowledge their responsibility to act.  And while they sit silently and watch their people being brutalized, organizations like Struggle for Hindu Existence under the leadership of Upananda Brhmachari, is providing a public forum to do what they are not:  exposing the truth of what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh so that people will act to stop the atrocities.

It has been more than a month since our encounter, and none of Bangladesh’s 17 Hindu MPs have taken any action or uttered a word of protest even while the atrocities continue and their constituents suffer.  If these “leaders” are too cowardly to act, perhaps the voters in their districts should vote for people who are not.