8 July 2010
Poland drowns murmurs of anti Semitism in festivals of Jewish Culture, and a Museum to Schindler’s List
From John Dayal
Krakow, Poland
The fat lady sang her heart out, and then collapsed on stage. But Kurdish-Jewish singer Ilana Eliya, singing with Jabalayo Ensamble, was made of sterner stuff. After ministrations from a concerned audience in the historic Temple Synagogue, now alas just a tourist attraction and packed to the rafters, she had a sip of water, got on her feet, and completed her song of love and patriotism. She got a standing ovation with what seemed most of Krakow’s remaining Jewish population and the rest strapping young Poles with their girl friends.
There was much that was familiar in her song and music to anyone from west or south Asia. Her voice shifted the octaves between Pakistani singer Reshma and our own Shobha Mudgal singing Sufi song, and the music, part Turkish and with the Kashmiri looking Saaz, seemed nostalgically familiar to the solitary Indian in the audience – this correspondent.
Elia, a child prodigy was on her first visit to Poland, her explanatory speeches interspersing her ballads reminding audiences of what her people had to bear when Iraqi dictators bombed them with poison gas. She had the audience hanging by her lips, for many of the tourists had earlier in the day been to there see the poison gas chambers at Auschwitz in the town nearby, where a million Jews, and thousands of Poles, were industrially murdered by Hitler in World War II.
Ilya’s was one of a series of performances during a weeklong Festival of Jewish Culture, now in its 20th year, which Poland has used artfully to apply some salve to a guilty conscience. The annual festival, together with a massive conservation of the three concentration camps, gas chambers and cremation factories at Auschwitz, and a brand new museum in what was the factory of former Nazi businessman, Oskar Schindler – remember the film Schindler’s List which played in India some years ago -- are but thee of the many social-psychological instruments that the government uses to caution its youth against anti Semitism. An underground current of anti-Semitism, and the occasional crop of neo Nazi and skin head groups rising in an otherwise prosperous Poland is cause of grave worry to the authorities, the intelligentsia, and the people at large.
Not that Poland is alone in Europe in this. Germany itself, and many of the countries it conquered seventy years ago showed repeated signs of anti Semitism, the worse five years ago, but some as recent as late last year and early this year. So much so that when some thieves in December last year stole the sign at the concentration camp, the ironical slogan “Work will make you Free”, there was a national sensation which sent ripples from Moscow in the East to London in the West. There was a collective sigh of relief when police said the thieves were not Nazis, just young men out for a lark. But the controversy has by no means ended.
Former Canadian minister and long-time member of Parliament David Kilgour, who was with us in Krakow and who had also visited the camps, noted that the two large camps, about four kilometres apart and preserved by the Polish Parliament in 1947 as monuments to the Holocaust - Shoah, are “undoubtedly the most inhuman scenes we visitors from around the world have ever seen,” and last year alone about 1.2 million visited the place. Russian soldiers on Jan. 27, 1945, who freed approximately 7000 surviving inmates, including 400 children-many of them barely alive from starvation, said the “perfectly organized” facilities were “the most shocking thing seen and filmed”.
Prisoners came in train cattle cars at Birkenau after 1942, the year Hitler ordered the ‘Final Solution’ for Europe’s Jewry. Healthy men were separated from the others to work in the fields and factories, the rest, including 230,000 children and babies, were taken immediately for “showers”, of cyanide gas in concrete bunkers. A million and more were murdered at these two facilities alone. The rooms of the barracks in the concentration camp now house exhibits which include 800,000 women’s, dresses, 348,000 men’s suits, millions of pairs of shoes, pots and pans, which the victims brought with them because they had been told they were being relocated. The guide told me these grim reminders were carefully preserved. “Care was taken to ensure that anti Jew lobbies could not say the camps had been constructed later to stigmatise Hitler.”
This is required.. As an official of the foreign ministry told me, current Europe politics even has parties which openly call for anti Semitism among their members and supporters as they seek votes to the European Parliament.
The Museum in Schindler's factory, opened just a few weeks ago, carries the education into the Nazi phenomenon further. Only the office block remains of the WWII enamel products factory. But this has been lovingly preserved, its interiors converted into a multi media exposition with a chilling display of Nazi flags, uniforms and guns, the lives of the ordinary people under a world war. With intent, the huge Swastika flags loom over flooring made of Swastika flags on which the visitors have to walk, something which would have been impossible in real life of the times.
The museum also reopens the debate on this German businessman who was a top Nazi but eventually helped save more than one thousand Jews by telling the government they were needed in the war effort, and then helping many of them escape. A grateful Jewish community ensured that his body was buried in Jerusalem., the only non Jew with a Nazi past to be so honoured in death. And yet, many say he was a mere opportunist who played both sides to prosper himself. The Museum does not make him out to be a hero – just tells us in multi media what it meant to be living under murderous and racist military regimes.
Poland, like Germany, has made it a crime to display Swastikas or Nazi flags in public, but it is no crime to buy a copy of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, in German or a Polish translation. And it does sell, it seems.
Showing posts with label john dayal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john dayal. Show all posts
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Poland Diary 2
7th July 2010
Hillary sets up new US fund for NGOs fighting for democratic rights; Cuban Padre awarded for questioning Castro brothers
FROM John Dayal
Krakow, Poland:
The Holy Roman Catholic Church and the current Pope may be on the receiving end of public and media criticism in Europe and the United States, but Washington and its European allies have used a Catholic priest from a small Cuban parish, and the memory of Pope John Paul II. to focus on human rights violations and demand early democratisation in Havana, Iran and Burma.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and one of her predecessors, Madeline Albright, “named and shamed’ Cuban President Raul Castro, the Islamic leaders in Teheran and the Yangon junta as they watched Father Jose Conrado Rodriguez receive the second Bronislav Geremek democracy promotion award in the key function of the High Level Democracy Meeting in Krakow, the cultural capital of Poland, earlier this week.
Nelson Mandela was the first recipient of the award founded ten years ago by Albright and Geremek, the then Polish Foreign minister, to “support legitimacy and authority of people form around the world working in promoting democracy and human liberty.” To add substance to the award, Hillary Clinton in her speech announced the formation of an international fund with a seed capital donation of US Dollars Five Million to assist NGOs and groups engaged in freedoms struggles. She did not name any particular country which would be the target of this effort.
Fr Rodriguez, of the Friars Minor Order, is from the province of Santiago de Cuba and has earned acclaim in the Americas for his sharply worded reprimands to President Fidel Castro. The Pastor wrote a letter again to Fidel’s brother and successor General Raul Castro, protesting that police had beaten up his parishioners inside his church. The letter went on to say “We have spent our lives blaming the enemy, and even our friends, for our situation. The collapse of the bloc of communist countries and the US trade embargo has become the scapegoat that bears all our sins. It is not enough, General, to solve the problems, certainly serious and urgent, of food, and of the homes that so many of our countrymen – “with their meagre belongings: fears, sorrows” - have just lost in the recent hurricanes. We are at such a critical moment that we must undertake a thorough examination of our beliefs and our practices, of our aspirations and our objectives. As the great Jose Marti said, You do not found a nation, General, the way you run a military camp.”
Fr Rodriguez, who got a thunderous ovation in the Krakow Opera House together with his statuette, does have an indirect connection with Krakow – when Krakow’s favourite son and former Cardinal, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in a history-making tour in 1998, among those receiving him was the fiery Parish priest from Santa Teresita del Nino Jesus. Joining him on stage this time was the current Cardinal of Krakow and ministers from Indonesia, the European parliament, Lithuania, South Korea, Canada, and Kenya. India had a low key presence 2-4 July meeting, its delegation headed by an additional secretary from the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi. Polish foreign minister Radoslav Sikorski played the host.
Though called the Community of Democracies and held in Poland, the show piece of democratic transition from the Soviet era, the Krakow meet was dominated by the US presence, the speeches of the former and present Secretaries of State remaining the dominant voices. Mrs. Clinton was particularly sharp after her concurrent tour of Eastern European countries. In Krakow and in the neighbouring countries Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, she questioned Moscow, decried the Caucasian habit of coveting other’s lands and the still continuing restrictions on civil rights in some countries. “We seek a community of nations working together to strengthen democracy, and transparency of government processes, sound electoral systems, respect for human rights and the rule of law, active civic education, prevention of official corruption and related core values basic to democratic governance.”
Stressing the importance of democracy both as a central organizing principle of official government foreign policy and as the basis of international alliances of NGOs, she said “We are convinced the time has arrived for the democracies of the world to build upon the experience of the UN and NATO, a new institutional framework for global cooperation among democratic nations.”
She focussed on the "crisis" of governments “around the world are slowly crushing civil society and the human spirit." She named Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Congo, Zimbabwe, Burma, North Korea and China.
As she announced a US fund to assist NGOs and civil society, presumably working in threes and other countries, Mrs Clinton said the United Nations Human Rights Council needs to do more to protect civil society. “Freedom of association is the only freedom defined in the United Nations declaration of human rights that does not enjoy specific attention from the UN human rights machinery. That must change. She spoke of US pressure on organizations, such as the OAS, the EU, the OIC, the African Union, and the Arab League, others, to do more to defend the freedom of association. “We need to make sure words are matched by actions,” said, calling for coordinated diplomatic pressure by allied governments.
An interesting aspect of the meeting was a series of side discussions on the use of the Internet and emerging communication technologies to assist NGOs and Civil society groups in their struggle for democracy. Also discussed was the role of parliamentarians, and women’s groups and civil society participation in economic development. The concluding documents of the group discussions spoke of “developing mechanisms to ensure that the voice of NGOs, Think tanks and other actors is heard is essential to foster the democratic ideal.” At present time, there is a need to give priority to economic and social development and to fight unemployment; both of those have implications for democratic governance,” the documents said.
Hillary sets up new US fund for NGOs fighting for democratic rights; Cuban Padre awarded for questioning Castro brothers
FROM John Dayal
Krakow, Poland:
The Holy Roman Catholic Church and the current Pope may be on the receiving end of public and media criticism in Europe and the United States, but Washington and its European allies have used a Catholic priest from a small Cuban parish, and the memory of Pope John Paul II. to focus on human rights violations and demand early democratisation in Havana, Iran and Burma.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and one of her predecessors, Madeline Albright, “named and shamed’ Cuban President Raul Castro, the Islamic leaders in Teheran and the Yangon junta as they watched Father Jose Conrado Rodriguez receive the second Bronislav Geremek democracy promotion award in the key function of the High Level Democracy Meeting in Krakow, the cultural capital of Poland, earlier this week.
Nelson Mandela was the first recipient of the award founded ten years ago by Albright and Geremek, the then Polish Foreign minister, to “support legitimacy and authority of people form around the world working in promoting democracy and human liberty.” To add substance to the award, Hillary Clinton in her speech announced the formation of an international fund with a seed capital donation of US Dollars Five Million to assist NGOs and groups engaged in freedoms struggles. She did not name any particular country which would be the target of this effort.
Fr Rodriguez, of the Friars Minor Order, is from the province of Santiago de Cuba and has earned acclaim in the Americas for his sharply worded reprimands to President Fidel Castro. The Pastor wrote a letter again to Fidel’s brother and successor General Raul Castro, protesting that police had beaten up his parishioners inside his church. The letter went on to say “We have spent our lives blaming the enemy, and even our friends, for our situation. The collapse of the bloc of communist countries and the US trade embargo has become the scapegoat that bears all our sins. It is not enough, General, to solve the problems, certainly serious and urgent, of food, and of the homes that so many of our countrymen – “with their meagre belongings: fears, sorrows” - have just lost in the recent hurricanes. We are at such a critical moment that we must undertake a thorough examination of our beliefs and our practices, of our aspirations and our objectives. As the great Jose Marti said, You do not found a nation, General, the way you run a military camp.”
Fr Rodriguez, who got a thunderous ovation in the Krakow Opera House together with his statuette, does have an indirect connection with Krakow – when Krakow’s favourite son and former Cardinal, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in a history-making tour in 1998, among those receiving him was the fiery Parish priest from Santa Teresita del Nino Jesus. Joining him on stage this time was the current Cardinal of Krakow and ministers from Indonesia, the European parliament, Lithuania, South Korea, Canada, and Kenya. India had a low key presence 2-4 July meeting, its delegation headed by an additional secretary from the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi. Polish foreign minister Radoslav Sikorski played the host.
