Action Alert #2 - 10 Jun 2002 [File law suit]
Action Alert #3 - 26 Jun 2002 [What's Muslim about Kalam?]
Action Alert #4 - 26 Jun 2002 [Act now to protect the refugees of Gujarat]
If not you, who?
If not now, when?
Act now to stop the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, India and bring the perpetrators to Justice
Current Crisis
Violence continues unabated in the Indian state of Gujarat, two months since it first started. The death toll now exceeds 2000, an over-whelming majority of which were Muslims. Gujarat has fallen into a state of utter chaos and mayhem. The two months of violence against Muslims has created an immense humanitarian catastrophe with over a 110,000 rendered homeless and forced to survive under most humiliating and inhumane living conditions in squalid refugee camps. Leading organizations like the European Union, the Human Rights Watch and several independent media observers have established that the attacks on Muslims is a planned and systematic genocide against India’s minority Muslim community, carried out by the members of the India’s right wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, with extensive police participation and in close cooperation with officials of the Gujarat State Government.
Action Requested
Please call the phone numbers given below and ask the U.S. Dept. of State to:
1. Condemn the genocide of Muslims in India.
2. Prevail upon the Indian Government to abide by its secular constitution and take strong and decisive steps to stop the continuing genocide of Muslims.
3. Put direct pressure upon the Indian Government to take all necessary relief and rehabilitation measures to accommodate over 110,000 refugees of recent violence.
4. Declare the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, the main groups responsible for the massacre of Muslims as terrorist organizations and deny them the privilege of using the infrastructure and financial networks in the US in conducting their terror campaigns against the Muslims in India.
Please follow up your phone calls with a detailed fax letter expressing your concerns over the violence and urge the State Dept to take immediate steps to stop the genocide of Muslims in India.
U.S. Department Of State Contact Information:
Bureau of South Asian Affairs
Assistant Secretary Christina B. Rocca Tel: (202) 736-4325 / Fax: (202) 736-4333
India Desk Acting Director James Bean Tel: (202) 647-2141 / Fax: (202) 736-4463
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Assistant Secretary Lorne Craner Tel: 202-647-2126 / Fax: (202) 647-5283
Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom
Director Thomas Farr Tel: 202-647-0463 / Fax: (202) 647-4501
Office of Human Rights and Democracy (DRL/PHD)
Director Margot Sullivan Tel: 202-647-0407/ Fax: (202) 647-9519
Talking Points
The US as the only super power and principal signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Charter, has the moral and ethical responsibility to promote peace and equality and respect of human rights and religious freedom for the oppressed minority Muslim community of India.
As a result of the recent violence, over 110,000 people, most of them Muslims, now live in squalid relief camps, after having their homes and businesses destroyed, or out of fear for their safety. According to Human Rigths Watch, the state government has failed to provide adequate and timely humanitarian assistance to these people.
According to Human Rights Watch, some police officers led the victims directly into the hands of their killers. Fundamentalist Hindu mobs used voter lists and other information obtained through the local municipalities. In some instances, top police officials who sought to protect Muslims have been removed from positions of command. European Union(EU) investigations found evidence of a "systematic" targeting and destruction of the Muslim economy and involvement of state ministers. State officials in Gujarat were directly involved in the killings of hundreds and possibly thousands of Muslim citizens of India. According to the EU report, these attacks were not spontaneous, but were planned months in advance with extensive participation of the police and the state government
The VHP and Bajrang Dal have a history of violence and intimidation against Muslims and other religious minorities in India. They were also responsible for burning alive of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two kids, in January, 1999.
The VHP agenda, calls for Indian Muslims to either leave Islam or leave India, and the premeditated violence clearly fit the State Department definition of terrorism, which is “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.” We therefore demand that these groups immediately be placed on the State Department list of terrorist organizations [The VHP, is a registered non-profit charitable organization in the US]
The ruling BJP party of India has been accused of seeking to minimize and cover-up the complicity of the VHP in recent violence and Gujarat, and has expressed its sympathies with the VHP program. The BJP should be sternly reprimanded by the US for its sympathy with Indian terrorist organizations.
Sample Letter
Sir/Madam,
I am deeply concerned by the continuing violence against Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat, that has led to the massacre of over 2000 innocent civilians and over 110,000 have been rendered homeless.
It has been established by several independent media observers including the European Union Commission and the US based Human Rights Watch, that these attacks were planned genocide of Muslims carried out by members of the India’s right wing fascist organizations namely the Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP), the Bajarang Dal(BD) and the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh(RSS) with extensive police participation and in close cooperation with officials of the Gujarat State Government..
In view of this grim situation and colossal toll on human lives, I call upon you to urge the Indian Government to respect its secular constitution and take strong and decisive steps to stop the violence against its Muslim minorities, arrange to provide immediate and adequate relief to the victims and move swiftly to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice.
I also urge you to declare the groups responsible for these widespread violence against civilians, as terrorist organizations and shutdown their offices and financial infrastructure here in the United States. I believe it is imperative that the United States led global campaign against terrorism should deny groups such as the VHP, BD and the RSS from using the resources and financial networks in the United States in carrying out the genocide and ethnic cleansing of minorities in India.
With concern and hope of immediate action from your office,
Sincerely,