Though called the Community of Democracies and held in Poland, the show piece of democratic transition from the Soviet era, the Krakow meet was dominated by the US presence, the speeches of the former and present Secretaries of State remaining the dominant voices. Mrs. Clinton was particularly sharp after her concurrent tour of Eastern European countries. In Krakow and in the neighbouring countries Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, she questioned Moscow, decried the Caucasian habit of coveting other’s lands and the still continuing restrictions on civil rights in some countries. “We seek a community of nations working together to strengthen democracy, and transparency of government processes, sound electoral systems, respect for human rights and the rule of law, active civic education, prevention of official corruption and related core values basic to democratic governance.”
Stressing the importance of democracy both as a central organizing principle of official government foreign policy and as the basis of international alliances of NGOs, she said “We are convinced the time has arrived for the democracies of the world to build upon the experience of the UN and NATO, a new institutional framework for global cooperation among democratic nations.”
She focussed on the "crisis" of governments “around the world are slowly crushing civil society and the human spirit." She named Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Congo, Zimbabwe, Burma, North Korea and China.
As she announced a US fund to assist NGOs and civil society, presumably working in threes and other countries, Mrs Clinton said the United Nations Human Rights Council needs to do more to protect civil society. “Freedom of association is the only freedom defined in the United Nations declaration of human rights that does not enjoy specific attention from the UN human rights machinery. That must change. She spoke of US pressure on organizations, such as the OAS, the EU, the OIC, the African Union, and the Arab League, others, to do more to defend the freedom of association. “We need to make sure words are matched by actions,” said, calling for coordinated diplomatic pressure by allied governments.
An interesting aspect of the meeting was a series of side discussions on the use of the Internet and emerging communication technologies to assist NGOs and Civil society groups in their struggle for democracy. Also discussed was the role of parliamentarians, and women’s groups and civil society participation in economic development. The concluding documents of the group discussions spoke of “developing mechanisms to ensure that the voice of NGOs, Think tanks and other actors is heard is essential to foster the democratic ideal.” At present time, there is a need to give priority to economic and social development and to fight unemployment; both of those have implications for democratic governance,” the documents said.
Poland Diary 1
Polish president Komorowski wins vote, walks tight rope between Russia and US
From John Dayal
Warsaw, 6 July 2010
Ignoring sentiment and a subtle pressure from the Catholic Church, a highly polarized Poland electorate last night voted acting president Bronislaw Komorowski to power with his agenda for rapid privatization and a balance between Russia and nuclear ally United States, with whom his government two days ago signed a missile defence pact.
“Pragmatic” Komorowski won 53 per cent of the votes against Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who fought passionately on the memory of his twin brother, the late President Lech Kaczynski who died with 96 others on 10 April while flying to a memorial meeting in Katyn in Russia where Stalin’s Russian army had allegedly shot dead over 20,000 polish soldiers during the World War II.
The Church patently sided with Kaczynski and his Law and Justice Party, as did a large chunk of the traditional and rural poor in the highly Catholic post-communist Poland. But Komorowski’s poll managers in the Civic Platform party, a right of the centre group, marshalled a last minute turnout of the younger voters and the emerging middle class to beat back the tough but controversial leader of the Law and Justice party. Kaczynski received 46.99 per cent of the vote in a 55.31 per cent turnout, which was a huge change from the apathy shown by voters in the first round.
Komorowski, a former defence minister, was Marshal of the Sejm -- Speaker of the Lower house of the Polish Parliament – at the time of the air crash and was automatically elevated President under the country’s constitution. He managed a high profile support base when he decided to fight the elections, preponed from their scheduled date in autumn this year. Poland’s modern-age hero Lech Walesa, the founder of Solidarity movement, backed him, as did men of the caliber of film maestro Andrei Wajda who told this correspondent at Komorowski’s victory headquarters, aptly in a building housing Coca Cola and many bank headquarters; “He is the man for the future, the man who will make Poland a major in the European Union.’ Wajda also praised the new president as a man who supported free speech and the arts – an abiding virtue in the land of music immortal Chopin.
The media here has noticed that Komorowski has had to dilute many of his policies to win over the Poles. Among his talking points was his party’s alliance with the UK’s ruling Tories, speaking of a larger alliance in the European Union which Poland will head in the second half of next year.
Despite a powerful Opposition, and a church looking over his shoulders, Komorowski hopes to have an easier time in his newly won term because his Civic Platform party now controls both the Presidency and the Parliament. “Polish democracy has won,” Komorowski told widely cheering, but visibly well off, supporters in his headquarters as he and his wife made an appearance last Sunday night in a US-inspired made for television event late Sunday night after polling officially ended.
Komorowski has been Minister of National Defence from 2000 to 2001 and Deputy Speaker from 2005 to 2007. His party backs church positions against abortion and gay marriages, but strongly calls for privatization of the remaining public sectors of Polish economy, direct elections to local body chiefs such as mayors and other electoral reforms,. labour law reform, and a 15% flat tax.
Symbolic possibly of modern Poland, a country which has repeatedly seen its nobility and intelligentsia murdered en masse by invading armies over the last several centuries, Komorowski traces his origins to an old and noble family which was active against the communist regime, many relatives ending up in prison.
International observers here noted that the elections coincided with a high profile trip to Poland and Eastern Europe by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She participated in ceremonies marking ten years of Council for Democracy – for which international media had been invited – but took time off to supervise the signing of a deal with Poland last Saturday allowing a revised missile-shield program to defend against potential threats from Iran or elsewhere. It has been reported that Poland also received a Patriot missile battery, manned by American soldiers and situated at the military base at Morag, some 250 kilometers north of Warsaw and just 60 kilometers from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad territory.
From John Dayal
Warsaw, 6 July 2010
Ignoring sentiment and a subtle pressure from the Catholic Church, a highly polarized Poland electorate last night voted acting president Bronislaw Komorowski to power with his agenda for rapid privatization and a balance between Russia and nuclear ally United States, with whom his government two days ago signed a missile defence pact.
“Pragmatic” Komorowski won 53 per cent of the votes against Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who fought passionately on the memory of his twin brother, the late President Lech Kaczynski who died with 96 others on 10 April while flying to a memorial meeting in Katyn in Russia where Stalin’s Russian army had allegedly shot dead over 20,000 polish soldiers during the World War II.
The Church patently sided with Kaczynski and his Law and Justice Party, as did a large chunk of the traditional and rural poor in the highly Catholic post-communist Poland. But Komorowski’s poll managers in the Civic Platform party, a right of the centre group, marshalled a last minute turnout of the younger voters and the emerging middle class to beat back the tough but controversial leader of the Law and Justice party. Kaczynski received 46.99 per cent of the vote in a 55.31 per cent turnout, which was a huge change from the apathy shown by voters in the first round.
Komorowski, a former defence minister, was Marshal of the Sejm -- Speaker of the Lower house of the Polish Parliament – at the time of the air crash and was automatically elevated President under the country’s constitution. He managed a high profile support base when he decided to fight the elections, preponed from their scheduled date in autumn this year. Poland’s modern-age hero Lech Walesa, the founder of Solidarity movement, backed him, as did men of the caliber of film maestro Andrei Wajda who told this correspondent at Komorowski’s victory headquarters, aptly in a building housing Coca Cola and many bank headquarters; “He is the man for the future, the man who will make Poland a major in the European Union.’ Wajda also praised the new president as a man who supported free speech and the arts – an abiding virtue in the land of music immortal Chopin.
The media here has noticed that Komorowski has had to dilute many of his policies to win over the Poles. Among his talking points was his party’s alliance with the UK’s ruling Tories, speaking of a larger alliance in the European Union which Poland will head in the second half of next year.
Despite a powerful Opposition, and a church looking over his shoulders, Komorowski hopes to have an easier time in his newly won term because his Civic Platform party now controls both the Presidency and the Parliament. “Polish democracy has won,” Komorowski told widely cheering, but visibly well off, supporters in his headquarters as he and his wife made an appearance last Sunday night in a US-inspired made for television event late Sunday night after polling officially ended.
Komorowski has been Minister of National Defence from 2000 to 2001 and Deputy Speaker from 2005 to 2007. His party backs church positions against abortion and gay marriages, but strongly calls for privatization of the remaining public sectors of Polish economy, direct elections to local body chiefs such as mayors and other electoral reforms,. labour law reform, and a 15% flat tax.
Symbolic possibly of modern Poland, a country which has repeatedly seen its nobility and intelligentsia murdered en masse by invading armies over the last several centuries, Komorowski traces his origins to an old and noble family which was active against the communist regime, many relatives ending up in prison.
International observers here noted that the elections coincided with a high profile trip to Poland and Eastern Europe by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She participated in ceremonies marking ten years of Council for Democracy – for which international media had been invited – but took time off to supervise the signing of a deal with Poland last Saturday allowing a revised missile-shield program to defend against potential threats from Iran or elsewhere. It has been reported that Poland also received a Patriot missile battery, manned by American soldiers and situated at the military base at Morag, some 250 kilometers north of Warsaw and just 60 kilometers from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad territory.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Chistian Copmmunity tells Sonia's Council to revise Law against Communal Violence
Observations of the Christian Community on Proposed Communal violence Prevention Bill 2005/10
National Advisory Council meeting 24th June 2010
A. The Christian community, approximately 2.4 per cent of the Indian population, is yet to emerge from the trauma of the violence against it in Kandhamal District of Orissa in 2007 and 2008, which saw mass murder, unprecedented arson, gang rapes and coercive change of religion, among other crimes, and the continuing acts of violence against its members, individual pastors, priests, nuns, institutions, prayer meetings and tract distribution, across the country but more viciously in Karnataka, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and occasionally even in the National Capital Region of Delhi. This experience is marked by our understanding of the protection given to the aggressors, issues of command responsibility and impunity, and a callous attitude towards Christianity which is seen even in official circles as an alien religion, and its faithful as so much lesser citizens in the exercise of their Constitutional rights. This experience, as much as our empathy with the experiences of our brothers and sisters in the Dalit community, the Tribal people and members of the Sikh and Muslim faiths, guides our understating of communal violence, and our response to the Communal Violence Control and Prevention Bill through its various incarnations from when it was first moved in Parliament in 2005 till the last Cabinet note of December 2009.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India gave a detailed note to the Government some time ago. On behalf of the All India Christian Council, its office bearers also conveyed to Government our feelings. Other denominations and groups have also communicated with the government. The Christian community consists of several ecclesiastical groups and denominations, apart from ranging across all linguistic and ethnic groups in the country as is proper for its 2,000 year old history of existence in this great country.
It may be mentioned that we entirely support the major recommendations made by the Muslim community groups and by concerned Civil society. We strongly feel any Law to be relevant must empower the people, specially the survivor-victims. It must in no way further empower the State and the political apparatus to harass religious minorities.
This note therefore covers not just the experience of the Catholic and Episcopal groups in all their diversity as already enunciated by them, but also the experiences and needs if the membership of the All India Christian Council from the Evangelical and Pentecost churches, Independent Church groups and pastors, and above all, the common Christians, specially Tribal and Dalits, who may worship in their house, or go to a Church, and who are untied in their faith in the Salvation assured by Jesus Christ.
B. Needless to say, the proposed CV Bill is ignorant of the diversity of the minority communities, and specifically of the following issues of the Christian Community.
1. Dalit Christians: 60 per cent of all Christians in India trace their origins from the Dalit communities, now called the Scheduled Castes. They live with their fellow Indians in Dalit colonies, semi urban hovels, and village Cheris. They are subject to all atrocities faced by the others. In addition, they are targeted for being Christians, taunted, vilified and subject to sustained hate campaigns. And yet they do not get the hope or the security provided by anti-atrocity laws, or other provisions of the IPC.
2. TRIBALS: A large number of tribals are Christinas in the States of Rajasdthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra, Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand, apart from the Tribals of the North-Eastern region. The tribals of the so-called Chhotanagpur region particularly suffer from administrative and communal action, and find little or no recourse in the law. The experience in Kandhamal has brought this to the fore.
3. PLACES OF WORSHIP: While large cathedrals are landmarks in cities, the churches in small towns and villages may be just a kutcha hut or a log cabin. Often, both in Catholic and Protestant traditions, prayers are held within the house together with family members and neighbours. Sometimes, prayers are also held in the open on Sundays and other special days. Increasingly house churches have been targeted and often the police has been a party to the violence.
4. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: Nuns of the Catholic, Orthodox and of some Episcopal churches, as well as wives of Evangelical and Independent pastors have been particularly targeted in Madhya Pradesh, up to and including gang grape and sexual coercion, with the police entirely inactive, if not complicit. The Nuns can be identified at a distance and are therefore vulnerable all the more.
5. DIFFUSED POPULATION: Apart from certain districts, the Christian population is widely dispersed, and ingle families or a small cluster becomes very vulnerable.
6. PATTERN OF VIOLENCE: Though populations are dispersed in the major states – barring Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Goa, -- the violence is consistent. And yet authorities, especially the police dismiss it as “sporadic” unrelated and unconnected violence. The overall Pattern of Violence is never taken into account while taking preventive or curative measures.
7. HATE CAMPAIGNS: For the last forty years, there has been a consistent and sustained hate campaign against Christians, often officially supported. Where huge temples exist in government building and even in police stations, it is perhaps difficult to expect a secular approach from subordinate officials and policemen. The hate campaign in media is supported by partisanship in the district administration, further aggravating the communal harmony in those regions. These include refusal to distribute religious tracts and refusal of permission to sell or distribute Bibles, permission for holding Healing Ministries and Prayer meetings on public or private grounds and fields, and mis-reporting in the mass media painting the Christians in a negative light.
The following is an internal commentary by the All India Christian Council and its expert associates, which takes into account the above and assesses the new Bill with its suggestions.
C. OUR OBSERVATIONS ON THE CV BILL
The government has proposed a law to prevent control and deal with the aftermath of communal violence, which would include caste-based or religiously-motivated violence. Communal violence is recognised as a problem which runs deeper than simply undermining law and order. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief echoed the NCM in emphasising that communal violence is most likely to occur in a situation in which the following elements are present:
• Long-standing antagonism along religious lines;
• A specific occurrence triggering an emotional response among members of religious communities;
• A sense among perpetrators and the religious community to which they belong that communal violence is justifiable;
• A sense among perpetrators that the reaction of police to communal violence would be absent, partisan or ineffective.
The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2009, was first introduced on 26 November 2005, and has undergone a series of revisions, which include the adoption of a number of recommendations issued by the NCM. It is expected to be introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2010, having received Cabinet approval in December 2009.
PROVISIONS:
The purpose of the Bill is outlined in the Statement of Objects and Reasons:
“Communal violence threatens the secular fabric, unity, integrity and internal security of a nation. With a view to empowering the State Governments and the Central Government to take effective measures to provide for the prevention and control of communal violence and to rehabilitate the victims of such violence, for speedy investigation and trial of offences including imposition of enhanced punishments, than those provided in the Indian Penal Code, on persons involved in communal violence and for matters connected therewith, it has been decided to enact a law by Parliament.”
The current version of the Bill sets out a series of measures to these ends, and includes the following provisions:
• Article 3(1) groups a number of offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws in a schedule. If one or more of these offences are committed “in such manner and on such a scale which involves the use of criminal force or violence against any group, caste or community, resulting in grievous hurt, loss of life, or extensive damage or destruction of property” and where “such use of criminal force or violence is committed with a view to create disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups, castes or communities”, resulting in an imminent “threat to the secular fabric, integrity, unity or internal security of India”, a state government is required to notify this as a “communally disturbed area”.
• Article 4 specifies that a state government may request the central government to deploy armed forces in these circumstances.
• Article 5 provides for preventative measures to be taken by a district magistrate prior to any outbreak of communal violence.
• Articles 6-10 provide for preventative measures to be taken by the “competent authority” after an area has been designated as communally disturbed.
• Articles 11-16 proscribe and stipulate punishments for certain acts associated with communal violence, including possessing weapons or threatening witnesses;
• Article 17 stipulates punishments for public servants or competent authorities who act in a mala fide manner or wilfully fail to exercise lawful authority, and thereby fail to prevent communal violence.
• Article 19 provides that punishments stipulated for scheduled offences must be doubled if the offences are committed on a scale and in a manner which constitute communal violence.
• Article 21 provides for the declaration of police stations within the scheduled area, and for the provision of women police officers to investigate scheduled offences committed against women or children.
• Article 22 provides for the review of cases where the investigating officer does not file a charge sheet within three months of a First Information Report (FIR) being registered.
• Article 23 provides for the constitution of “Special Investigation Teams” if the state government believes the investigation of offences was not carried out in a fair and impartial manner.
• Articles 24-37 provide for the establishment and procedure of “Special Courts” for the trial of scheduled offences, and for the appointment of public prosecutors. Article 32 provides for concealing the identities of witnesses testifying before a special court.
• Articles 38-41 provide for the creation and functions of a “State Communal Disturbance Relief and Rehabilitation Council” by the relevant state government, including several ex officio members and several members nominated by the state government, including representatives of all major religious communities. Article 40 stipulates the functions of the council in planning relief efforts, including advising the state government on compensation and the establishment of relief camps, taking a range of remedial measures for the welfare of victims and the reparation of damage, recommending measures for activating a “district communal harmony committee” and reporting to the government on shortcomings in remedial measures. Article 41 stipulates the preparation of a plan “for promotion of communal harmony and prevention of communal violence” to be recommended for adoption by the council to the state government.
• Articles 42-44 provide for the creation and functions of a district equivalent of the state committee, to act as the implementing body for relief and rehabilitation measures.
• Articles 45-48 provide for the creation and functions of a national equivalent of the state committee, with responsibilities including advising relevant state governments on relief, rehabilitation and compensation and making recommendations to the central government.
• Articles 49-52 provide for state governments to establish schemes for the compensation of victims of communal violence.
• Articles 53-54 provide for the payment of compensation for damages by offenders.
• Articles 55-56 set out special powers of the central government to deal with communal violence. These include directing the
relevant state government to take appropriate measures, and declaring a “communally disturbed area” if the state fails to do so when necessary, and deploying armed forces under the authority of the central government.
• Article 58 provides that there should be no discrimination in the provision of relief or compensation “on the ground of sex, caste, community, descent or religion”.
D. OUR CRITIQUE:
The principle of a CV Bill has been welcomed by religious minorities in India, and it has the potential to add positively to India’s excellent body of legislation protecting against acts of discrimination or prejudicial violence. However, there exist legitimate concerns about the effectiveness of the 2005 and the 2009 drafts of the Bill, which have been voiced by civil society and religious minority organisations, by the NCM and by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief in the report of her 2008 visit to India. The Special Rapporteur recommended specifically that the legislation “should take into account the concerns of religious minorities” (paragraph 67).
The most serious, substantive and prominent concerns about the Bill in its current form include the following:
1. The Bill does not define “communal violence” adequately, and therefore cannot protect against it effectively. Firstly, it construes communal violence as disharmony between two different communities, or mass rioting by one community against another, but it does not recognise the process by which communal tension or hatred is incited, and it does not recognise the phenomenon of state complicity in the incitement or execution of communal violence. Secondly, the premise of the “communally disturbed area” does not do justice to the reality of communal violence as experienced by some religious minorities, especially Christians: certain states see frequent, well-targeted, single incidents of religiously-motivated violence, which are often orchestrated by extremist organisations, and this pattern of violence would not be addressed under the provisions of the Bill. Thirdly, the Bill inadequately covers the possible range of offences which might constitute “communal violence” (including specific forms of sexual violence), and the implications of this context for evidentiary standards in the investigative process.
2. The Bill does not provide for sufficient safeguards against the poor or discriminatory exercise of power by those responsible for protecting the rights of victims, which is a recurrent problem in cases of communal violence. The Special Rapporteur noted that civil society organisations have “voiced their concern that the sweeping powers given by the Bill to state governments could be misused to intimidate members of the minority community” (paragraph 40). Article 17 provides for the prosecution of public servants for the dereliction of duty, but this requires the prior sanction of the state government, and if the state government is complicit in (or not unfavourable towards) the communal violence, it becomes extremely unlikely that discriminatory behaviour or the dereliction of duty by public servants will be prosecuted. Article 22 of the Bill provides for the review of every case in which the investigating officer does not file a charge sheet within three months of an FIR being registered, but this may be circumvented by the common tactic whereby police officers fail to register FIRs according to proper procedure. Article 57, the so-called “good faith” clause, provides immunity for officials; however, the standard of mens rea, or command responsibility, should be enshrined in the Bill, so that superior authorities are held accountable for the unlawful activities of their subordinates. The NCM made a number of relevant additional recommendations to increase accountability: That the reports of any commissions of inquiry should be made public as a matter of course; that the National Human Rights Commission should be mandated to monitor the performance of special courts; and that those found guilty of involvement in communal violence should be debarred permanently from government jobs and from contesting any office.
3. The Bill should provide additional measures to protect witnesses or victims from intimidation. Article 15 criminalises acts which threaten witnesses, and Article 32 provides that the identity of witnesses may be concealed. However, the Bill should draw upon the guidelines of the Supreme Court and recommendations of the Law Commission. It would be strengthened considerably by providing for the police protection of witnesses at risk of threat or intimidation. Incentivising witnesses by providing travel and maintenance expenses (as recommended in Article 21(2)(ii) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act), would further protect against witnesses preferring to stay silent rather than risking intimidation as a consequence of giving evidence. In addition, the rights of persons displaced into camps as a result of communal violence, as outlined in Article 40(b), should be in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, including the provision of education to displaced children (principle 23) and ensuring that camps continue until the establishment of suitable conditions and the means for the displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes, or to resettle voluntarily (principle 28).
4. The Bill should set out a uniform, binding scheme for the provision of compensation to victims of communal violence, to address the inconsistencies shown in previous cases. It should establish the rights of victims or their dependents to financial compensation, and should also provide compensation to rebuild places of worship damaged or destroyed as a result of communal violence. This was among the recommendations of the NCM not included among the amendments in the 2009 version of the Bill.
E. Aftermath of 2008 anti-Christian violence in Orissa
In August to October 2008, Orissa witnessed the worst spate of communal violence ever faced by the Christian community in post-independence India, including brutal murders and rapes, widespread destruction of churches and property, and forcible conversions to Hinduism. The attacks, centred in Kandhamal district, were catalysed by the assassination on 23 August 2008 of Lakshmananda Saraswati, local head of the radical Hindu nationalist group VHP, by assailants believed to have been Maoists. On 24 August, when his remains were paraded around the district, mobs began setting up roadblocks, shouting Hindu nationalist and violent anti-Christian slogans, openly blaming Christians for the murder and calling for revenge as they attacked Christian targets. Although rural poverty and underlying issues of ethnic tensions over entitlements in Kandhamal played a role in the violence, these were not the primary causes but provided a context for the radicalisation of one community and the incitement of violence. The Orissa chief minister publicly acknowledged the role of extremist Hindu nationalist organisations in the violence in the legislative assembly for the first time in November 2009.
The violence which started in August 2008 continued for over eight weeks. At least 50,000 were displaced and 70 were killed; among the victims were Hindus opposing the rioters. Widespread anti-Christian attacks had also taken place in Kandhamal in December 2007, impunity for which laid the foundations for the second more serious wave of violence in 2008. The state government failed to implement detailed recommendations made by India’s NCM in early 2008.
F. SOCIAL CONTEXT:
Rural poverty is endemic in southern Orissa, the area in which the violence was centred, and the rural poverty ratio actually increased in this area during the period 1983-2000. There exist deep underlying issues of entitlement in Kandhamal, which created a context for the instigation of the 2008 violence: one such issue is the classification of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, which was formalised in 1950. Both communities trace their ancestry to the indigenous inhabitants of the land, and constitute a single ethnic, linguistic and cultural group. However, Kandhamal is designated as a ‘Scheduled Area’ under the provision of the fifth schedule of the constitution, and as such, certain entitlements are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, including freehold (patta) ownership of land. This is a potential cause of tension between Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Moreover, Christians of Scheduled Caste background or ancestry are not eligible to the same entitlements as Scheduled Castes (see section 4.3 above). It is in the interest of those Scheduled Castes who profess Christianity to be reclassified as Scheduled Tribes, as this would reverse their double disenfranchisement, so tensions among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can therefore take on a religious colouring in the right circumstances.
Although these factors of ethnicity and entitlement provided a context for the violence, it is important to emphasise that Christians in the area have been drawn from both Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. During the violence, Christians from both communities were attacked.
The extremist Hindu nationalist presence in Kandhamal has played upon existing sensitivities, and co-opted them onto a religious nationalist template. Extremist Hindu nationalists have been operational in the area for around 40 years, and they originate from a non-indigenous, caste Hindu, trader community. Their agenda has been the preservation of Hindu purity, including the prevention of cow slaughter and of religious conversions. Christians, as the largest religious minority in the area, constitute a threatening ‘other’, and provide a ready scapegoat.
The local prominence of Naxalites, or Maoist insurgents, creates an additional layer of complication. Naxalites were almost certainly responsible for the assassination of Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, which precipitated the mass violence against Christians. There are numerous theories about the Naxalites’ motivation for the murder, one of which is that it was an act of retribution against his activities, and that it was calculated to gain support from disenfranchised people in the area, including Christians. The palpable absence of state machinery from the area, means that the scene has been set for something of a ‘turf war’ between Hindu extremists and Naxalites.
G. ISSUES ARISING FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF KANDHAMAL FAST TRACK COURTS:
We had welcomed the Fast track courts and had high hopes from the two Additional Sessions Judges and the Public prosecutors. We feel betrayed after the lapse of one year. Out of 12 deaths by murder, where judgement is pronounced, there was only one conviction; and accused in 11 deaths are acquitted. Justice, reconciliation and peace remain an unfulfilled objective. There are legitimate fears of impunity on a large scale. Local lawyers suggest that the majority of crimes have not been registered properly by the police, and the majority of cases which reach the courts have resulted in acquittals. There is also widespread evidence of endemic bias and dereliction of duty in the investigation and prosecution of offences. As of now, lawyers in Kandhamal said that of 3,223 complaints submitted to the police; only 831 had been registered as First Information Reports (FIRs). The judicial system in place has been partially successful, but the realities of trying cases in a rural situation amidst widespread fear, combined with poverty and illiteracy, create special needs which the current system is failing to address adequately. Many witnesses or victims are reluctant to testify in court for fear of retribution and lack of confidence in the efficacy of the system, and they have been intimidated and threatened, sometimes by mobs outside courtrooms;
We suggest that the new CV bill take care of the following issues:
1. The Fast Track courts should be set up outside the affected area, preferably in a neighbouring district, and in special cases, in an adjoining state to remove any inference with the course of justice.
2. The Judges appointed should be subjected to review for their performances by superior courts to weed out bigotry and vested interest, if any
3. Special public prosecutors be appointed at government expense out a panel whetted by civil society and survivors-victims
4. Survivor-victims are allowed to arrange their own lawyers to assist the Special PPs.
5. Survivor Victims be allowed to file additional FIRs other than those filed by police suo motu
6. Survivor-Victims’ lawyers be allowed to cross examine defence witness and intervene properly in the judicial court process.
7. Witnesses security and transport be taken care of by government in a foolproof witness protection programme
8. In case of gender violence cases, in camera proceedings be arranged
9. Adequate security be provided in court premises and environments
10. Legal observers / amicus curie be allowed to monitor the course of the trial
11. Special Investigation Teams be set up in case police investigations are found to be inadequate.
John Dayal
Secretary General, All India Christian Council
National Advisory Council meeting 24th June 2010
A. The Christian community, approximately 2.4 per cent of the Indian population, is yet to emerge from the trauma of the violence against it in Kandhamal District of Orissa in 2007 and 2008, which saw mass murder, unprecedented arson, gang rapes and coercive change of religion, among other crimes, and the continuing acts of violence against its members, individual pastors, priests, nuns, institutions, prayer meetings and tract distribution, across the country but more viciously in Karnataka, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and occasionally even in the National Capital Region of Delhi. This experience is marked by our understanding of the protection given to the aggressors, issues of command responsibility and impunity, and a callous attitude towards Christianity which is seen even in official circles as an alien religion, and its faithful as so much lesser citizens in the exercise of their Constitutional rights. This experience, as much as our empathy with the experiences of our brothers and sisters in the Dalit community, the Tribal people and members of the Sikh and Muslim faiths, guides our understating of communal violence, and our response to the Communal Violence Control and Prevention Bill through its various incarnations from when it was first moved in Parliament in 2005 till the last Cabinet note of December 2009.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India gave a detailed note to the Government some time ago. On behalf of the All India Christian Council, its office bearers also conveyed to Government our feelings. Other denominations and groups have also communicated with the government. The Christian community consists of several ecclesiastical groups and denominations, apart from ranging across all linguistic and ethnic groups in the country as is proper for its 2,000 year old history of existence in this great country.
It may be mentioned that we entirely support the major recommendations made by the Muslim community groups and by concerned Civil society. We strongly feel any Law to be relevant must empower the people, specially the survivor-victims. It must in no way further empower the State and the political apparatus to harass religious minorities.
This note therefore covers not just the experience of the Catholic and Episcopal groups in all their diversity as already enunciated by them, but also the experiences and needs if the membership of the All India Christian Council from the Evangelical and Pentecost churches, Independent Church groups and pastors, and above all, the common Christians, specially Tribal and Dalits, who may worship in their house, or go to a Church, and who are untied in their faith in the Salvation assured by Jesus Christ.
B. Needless to say, the proposed CV Bill is ignorant of the diversity of the minority communities, and specifically of the following issues of the Christian Community.
1. Dalit Christians: 60 per cent of all Christians in India trace their origins from the Dalit communities, now called the Scheduled Castes. They live with their fellow Indians in Dalit colonies, semi urban hovels, and village Cheris. They are subject to all atrocities faced by the others. In addition, they are targeted for being Christians, taunted, vilified and subject to sustained hate campaigns. And yet they do not get the hope or the security provided by anti-atrocity laws, or other provisions of the IPC.
2. TRIBALS: A large number of tribals are Christinas in the States of Rajasdthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra, Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand, apart from the Tribals of the North-Eastern region. The tribals of the so-called Chhotanagpur region particularly suffer from administrative and communal action, and find little or no recourse in the law. The experience in Kandhamal has brought this to the fore.
3. PLACES OF WORSHIP: While large cathedrals are landmarks in cities, the churches in small towns and villages may be just a kutcha hut or a log cabin. Often, both in Catholic and Protestant traditions, prayers are held within the house together with family members and neighbours. Sometimes, prayers are also held in the open on Sundays and other special days. Increasingly house churches have been targeted and often the police has been a party to the violence.
4. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: Nuns of the Catholic, Orthodox and of some Episcopal churches, as well as wives of Evangelical and Independent pastors have been particularly targeted in Madhya Pradesh, up to and including gang grape and sexual coercion, with the police entirely inactive, if not complicit. The Nuns can be identified at a distance and are therefore vulnerable all the more.
5. DIFFUSED POPULATION: Apart from certain districts, the Christian population is widely dispersed, and ingle families or a small cluster becomes very vulnerable.
6. PATTERN OF VIOLENCE: Though populations are dispersed in the major states – barring Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Goa, -- the violence is consistent. And yet authorities, especially the police dismiss it as “sporadic” unrelated and unconnected violence. The overall Pattern of Violence is never taken into account while taking preventive or curative measures.
7. HATE CAMPAIGNS: For the last forty years, there has been a consistent and sustained hate campaign against Christians, often officially supported. Where huge temples exist in government building and even in police stations, it is perhaps difficult to expect a secular approach from subordinate officials and policemen. The hate campaign in media is supported by partisanship in the district administration, further aggravating the communal harmony in those regions. These include refusal to distribute religious tracts and refusal of permission to sell or distribute Bibles, permission for holding Healing Ministries and Prayer meetings on public or private grounds and fields, and mis-reporting in the mass media painting the Christians in a negative light.
The following is an internal commentary by the All India Christian Council and its expert associates, which takes into account the above and assesses the new Bill with its suggestions.
C. OUR OBSERVATIONS ON THE CV BILL
The government has proposed a law to prevent control and deal with the aftermath of communal violence, which would include caste-based or religiously-motivated violence. Communal violence is recognised as a problem which runs deeper than simply undermining law and order. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief echoed the NCM in emphasising that communal violence is most likely to occur in a situation in which the following elements are present:
• Long-standing antagonism along religious lines;
• A specific occurrence triggering an emotional response among members of religious communities;
• A sense among perpetrators and the religious community to which they belong that communal violence is justifiable;
• A sense among perpetrators that the reaction of police to communal violence would be absent, partisan or ineffective.
The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2009, was first introduced on 26 November 2005, and has undergone a series of revisions, which include the adoption of a number of recommendations issued by the NCM. It is expected to be introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2010, having received Cabinet approval in December 2009.
PROVISIONS:
The purpose of the Bill is outlined in the Statement of Objects and Reasons:
“Communal violence threatens the secular fabric, unity, integrity and internal security of a nation. With a view to empowering the State Governments and the Central Government to take effective measures to provide for the prevention and control of communal violence and to rehabilitate the victims of such violence, for speedy investigation and trial of offences including imposition of enhanced punishments, than those provided in the Indian Penal Code, on persons involved in communal violence and for matters connected therewith, it has been decided to enact a law by Parliament.”
The current version of the Bill sets out a series of measures to these ends, and includes the following provisions:
• Article 3(1) groups a number of offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws in a schedule. If one or more of these offences are committed “in such manner and on such a scale which involves the use of criminal force or violence against any group, caste or community, resulting in grievous hurt, loss of life, or extensive damage or destruction of property” and where “such use of criminal force or violence is committed with a view to create disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups, castes or communities”, resulting in an imminent “threat to the secular fabric, integrity, unity or internal security of India”, a state government is required to notify this as a “communally disturbed area”.
• Article 4 specifies that a state government may request the central government to deploy armed forces in these circumstances.
• Article 5 provides for preventative measures to be taken by a district magistrate prior to any outbreak of communal violence.
• Articles 6-10 provide for preventative measures to be taken by the “competent authority” after an area has been designated as communally disturbed.
• Articles 11-16 proscribe and stipulate punishments for certain acts associated with communal violence, including possessing weapons or threatening witnesses;
• Article 17 stipulates punishments for public servants or competent authorities who act in a mala fide manner or wilfully fail to exercise lawful authority, and thereby fail to prevent communal violence.
• Article 19 provides that punishments stipulated for scheduled offences must be doubled if the offences are committed on a scale and in a manner which constitute communal violence.
• Article 21 provides for the declaration of police stations within the scheduled area, and for the provision of women police officers to investigate scheduled offences committed against women or children.
• Article 22 provides for the review of cases where the investigating officer does not file a charge sheet within three months of a First Information Report (FIR) being registered.
• Article 23 provides for the constitution of “Special Investigation Teams” if the state government believes the investigation of offences was not carried out in a fair and impartial manner.
• Articles 24-37 provide for the establishment and procedure of “Special Courts” for the trial of scheduled offences, and for the appointment of public prosecutors. Article 32 provides for concealing the identities of witnesses testifying before a special court.
• Articles 38-41 provide for the creation and functions of a “State Communal Disturbance Relief and Rehabilitation Council” by the relevant state government, including several ex officio members and several members nominated by the state government, including representatives of all major religious communities. Article 40 stipulates the functions of the council in planning relief efforts, including advising the state government on compensation and the establishment of relief camps, taking a range of remedial measures for the welfare of victims and the reparation of damage, recommending measures for activating a “district communal harmony committee” and reporting to the government on shortcomings in remedial measures. Article 41 stipulates the preparation of a plan “for promotion of communal harmony and prevention of communal violence” to be recommended for adoption by the council to the state government.
• Articles 42-44 provide for the creation and functions of a district equivalent of the state committee, to act as the implementing body for relief and rehabilitation measures.
• Articles 45-48 provide for the creation and functions of a national equivalent of the state committee, with responsibilities including advising relevant state governments on relief, rehabilitation and compensation and making recommendations to the central government.
• Articles 49-52 provide for state governments to establish schemes for the compensation of victims of communal violence.
• Articles 53-54 provide for the payment of compensation for damages by offenders.
• Articles 55-56 set out special powers of the central government to deal with communal violence. These include directing the
relevant state government to take appropriate measures, and declaring a “communally disturbed area” if the state fails to do so when necessary, and deploying armed forces under the authority of the central government.
• Article 58 provides that there should be no discrimination in the provision of relief or compensation “on the ground of sex, caste, community, descent or religion”.
D. OUR CRITIQUE:
The principle of a CV Bill has been welcomed by religious minorities in India, and it has the potential to add positively to India’s excellent body of legislation protecting against acts of discrimination or prejudicial violence. However, there exist legitimate concerns about the effectiveness of the 2005 and the 2009 drafts of the Bill, which have been voiced by civil society and religious minority organisations, by the NCM and by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief in the report of her 2008 visit to India. The Special Rapporteur recommended specifically that the legislation “should take into account the concerns of religious minorities” (paragraph 67).
The most serious, substantive and prominent concerns about the Bill in its current form include the following:
1. The Bill does not define “communal violence” adequately, and therefore cannot protect against it effectively. Firstly, it construes communal violence as disharmony between two different communities, or mass rioting by one community against another, but it does not recognise the process by which communal tension or hatred is incited, and it does not recognise the phenomenon of state complicity in the incitement or execution of communal violence. Secondly, the premise of the “communally disturbed area” does not do justice to the reality of communal violence as experienced by some religious minorities, especially Christians: certain states see frequent, well-targeted, single incidents of religiously-motivated violence, which are often orchestrated by extremist organisations, and this pattern of violence would not be addressed under the provisions of the Bill. Thirdly, the Bill inadequately covers the possible range of offences which might constitute “communal violence” (including specific forms of sexual violence), and the implications of this context for evidentiary standards in the investigative process.
2. The Bill does not provide for sufficient safeguards against the poor or discriminatory exercise of power by those responsible for protecting the rights of victims, which is a recurrent problem in cases of communal violence. The Special Rapporteur noted that civil society organisations have “voiced their concern that the sweeping powers given by the Bill to state governments could be misused to intimidate members of the minority community” (paragraph 40). Article 17 provides for the prosecution of public servants for the dereliction of duty, but this requires the prior sanction of the state government, and if the state government is complicit in (or not unfavourable towards) the communal violence, it becomes extremely unlikely that discriminatory behaviour or the dereliction of duty by public servants will be prosecuted. Article 22 of the Bill provides for the review of every case in which the investigating officer does not file a charge sheet within three months of an FIR being registered, but this may be circumvented by the common tactic whereby police officers fail to register FIRs according to proper procedure. Article 57, the so-called “good faith” clause, provides immunity for officials; however, the standard of mens rea, or command responsibility, should be enshrined in the Bill, so that superior authorities are held accountable for the unlawful activities of their subordinates. The NCM made a number of relevant additional recommendations to increase accountability: That the reports of any commissions of inquiry should be made public as a matter of course; that the National Human Rights Commission should be mandated to monitor the performance of special courts; and that those found guilty of involvement in communal violence should be debarred permanently from government jobs and from contesting any office.
3. The Bill should provide additional measures to protect witnesses or victims from intimidation. Article 15 criminalises acts which threaten witnesses, and Article 32 provides that the identity of witnesses may be concealed. However, the Bill should draw upon the guidelines of the Supreme Court and recommendations of the Law Commission. It would be strengthened considerably by providing for the police protection of witnesses at risk of threat or intimidation. Incentivising witnesses by providing travel and maintenance expenses (as recommended in Article 21(2)(ii) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act), would further protect against witnesses preferring to stay silent rather than risking intimidation as a consequence of giving evidence. In addition, the rights of persons displaced into camps as a result of communal violence, as outlined in Article 40(b), should be in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, including the provision of education to displaced children (principle 23) and ensuring that camps continue until the establishment of suitable conditions and the means for the displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes, or to resettle voluntarily (principle 28).
4. The Bill should set out a uniform, binding scheme for the provision of compensation to victims of communal violence, to address the inconsistencies shown in previous cases. It should establish the rights of victims or their dependents to financial compensation, and should also provide compensation to rebuild places of worship damaged or destroyed as a result of communal violence. This was among the recommendations of the NCM not included among the amendments in the 2009 version of the Bill.
E. Aftermath of 2008 anti-Christian violence in Orissa
In August to October 2008, Orissa witnessed the worst spate of communal violence ever faced by the Christian community in post-independence India, including brutal murders and rapes, widespread destruction of churches and property, and forcible conversions to Hinduism. The attacks, centred in Kandhamal district, were catalysed by the assassination on 23 August 2008 of Lakshmananda Saraswati, local head of the radical Hindu nationalist group VHP, by assailants believed to have been Maoists. On 24 August, when his remains were paraded around the district, mobs began setting up roadblocks, shouting Hindu nationalist and violent anti-Christian slogans, openly blaming Christians for the murder and calling for revenge as they attacked Christian targets. Although rural poverty and underlying issues of ethnic tensions over entitlements in Kandhamal played a role in the violence, these were not the primary causes but provided a context for the radicalisation of one community and the incitement of violence. The Orissa chief minister publicly acknowledged the role of extremist Hindu nationalist organisations in the violence in the legislative assembly for the first time in November 2009.
The violence which started in August 2008 continued for over eight weeks. At least 50,000 were displaced and 70 were killed; among the victims were Hindus opposing the rioters. Widespread anti-Christian attacks had also taken place in Kandhamal in December 2007, impunity for which laid the foundations for the second more serious wave of violence in 2008. The state government failed to implement detailed recommendations made by India’s NCM in early 2008.
F. SOCIAL CONTEXT:
Rural poverty is endemic in southern Orissa, the area in which the violence was centred, and the rural poverty ratio actually increased in this area during the period 1983-2000. There exist deep underlying issues of entitlement in Kandhamal, which created a context for the instigation of the 2008 violence: one such issue is the classification of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, which was formalised in 1950. Both communities trace their ancestry to the indigenous inhabitants of the land, and constitute a single ethnic, linguistic and cultural group. However, Kandhamal is designated as a ‘Scheduled Area’ under the provision of the fifth schedule of the constitution, and as such, certain entitlements are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, including freehold (patta) ownership of land. This is a potential cause of tension between Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Moreover, Christians of Scheduled Caste background or ancestry are not eligible to the same entitlements as Scheduled Castes (see section 4.3 above). It is in the interest of those Scheduled Castes who profess Christianity to be reclassified as Scheduled Tribes, as this would reverse their double disenfranchisement, so tensions among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can therefore take on a religious colouring in the right circumstances.
Although these factors of ethnicity and entitlement provided a context for the violence, it is important to emphasise that Christians in the area have been drawn from both Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. During the violence, Christians from both communities were attacked.
The extremist Hindu nationalist presence in Kandhamal has played upon existing sensitivities, and co-opted them onto a religious nationalist template. Extremist Hindu nationalists have been operational in the area for around 40 years, and they originate from a non-indigenous, caste Hindu, trader community. Their agenda has been the preservation of Hindu purity, including the prevention of cow slaughter and of religious conversions. Christians, as the largest religious minority in the area, constitute a threatening ‘other’, and provide a ready scapegoat.
The local prominence of Naxalites, or Maoist insurgents, creates an additional layer of complication. Naxalites were almost certainly responsible for the assassination of Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, which precipitated the mass violence against Christians. There are numerous theories about the Naxalites’ motivation for the murder, one of which is that it was an act of retribution against his activities, and that it was calculated to gain support from disenfranchised people in the area, including Christians. The palpable absence of state machinery from the area, means that the scene has been set for something of a ‘turf war’ between Hindu extremists and Naxalites.
G. ISSUES ARISING FROM CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF KANDHAMAL FAST TRACK COURTS:
We had welcomed the Fast track courts and had high hopes from the two Additional Sessions Judges and the Public prosecutors. We feel betrayed after the lapse of one year. Out of 12 deaths by murder, where judgement is pronounced, there was only one conviction; and accused in 11 deaths are acquitted. Justice, reconciliation and peace remain an unfulfilled objective. There are legitimate fears of impunity on a large scale. Local lawyers suggest that the majority of crimes have not been registered properly by the police, and the majority of cases which reach the courts have resulted in acquittals. There is also widespread evidence of endemic bias and dereliction of duty in the investigation and prosecution of offences. As of now, lawyers in Kandhamal said that of 3,223 complaints submitted to the police; only 831 had been registered as First Information Reports (FIRs). The judicial system in place has been partially successful, but the realities of trying cases in a rural situation amidst widespread fear, combined with poverty and illiteracy, create special needs which the current system is failing to address adequately. Many witnesses or victims are reluctant to testify in court for fear of retribution and lack of confidence in the efficacy of the system, and they have been intimidated and threatened, sometimes by mobs outside courtrooms;
We suggest that the new CV bill take care of the following issues:
1. The Fast Track courts should be set up outside the affected area, preferably in a neighbouring district, and in special cases, in an adjoining state to remove any inference with the course of justice.
2. The Judges appointed should be subjected to review for their performances by superior courts to weed out bigotry and vested interest, if any
3. Special public prosecutors be appointed at government expense out a panel whetted by civil society and survivors-victims
4. Survivor-victims are allowed to arrange their own lawyers to assist the Special PPs.
5. Survivor Victims be allowed to file additional FIRs other than those filed by police suo motu
6. Survivor-Victims’ lawyers be allowed to cross examine defence witness and intervene properly in the judicial court process.
7. Witnesses security and transport be taken care of by government in a foolproof witness protection programme
8. In case of gender violence cases, in camera proceedings be arranged
9. Adequate security be provided in court premises and environments
10. Legal observers / amicus curie be allowed to monitor the course of the trial
11. Special Investigation Teams be set up in case police investigations are found to be inadequate.
John Dayal
Secretary General, All India Christian Council
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Kandhamal victims unite, knock at Government’s doors for justice; action for grassroots reconciliation, security and confidence
A meeting of Priests, Pastors, community leaders and activists held at Berhampur on 7th December 2009 has endorsed the formation of the Sampradayik Hinsa Prapidita Sangathana [Association of Victims of commuinal violence in Kandhamal] formed earlier in Phulbani after a series of meetings in which human rights and civil society activists from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack also took part.
All these meetings were the first of their kind since Hindutva violence against the Christian community in Kandhamal and other districts of Orissa left over 5347 houses looted and burnt, 295 churches destroyed, women and girls raped, and more than 75 people murdered in the name of religion and ethnicity. Large-scale displacement and migrations followed with over 50,000 people becoming refugees in their own motherland.
Two fast track courts set up in the aftermath of the violence have lost the confidence of the people with murderers, one of them a BJP legislator Manoj Pradhan, being released in several cases with eye witnesses too scared to dispose against the culprits. About 2500 complaints had been registered but only 823 FIR have been registered. All the cases were classified into murder (27 cases), attempt to murder cases, rape case, etc.
The major task of the new association, working closely with clergy and civil society activists irrespective of religion, is to restore public confidence and to ensure that the victims and witnesses felt safe enough to depose in court. This grassroots action will also help in the process of reconciliation and hopefully allow people to come back to their villages which are now barred to them by Hindutva activists who are forcing them to first convert to Hinduism before assimilating in the old habitations.
However, the association has expressed its deep distrust in the current justice delivery system, saying the Fast Track Courts are working perhaps too fast in trying to finish off the cases without looking closely at the evidence. Of cases involving 12 murders, there has been conviction just in one case, for instance.
The association has also decided to boycott the Justice Mohapatra commission probing the murder of VHP vice president Lakhmanananda Saraswati and the violence that followed his death at the hands of a Maoist group on 23rd August 2008. They said the commission has preconceived notions and has already formed its conclusions without even waiting for evidence.
The meeting at Berhampur, presided over by Archbishop Cheenath, was also attended by other Bishops and church leaders including Bishop Sarath Nayak of Berhampur and Believers Church bishop Bardhan, National Integration Council Member John Dayal, Human rights activist Dhirendra Panda and senior lawyers from the Christian Law Association, Human Rights Law Network, and the All India Christian Council and all church groups represented in the region.
Meanwhile the Archbishop of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and Kandhamal, Most Reverend Raphael Cheenath, SVD, has also met the Collector and submitted him a memorandum highlighting the same issues of instilling a sense of security among the villagers and giving them adequate compensation, rehabilitation and employment.
It was made clear at the various meetings that security of the people remained the main concern. The sense of insecurity is also leading to a gross miscarriage of justice in the two Fast Track courts. As victims have complained to the Orissa High Court separately, witnesses are being coerced, threatened, cajoled and sought to be bribed by murderers and arsonists facing trial. Shoddy police investigations have already created a crisis in the dispensation of justice, and even genuine eye witnesses are reneging in court as they see the court premises full of top activists of fundamentalist organisations and often the same persons who had burnt their houses. The police remain mute watchers, as always.
The witnesses are threatened in their homes, and even their distant relatives are being coerced. This requires urgent and immediate action by the District administration and the Police to ensure that the process of justice is not thwarted and sabotaged.
There are major lacunae in the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of mass arson. Not a single Christian place of worship or Christian NGO has been compensated for their tremendous loss, but the poor victims are also being mocked by the inadequate compensation. The violation of principles of rehabilitation is at several levels. The first is in identifying the houses as fully or partially damaged. Secondly, houses by the dozens have not been enumerated by the government surveyors. Thirdly, the victims of the 2007 arson, especially in Barakhama have been criminally left out of the reckoning and for those 225 or so poor families, it has been second year without adequate shelter.
It costs about Rs. 85,000 to reconstruct a house and yet the government gives only Rs 50,000 in separate tranches. It is the duty of the state to give the full money. Just to save the people from the vagaries of the weather, the Church has sought to pitch in, but their resources are meagre and more than 2,500 families cannot be helped by the Church.
There is no information from government or the district administration about the livelihood of those affected by the violence. The administration without delay must conceive and execute a scheme so that every family effected by violence has at least one person, if not more, in gainful employment in government projects so that they can live a life of dignity, and to prevent large scale migration and pauperisation of victim families.
It was felt special projects for the women victims, and especially young girls, are also required urgently in Kandhamal. There are already rumours of human trafficking. I pray they remain rumours.
The administration has to act swiftly on the issue of allotting land for homes to those persons who have fallen into the gap of the Forest Act, and have no land to build their houses. They have to be identified, allotted land so that they can live in peace without facing the perpetual threat of being ousted.
The administration, civil and police, have also to act with their full strength to stop the hate campaign that has been unleashed in the last one year, and which has penetrated distant villages, creating schism and hatred between communities. The law of the land must be implemented severely to contain and deter those indulging in this activity.
All these meetings were the first of their kind since Hindutva violence against the Christian community in Kandhamal and other districts of Orissa left over 5347 houses looted and burnt, 295 churches destroyed, women and girls raped, and more than 75 people murdered in the name of religion and ethnicity. Large-scale displacement and migrations followed with over 50,000 people becoming refugees in their own motherland.
Two fast track courts set up in the aftermath of the violence have lost the confidence of the people with murderers, one of them a BJP legislator Manoj Pradhan, being released in several cases with eye witnesses too scared to dispose against the culprits. About 2500 complaints had been registered but only 823 FIR have been registered. All the cases were classified into murder (27 cases), attempt to murder cases, rape case, etc.
The major task of the new association, working closely with clergy and civil society activists irrespective of religion, is to restore public confidence and to ensure that the victims and witnesses felt safe enough to depose in court. This grassroots action will also help in the process of reconciliation and hopefully allow people to come back to their villages which are now barred to them by Hindutva activists who are forcing them to first convert to Hinduism before assimilating in the old habitations.
However, the association has expressed its deep distrust in the current justice delivery system, saying the Fast Track Courts are working perhaps too fast in trying to finish off the cases without looking closely at the evidence. Of cases involving 12 murders, there has been conviction just in one case, for instance.
The association has also decided to boycott the Justice Mohapatra commission probing the murder of VHP vice president Lakhmanananda Saraswati and the violence that followed his death at the hands of a Maoist group on 23rd August 2008. They said the commission has preconceived notions and has already formed its conclusions without even waiting for evidence.
The meeting at Berhampur, presided over by Archbishop Cheenath, was also attended by other Bishops and church leaders including Bishop Sarath Nayak of Berhampur and Believers Church bishop Bardhan, National Integration Council Member John Dayal, Human rights activist Dhirendra Panda and senior lawyers from the Christian Law Association, Human Rights Law Network, and the All India Christian Council and all church groups represented in the region.
Meanwhile the Archbishop of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and Kandhamal, Most Reverend Raphael Cheenath, SVD, has also met the Collector and submitted him a memorandum highlighting the same issues of instilling a sense of security among the villagers and giving them adequate compensation, rehabilitation and employment.
It was made clear at the various meetings that security of the people remained the main concern. The sense of insecurity is also leading to a gross miscarriage of justice in the two Fast Track courts. As victims have complained to the Orissa High Court separately, witnesses are being coerced, threatened, cajoled and sought to be bribed by murderers and arsonists facing trial. Shoddy police investigations have already created a crisis in the dispensation of justice, and even genuine eye witnesses are reneging in court as they see the court premises full of top activists of fundamentalist organisations and often the same persons who had burnt their houses. The police remain mute watchers, as always.
The witnesses are threatened in their homes, and even their distant relatives are being coerced. This requires urgent and immediate action by the District administration and the Police to ensure that the process of justice is not thwarted and sabotaged.
There are major lacunae in the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of mass arson. Not a single Christian place of worship or Christian NGO has been compensated for their tremendous loss, but the poor victims are also being mocked by the inadequate compensation. The violation of principles of rehabilitation is at several levels. The first is in identifying the houses as fully or partially damaged. Secondly, houses by the dozens have not been enumerated by the government surveyors. Thirdly, the victims of the 2007 arson, especially in Barakhama have been criminally left out of the reckoning and for those 225 or so poor families, it has been second year without adequate shelter.
It costs about Rs. 85,000 to reconstruct a house and yet the government gives only Rs 50,000 in separate tranches. It is the duty of the state to give the full money. Just to save the people from the vagaries of the weather, the Church has sought to pitch in, but their resources are meagre and more than 2,500 families cannot be helped by the Church.
There is no information from government or the district administration about the livelihood of those affected by the violence. The administration without delay must conceive and execute a scheme so that every family effected by violence has at least one person, if not more, in gainful employment in government projects so that they can live a life of dignity, and to prevent large scale migration and pauperisation of victim families.
It was felt special projects for the women victims, and especially young girls, are also required urgently in Kandhamal. There are already rumours of human trafficking. I pray they remain rumours.
The administration has to act swiftly on the issue of allotting land for homes to those persons who have fallen into the gap of the Forest Act, and have no land to build their houses. They have to be identified, allotted land so that they can live in peace without facing the perpetual threat of being ousted.
The administration, civil and police, have also to act with their full strength to stop the hate campaign that has been unleashed in the last one year, and which has penetrated distant villages, creating schism and hatred between communities. The law of the land must be implemented severely to contain and deter those indulging in this activity.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Rebuilding Civil Society in Kandhamal for Justice and Reconciliation
4TH DECEMBER 2009
From John Dayal in Kandhamal:
Of the 12 murder cases tried inthe fast Track courts in Phulbani, Kandhamal district or Orissa, India, the accused have been let off in 11 murders, and convicted in just one. A member of the State Legislative assembly on the Bharatiya Janata party ticket, Mr Manoj Pradhan, has been let off in th four cases in which he has been tried so ar. He and his henchmen have been accused by witnesses of terrorising them, or seeking to bribe them.
A belated effort is now being made to revive civil society and the process of justice and reconciliation towards a lasting peace in Kandhamal, which remains the worst single case of persecution of Christians in South Asia. Most of the over 5,000 houses destroyed in the December 2007 and August 24-October 2008 mayhem remain un-built, and several thousand of the 50,000 Christian refugees are still to return home. Many cannot as they have been told they have to convert to Hinduism before they will be accepted in the villages. The threats and coercion continue till today.
The police and administration, as usual, look on. The one change is the Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik’s acceptance, in an answer in the State legislature, that it was the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its sister organisations of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad which were responsible in the anti Christian violence, the first time the government has accepted this reality. Two judicial commissions of enquiry, plodding on in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, are yet to admit this fact.
The following is an update:
I. The Harsh Reality of Orissa and especially of Kandhamal is:
1. No one raised a voice when violence hit the Christians in December 2007 and August 2008, not even the governments
2. Civil Society in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, if it existed, played dead, and nation was not moved.
3. Barring a few Left parties who could protest, the Political Apparatus remained silent and invisible, including so called friendly parties and groups
4. The Media was violently biased, specially the Oriya Media
5. Fact Finding groups either misunderstood the causes, or just blamed either Conversions or Dalit-Tribal conflicts as the cause of the violence, and even people’s enquiry commissions incouding An Oriya Judge and Teesta Setalvad have yet to give their reports on the 2007 violence.
6. Post violence, civil society and peace institutions have yet to be revived.
7. Church was shattered, deeply wounded and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the violence. Barring the PILs in the Supreme Court, no real pressure on Government to construct all houses fully, pay sustenance allowances etc, and government jobs.
II. Post Violence;
1. Church is focussed on helping complete houses instead of using the law to let government complete the houses. As a result, though the Catholic Church says it will help complete 1200 houses, Believers Church 900 Houses, Eficor about 300 houses, and CNI a similar number, another 2,500 houses remain without help. Also without help are the 250 or so victims of the 2007 violence, especially in Barakhama, who have been left to thereon devices.
2. Although there has been much work by religious groups in distributing Holy Bibles and clothes, and in counselling victims, there has not been commensurate work in enhancing the sense of security.
3. The result is that complainants and witnesses to violence feel very insecure and are susceptible to coercion, blackmail and perhaps allurement.
4. The result has been that despite the effort of well meaning young lawyers, especially of the CLA and HRLN, not much progress has been made in getting convictions especially in the murder cases involving BJP political leaders.
5. In many villages, refugees have not been able to return because the threat of forcible conversion to Hinduism remains.
6. The government peace committees remain on paper, or are loaded against Christians
7. Not much headway has been made in getting the Collector to secure land for non Tribals so they can construct their houses.
8. No headway has been made at village level towards reconciliation
III. Reviews:
1. Civil Society groups have met sporadically to assess the situation, including those coming from Delhi, but there has not been much sharing of info and concepts.
2. The first major initiative was taken by Fr Ajay and Mr Dhirendra Panda to call a meeting on 3rd November 2009 in Bhubaneswar to assess the satiation. Almost the entire political spectrum, excluding the BJP, BJD and Congress, were present, incouding women groups, tribal and Dalit groups and specialists. Several victims were also present. Dr Dayal, and Advocate Sr Mary Scaria, Ms Lansinglu Rongmei, Mrs Tehmina Ram Arora and Ms Vrinda Grover met several times in New Delhi to discuss the legal issues.
3. As part of the follow up of the decisions and recommendations of those meeting, some activists held meetings in It was also decided o get senior advocates and observers to be present for some time in the Fast Track courts so that grounds could be prepared for intervention in superior courts.
4. As a follow-up of those meetings and after consultations with senior Bishops of Orissa of various denominations, it was felt that the Church had a major role to play at the grassroots level to reconstruct social and civil society structures to give courage and strength to the victims. This can be done only at the homeland village level and not by outsiders from Bhubaneswar or elsewhere in the country.
5. It was therefore decided to call a meeting in Berhampur, the nearest big town, of all religious workers – Priests, pastors, catholic religious, NGO workers, catechists and others – on 7th December 2007 for a full day discussion cum workshop to discuss the issue and to encourage the religious groups to begin grassroots work apart from the religious work and relief they have been doing.
6. It was decided to bring experts to help brief the religious on these issues.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
US panel puts India on Watch List for anti Minorities violence
India Chapter
Addition to the 2009 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
August 2009
USCIRF 2009 Annual Report –Chapter on India
India
The Commission views India as a critically important country in terms of religious freedom, given its experience with democracy following its colonial past. India is the world’s largest democracy, is home to a multitude of religious communities that have historically coexisted peacefully, occupies a key geopolitical position, and enjoys increasing stature on the global stage even as it faces violent acts of terrorism on its soil. Nonetheless, several incidents of communal violence have occurred in various parts of the country, resulting in many deaths and mass displacements, particularly of members of the Christian and Muslim minorities, including major incidents against Christian communities within the 2008-2009 reporting period. Because the government’s response at the state and local levels has been found to be largely inadequate and the national government has failed to take effective measures to ensure the rights of religious minorities in several states, the Commission decided to place India on its Watch List
The Commission grew concerned about religious freedom conditions in India in 2002 after observing a disturbing increase in communal violence against religious minorities associated with the rise of organizations with Hindu nationalist agendas, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of the country’s major political parties. Under the national leadership of the BJP, whose term heading the government ended in 2004, the Commission found the Indian government’s response to violent attacks against religious minorities to be inadequate. In response to severe riots in the state of Gujarat and elsewhere, the Commission recommended that India be designated a “country of particular concern” (CPC) in 2002 and 2003.
Following the election in 2004 of the Congress Party, the Indian government espoused an inclusive platform and has repeatedly pledged its commitment to religious tolerance. This commitment was reiterated by the Congress Party in the 2009 general elections for the Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament, in which the Congress Party emerged victorious. Although the BJP retained a strong presence in certain states, including Gujarat, some viewed Congress’s victory as a repudiation of the BJP, and other analysts claimed that the surprisingly large margin by which the Congress Party won is statistically attributable to decreased support for “Left Front” parties, rather than decreased support for the BJP. Despite the Congress Party’s commitment to religious tolerance, communal violence has continued to occur with disturbing results, and the government’s response, particularly at the state and local levels, has been largely inadequate. Following incidents and reprisals at and after Christmas 2007, the murder of an influential Hindu leader in August 2008 sparked a prolonged and violent campaign targeting Christians in the state of Orissa. Over several weeks, at least 40 individuals were killed, the vast majority of whom were Christians, church properties and thousands of homes were destroyed, and an estimated 60,000 or more Christians fled their homes, seeking refuge in the jungle or in government relief camps. The inadequate police response failed to quell the violence, and early central government intervention had little impact.
Mass arrests following the Orissa violence did not translate into the actual filing of cases. Also In June 2009, USCIRF requested to visit India to discuss religious freedom conditions with officials, religious leaders, civil society activists and others, but the Indian government did not issue visas to the USCIRF delegation. Nor did the Indian government offer alternative dates for a visit, which the Commission requested. Efforts continue to lag to prosecute the perpetrators of the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat, in which over 2,000 were killed, the majority of whom were Muslim.
India is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual democracy of more than a billion people that boasts the vibrant representation of all the world’s major religions. In this majority Hindu country with one of the world’s largest Muslim populations, the current, two-term Prime Minister is Sikh, the past president is Muslim, and the national governing alliance remains headed by a Catholic. India is the birthplace of Buddhism, the current host country to the Tibetan government-in-exile, and home to small Jewish and Parsi (Zoroastrian) communities that have lived for centuries without persecution. Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Parsi holidays are recognized as public holidays. Nevertheless, despite this remarkable pluralism and general commitment to religious freedom, Hindu nationalist organizations retain broad popular support in many communities in India, in part because some provide needed services or function as community social organizations. Many of these organizations exist under the banner of the Sangh Parivar, a “family” of over 30 organizations that includes the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevaks Sangh (RSS), and the BJP. Sangh Parivar entities aggressively press for governmental policies to promote their Hindu nationalist agenda, and adhere in varying degrees to an ideology of Hindutva, which holds non-Hindus as foreign to India.
Unlike many of the other countries of concern to the Commission, India has a democratically elected government with a tradition of secular governance dating back to the country’s independence. India also has an independent judiciary, an influential and independent media that is relentlessly critical of the government, and a dynamic civil society with numerous on-governmental organizations (NGOs) that act as government watchdog groups. In practice, however, India’s democratic institutions charged with upholding the rule of law, most notably state and central judiciaries and police, lack capacity and have emerged as unwilling or unable to consistently seek redress for victims of religiously-motivated violence or to challenge cultures of impunity in areas with a history of communal tensions.
The failure to provide justice to religious minorities targeted in violent riots in India is not a new development, and has helped foster a climate of impunity. In 1984, anti-Sikh riots erupted in Delhi following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguard. Over 4 days, nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed, allegedly with the support of Congress Party officials. Few perpetrators were ever held accountable, and only years after the fact. In April 2009, the Congress Party dropped Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from its roster of general election candidates over their suspected role in the 1984 riots. In the late 1990s, there was a marked increase in violent attacks among members of religious communities, particularly Muslims and Christians, throughout India, including incidents of killings, torture, rape, and destruction of property. Perpetrators were rarely held responsible. For example, there has been little justice for the victims of riots between Hindus and Muslims after the 1992 destruction of the Babri mosque at a contested religious site in Ajodhya. At least 900 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Bombay in the 1992-1993 riots, but few have been successfully prosecuted. For instance, several high-profile trials that commenced over 10 years after the riots resulted in acquittals. A probe by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation into one high-profile act of riot violence was announced in February 2009, 16 years after the riots.
Gujarat Violence in 2002
In February 2002 in the state of Gujarat, a fire on a train resulted in the death of 58 Hindus returning from Ayodhya. Following this, 2,000 Muslims were killed across Gujarat by Hindu mobs, thousands of mosques and Muslim-owned businesses were looted or destroyed, and more than 100,000 people fled their homes. Christians were also victims in Gujarat, and many churches were destroyed. India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), an official government body, found evidence of premeditation in the killings by members of Hindu nationalist groups, complicity by Gujarat state government officials, and police inaction in the midst of attacks on Muslims. In 2007, the investigative newsmagazine Tehelka revealed further evidence of state government and police complicity in the riots, including the complicity of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Since the riots, Chief Minister Modi has been re-elected twice, and enjoys the support of the central BJP and numerous prominent Indian business leaders.
Court convictions since the Gujarat riots have been minimal. Efforts to pursue the perpetrators continue, albeit slowly, and human rights groups report that many cases will likely continue to be closed or result in acquittals, due to alleged lack of evidence or insufficient effort on the part of local police officials. Since there were many eyewitnesses to these public acts of brutality, this suggests that endemic impediments to justice exist within the police, the judiciary, and the state government apparatus. In August 2004, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat government to reopen its investigation of the 2002 violence, criticizing the local police officials for poor investigative practices and inadequate follow-up. In July 2006, a report from a committee attached to the Prime Minister’s office again chastised the Gujarat government for failing to improve the situation for Muslims in that state, noting that a “state of fear and insecurity” still existed for many Muslims there. This was corroborated by the January 2009 report of the UN Special Rapporteur for the Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir, who visited India in March 2008 and noted the systemic, economic, and social marginalization of members of Gujarat’s Muslim community.
International human rights groups have named the VHP, RSS, BJP, and Bajrang Dal as perpetrators of the violence in Gujarat, as well as other acts of violence against non-Hindus.
After a controversial 2002 non-governmental organization report described links between a Maryland-based charity and India’s RSS and other “violent and sectarian Hindu organizations, “Silicon Valley companies Cisco and Oracle suspended matching company donations to the charity. India’s central and state police and judicial apparatuses have neglected to consistently or adequately examine evidence linking Sangh Parivar entities such as the VHP, RSS, BJP, and Bajrang Dal to acts of violence.
Orissa Violence in 2007 and 2008
Attacks on Christian churches and individuals, largely perpetrated by individuals associated with Hindu nationalist groups, continue to occur across the country, and perpetrators are rarely held to account. In December 2007 in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, violence between Christians and Hindus resulted in several deaths, dozens of injuries, the destruction of at least 20 churches and hundreds of homes, and the displacement of hundreds, many from minority religious communities. According to reports by India’s National Commission for Minorities (NCM), the tensions between the Christians, many of whom are from low-caste communities, and the Hindus, many of whom are from tribal communities, were well-known and longstanding.
According to Christian groups and news reports, the influential local VHP leader Swami
Lakhmanananda Saraswati played a central role in fomenting and encouraging the December 2007 violence against Christians.
In the wake of unresolved communal tensions from the December 2007 violence, the August 23, 2008 murder of Swami Saraswati in Kandhamal sparked a prolonged and destructive violent campaign targeting Christians in Orissa. Unlike the rest of the state, the Kandhamal district is 25-27 percent Christian and several of Kandhamal’s 2,500 villages are entirely Christian. Over several weeks, newspapers reported at least 40 individuals were killed, although some Christian groups report more; thousands of church properties and homes were destroyed; at least 20,000 fled their homes to government-run relief camps; and approximately 40,000 were driven into hiding in jungles, the majority of whom were Christian. The displaced persons reportedly lived in squalid conditions in the camps, and according to interviews with Indian Christian leaders; religious leaders and aid agencies were denied access by state and/or district officials to refugees in Kandhamal, the hardest-hit area. In January 2008, after the December 2007 violence targeting Christians, the Kandhamal District Collector also prevented religious organizations from conducting relief work. This disproportionately affected Christians, as those killed and displaced in the Fall 2008 riots were overwhelmingly Christian, though some Hindus were killed and displaced as well.
By March 2009, several state and central police units remained in Kandhamal, and at least 3,000 individuals were still in government camps, reportedly because of their inability to return to their homes unless they “reconvert” to Hinduism. Numerous press and NCM reports document widespread forced conversions of Christians to Hinduism in villages and relief camps in Orissa, following the Fall 2008 attacks. The Orissa state VHP chief declared on September 12 that the death of Swami Saraswati was an impetus to halt Christian conversions in Orissa. About two weeks later, a month-long series of so-called “reconversion” ceremonies and processions of the Swami’s ashes throughout Kandhamal was announced. There was no immediate police or state government reaction. Insecurity and the threat of harassment, property destruction, and/or additional violence allegedly have caused many Christians to partake in “reconversion “ceremonies. According to the NCM report, even retired high-ranking officials were “threatened with every sort of retaliation if they did not forthwith change their religion and embrace Hinduism.”
In both 2007 and 2008, inadequate police forces failed to quell the violence in Orissa, and initial central government intervention was largely inadequate. According to news reports, prior to the violence, only 500 police officers at 13 stations served Kandhamal’s population of
740,000. Inadequate police equipment and training for riot control also impeded an effective emergency response. As with the 2007 violence, the synchronization of some attacks across wooded and remote terrain suggests premeditation, as well as the awareness and perhaps assistance of local officials and/or police. While the violence was still ongoing, the Orissa state government permitted a funeral procession for Swami Saraswati to cover a distance of 150 kilometers across Kandhamal two weeks after his murder, despite calls from religious leaders that such a procession could further inflame communal tensions. According to news reports, some police prevented individuals from filing police reports, and other watched passively as violence occurred. Central government paramilitary forces did not arrive in Orissa until August 27, but were reportedly prevented from reaching the most sensitive areas because of the strategic felling of trees across key access roads. Mass arrests following the riots did not translate into the actual filing of cases, exacerbating the existing culture of impunity. According to the NCM, 187 people were arrested and 127 cases were registered following the December 2007 violence. By April 2008, only 14 individuals had been formally charged with a crime. In March 2009, the BJP nominated one of the main individuals accused in the anti-Christian violence for an assembly seat in the general elections. Despite remaining imprisoned for the duration of the elections, he won the seat. Also in March 2009, Orissa’s ruling party, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), ended its 11-year coalition with the BJP, a decision fueled in part by the BJD’s repudiation of the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda, and the alleged support of some state BJP officials for the VHP, the Sangh Parivar entity implicated in riots. Several high-profile state and central government investigative teams have visited Orissa. Almost none of the dozens of recommendations for state reform offered by the NCM, the UN Special Rapporteur, and Indian Christian organizations have been implemented. Nevertheless, fears that violence would resume in Orissa on Christmas 2008 were assuaged by a series of preventative measures undertaken by the government, and the holiday occurred without incident.
Other Recent Incidents
On September 14, 2008, shortly after the outbreak of violence in Orissa, over a dozen prayer halls and churches in three Karnataka state districts were attacked by individuals allegedly associated with the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu nationalist organization. In one district, six individuals were injured after attacks on two New Life Church prayer halls. The New Life Church has been accused of distributing pamphlets denigrating Hinduism. Police cases have been registered following some, but not all of the incidents. Apart from this spate f violence, violent, sporadic attacks against Christians and church properties were also reported throughout 2007 and 2008 in Karnataka and in Chhattisgarh. For instance, in November 2007, a mob of 150 members of a Hindu extremist group attacked a church in the state of Chhattisgarh, destroying the church building, beating the pastor, and kidnapping a young member of the church, who was later found dead. Despite the fact that the police were provided with the names of the attackers, officials reportedly waited until the following day to file a complaint. In January 2008, also in Chhattisgarh, more than 80 people were injured in an attack on a large Christian meeting carried out by extremists. The attackers reportedly beat the Christian worshippers and vandalized the makeshift church structure. The State Department also reports communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims in several districts in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 2007 and 2008, causing injuries and the destruction of property.
The state response to these attacks has been inconsistent. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa did not order additional state security for churches and prayer halls until over a week after the first attack. On September 19, 2008, Karnataka state leader of the Bajrang Dal, Mahendra Kumar, was arrested by state police after he publicly announced his group’s leading role in the attacks. However, in the aftermath of the attacks, Mr. Yeddyurappa attributed the violence to conversion activity.
Hindu nationalist groups have been implicated in attacks against Hindus as well. In January 2009, about 40 members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group, the Sri Ram Sena, attacked a group of women at a pub in Mangalore, Karnataka, on the premise that the women’s behaviour violated Hindu values. The attacks sparked a national outcry from activists, and several arrests were made, although all were released on bail. In September 2008, a bomb attack in Malegaon, Maharashtra that killed seven and injured over 70 was traced to “Hindu extremists.”Eleven individuals were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad amidst a national debate regarding the contours of emergent “Hindu terrorism” and allegations of anti-Hindu bias by political parties seeking to appease minority electorates.
Responses to Terrorism and the Prevention of Communal Violence
India witnessed a wave of terrorist bombings in 2008, and unlike with the cases discussed previously, swift state and central government action followed to prevent communal violence. Calls for peace and calm by local religious leaders also followed many of the attacks. In May 2008, bomb attacks killed almost 100 bystanders in crowded markets next to Hindu temples in Jaipur. At least 45 individuals died in bomb blasts in November 2008 in Ahmadabad, the capital city of Gujarat. Severe casualties also resulted from 2008 bomb attacks in Delhi and Bangalore. The central government’s immediate appeals for calm and peace and the rapid response of state police helped prevent communal riots, despite varying religious undertones to the attacks, some of which occurred near places of worship, and/or were orchestrated by Islamic extremists. In November 2008, 163 people were killed in coordinated attacks on ten prominent Mumbai sites, including two luxury hotels and a Jewish center. These attacks were carried out by members of the extremist Islamic organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group active in Kashmir and widely believed to enjoy the backing of Pakistan’s intelligence agency. The attackers purposefully sought out an American-born rabbi and his Israeli wife residing in the upper floor of an apartment building as targets for their murder. This attack on Jews on Indian soil by foreign actors stands in marked contrast to the fact that India is one of the few countries in the world in which a Jewish minority has lived for centuries without persecution by its nationals. Threats and fear of terrorism in India, perpetrated or threatened by both domestic actors (including Maoists) and foreign, regional actors (particularly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) remains high. This has been exacerbated by the July 2008 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, in which 41 people were killed, and by persistent acts of violence along the India-Bangladesh border.
Legislative Climate
The Indian Constitution protects the right of citizens to change and propagate their religion. However, five Indian states, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa have controversial laws against “coerced” religious conversions. Laws restricting religious conversions in the states of Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh are pending further government action before implementation. The anti-conversion laws require government India officials to determine what is or is not a “sincere” conversion. These laws provide for fines and imprisonment for anyone who uses force, fraud, “inducement,” and in some cases, the threat of “divine displeasure” to convert another.
To date, there are few, if any, reports of persons having been arrested or prosecuted under these laws. According to the NCM, there have been no cases of forced conversions registered in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, the locus of violence between Hindus and Christians in 2007 and 2008, in the 40 years of the Act’s existence in that state. No action has been taken on the two formal requests for “permission for conversion” that have been filed in the past 10 years. Nevertheless, these laws can create a hostile atmosphere for religious minorities, particularly given that they exist in states in which attacks by extremist groups are more common—and often happen with greater impunity—than elsewhere in India. For example, a June 2006 report by the NCM found that in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which remains headed by the BJP after the 2009 elections, Hindu extremists had frequently invoked the state’s anti-conversion law as a pretext to incite mobs against Christians. The NCM report also found that police in Madhya Pradesh were frequently complicit in these attacks. Similarly, the NCM report on the December 2007 violence in Orissa concluded that an important factor behind the attacks was the “anti-conversion” campaign carried out by groups associated with the Sangh Parivar. The UN Special Rapporteur has also expressed her concern over the impact of these laws on religious minorities and their inconsistency with international norms guaranteeing the freedom to change one’s religion, and has called for their repeal.
An additional factor exacerbating tensions between Hindus and Christians in Orissa — tensions that erupted into violence in 2007 and more prolonged rioting in 2008—is a quota scheme offering certain benefits to India’s most disadvantaged groups, the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes (also known as Dalits or “untouchables”). In Orissa, Hindus who are members Scheduled Castes receive job quota benefits, but Christians and Muslims from Scheduled Castes do not, as they are considered to have removed themselves from the caste system. Although affirmative action is not an internationally recognized right, the quota system, which was enacted because Scheduled Castes and Tribes represent a historically underprivileged and impoverished demographic, is oftentimes applied discriminatorily so that disadvantaged Christians and Muslims are excluded from benefiting. However, in many cases, the economic and social challenges facing this demographic do not appear to be eliminated by their religious affiliation. The UN Special Rapporteur has condemned this discriminatory system and called for the abolition of links between religion and caste or tribal status. After a central government-appointed panel, the Sachhar Committee, acknowledged in a November 2006 report that Indian Muslims face discrimination and other hardships, Prime Minister Singh pledged to do more to “address the imbalances,” although reports conflict about how many of the 22 recommendations have actually been implemented. In November 2007, the government adopted new rules enabling members of all religious communities to adopt children, ending a long period in which only Hindus were given this right. In January 2009, the government announced that madrassa degrees would be equivalent to university degrees.
However, the positive impact of these measures in the Muslim community may be mitigated by incidents of police profiling of Muslim youths in areas affected by recent bomb blasts, leading to allegations of harassment and detainment. At least 40 unarmed protesters were killed and hundreds were detained during weeks of violent protests and counter-protests in May 2008 regarding the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to transfer 100 acres of forest land to the government-run, Sri Amarnath Shrine Board for the lodging of Hindu pilgrims. The state government’s decision to transfer the property in the Muslim-majority state was seen by many Kashmiri Muslims as an expression of pro-Hindu bias and an attempt by the Indian government to increase Hindu religious tourism and skew state religious demographics. In January 2009, thousands of Muslims protested the death of two young Muslim men shot by police during a sweep following bomb blasts in Jaipur. In March 2009, at the urging of the Election Commission, BJP general election candidate Varun Gandhi of the Gandhi political dynasty was arrested by Uttar Pradesh state police under the National Security Act on charges of hate speech against Muslims during a campaign rally. After over two weeks in jail, the Supreme Court ordered Gandhi’s release on bail, pending his upholding of a commitment not to promote “disharmony or feelings or enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religion, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities.” Varun Gandhi was elected to the lower house of India’s national parliament in the 2009 national elections but subsequently faced a legal challenge on the grounds that his alleged hate speech rendered his victory invalid.
Recommendations
The Commission notes that although the infrastructure for investigating and prosecuting cases of religiously-motivated violence or harassment exists in India, the capacity of the legal system is severely limited and is utilized inconsistently. These deficiencies have resulted in a culture of impunity that gives members of vulnerable minority communities few assurances of their safety, particularly in areas with a history of communal violence, and little hope of perpetrator accountability.
The Commission thus recommends that the U.S. government urge the government of India to undertake the following measures to make more vigorous and effective efforts to halt violent
attacks against members of religious minorities, as well as women and individuals deemed to be of lower caste, to conduct timely investigations and prosecutions of individuals alleged to have perpetrated violence, to hold state governments and officials accountable for violence and unlawful acts in their states, and to enact policies to encourage religious tolerance, in accordance with India’s rich history of religious pluralism and the peaceful coexistence of different linguistic, ethnic, and religious groups.
I. Strengthening Law Enforcement and the Judiciary
The Commission recommends that the U.S. government urge the government of India to:
• Strengthen the ability of the state and central police and other law enforcement bodies to provide effective measures to prohibit and punish cases of religious violence, and protect victims and witnesses by
o ensuring that complainants are able to file “First Information Reports;”
o ensuring that cases relating to religious violence are processed in a timely manner, including by ensuring that a sufficient number of investigators and public prosecutors are supplied to districts in which acts of communal violence have occurred, and that
o providing protection for witnesses in danger of retaliatory violence;
o ensuring that all complainants are able to obtain legal representation, regardless of religion or caste status;
o ensuring that standardized procedures for documenting and collecting evidence are promptly followed in instances of communal conflict; and
o ensuring that trials at all levels of the justice system are impartial, including by investigating allegations of corruption or official complicity in any acts of alleged religious violence;
• Strengthen the state and central judiciary by implementing measures to ensure that:
o cases involving religious violence or harassment are processed and resolved in a timely manner; and
o survivors of communal violence are made aware of their rights and avenues for legal recourse, for example by establishing free or low-cost community legal aid clinics in riot-hit areas;
• Ensure that the state and central police and other law enforcement agencies have the training and resources necessary to avert future communal violence, including by sharing information among central and state law enforcement bodies about measures that successfully prevented outbreaks of violence in previous high-tension situations;
• Provide training on human rights and religious freedom standards and practices to members
of the state and central police and judiciary, particularly in areas with a history or likelihood
of communal violence;
• Ensure that the perpetrators of terrorist attacks are brought to justice, and the victims and their families are provided aid and counselling; and
• Fulfill a pledge made in 2004 to enact a law criminalizing inter-religious violence.
II. Reforming Existing Legislation That May Undermine Freedom of Religion or Belief
The Commission recommends that the U.S. government urge the government of India to:
• Establish an impartial body of interfaith religious leaders, human rights and legal experts, and other civil society representatives to study religious conversion activity and any allegations of forced, induced, or otherwise illegal or improper conversions in states with legislation regulating conversions and to make recommendations as to if and how such laws should be changed to comply with international standards on the freedom of thought,
conscience, and religion or belief; and
• Investigate job allocation and government benefit schemes for Scheduled Tribes and Castes to assess whether religion is used unfairly to provide or deny access to benefits.
III. Taking New Measures to Promote Communal Harmony, Protect Religious Minorities, and Prevent Communal Violence
The Commission recommends that the U.S. government urge the government of India to:
• Call on all political parties and religious or social organizations, including entities of the Sangh Parivar, including, but not limited to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayamsevaks Sangh, Bajrang Dal, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, to 1) publicly denounce violence against and harassment of religious minorities, women, and low-caste members, 2)acknowledge that such violence constitutes a crime under Indian law, and 3) communicate to all members and affiliates that acts of violence or harassment will not be tolerated, and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law;
• Take immediate legal action against any charitable, social, or political organizations, or individuals associated with such organizations, about whom evidence of participation in acts of communal violence is found;
• Establish effective State Minority Commissions charged with the responsibility for examining minority affairs, including minority religious communities, issuing recommendations, and serving as a repository for minority grievances in those states that do not currently have such commissions, including Orissa, and ensure that these commissions are transparent, adequately funded, inclusive of women and minorities, and subject to periodic independent review; and
• Establish measures to build confidence among religious communities in areas with a history
or likelihood of communal violence, including truth and reconciliation councils and social and cultural programming.
IV. Addressing Communal Violence in Gujarat
The Commission recommends that the U.S. Government urge the government of India to:
• Continue to pursue, investigate, and lay charges against any individuals responsible for the deaths at Godhra, and the perpetrators of the killings, sexual violence, and arson in Gujarat in
2002;
• Ensure that any efforts to bring a case against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi are
allowed to proceed in accordance with the law; and
• Send a central government investigative team to Gujarat to assess the security of individuals
displaced by the 2002 riots, and reports that such individuals are systematically economically and socially marginalized, and provide recommendations for improving communal harmony in Gujarat.
V. Addressing Communal Violence in Orissa
The Commission recommends that the U.S. Government urge the government of India to:
• Initiate a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the murder of Swami Lakhmanananda Saraswati and the ensuing violence.
• Continue to pursue, investigate, and bring charges against the perpetrators of the killings and arson in Orissa, as well as any forced reconversions [see specific recommendations under 1. Strengthening Law Enforcement and the Judiciary];
• Allow aid groups, regardless of religious affiliation, access to internally displaced persons
still unable or unwilling to return to their home communities;
• Establish appropriate mechanisms to ensure that 1) all compensation schemes, including those promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after the outbreak of the Fall 2008 violence, are carried out in a timely manner, and 2) any families unable to produce the body of an individual killed by rioters are not excluded from compensation schemes;
• Take steps to ensure police access to Kandhamal district and other areas that may be prone to communal violence, including by improving road infrastructure and building capacity;
• Mobilize the necessary security forces over the timeframe necessary to ensure that internally displaced persons residing in government relief camps or elsewhere are allowed to safely return to their villages, without the threat of violence or harassment;
• Ensure that the use or threat of violence or harassment to bring about forced conversions or “reconversions” are prosecuted promptly under existing laws prohibiting harassment and violence; and
• Recognize the unique link between poverty, tribal identity, and communal violence in Orissa, and implement development schemes to address poverty, disadvantages associated with tribal or caste status, the lack of economic opportunity, and the lack of adequate education and health infrastructure.
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