2 of 4

Swami Agnivesh of Delhi, a prominent Hindu ascetic who has defended the rights of Christians, was the first Indian to reject publicly USCIRF's invitation to testify. His refusal was widely publicized in India. "The attempt on the part of the U.S. to police freedom in other countries … amounts to violation of the sovereignty of other nations. Citizens of other nations cannot aid and abet this process without compromising their national pride and patriotism," Agnivesh said last month.

Speaking to ENI last week, he congratulated India's Christian leaders for "their wisdom born out of their love for the country" in opposing the U.S. hearing on religious freedom in India.

Another person who declined the USCIRF's invitation to testify is a well-known Australian woman, Gladys Staines, now of Baripada in eastern Orissa state. Staines, widow of a missionary who was murdered with their two sons in India in January 1999 by Hindu fundamentalists, is now continuing her late husband's work running a leprosy center in Baripada. Contacted by ENI, Gladys Staines said simply that she did not "want to attend" the hearing, but she declined to give reasons.

In his testimony before the commission in Washington, Dayal, who is secretary of the All India Catholic Union and the All Indian Christian Council, pointed out that in India the hearing was seen as "tantamount to interference in India's internal affairs."

Declaring that he understood the strong nationalist sentiments and rejecting any suggestions that international sanctions should be imposed on India over religious persecution, Dayal said however that he supported proposals for the "implementation of constitutional guarantees" in India and moves to ensure that "the rule of law" was enforced.

Dayal said he agreed to participate in the hearings in Washington largely "to reach out to the powerful and vibrant Indian community in the United States for their support. They, more than anyone else, have in their power to influence political processes, government and policy - not in Washington but back home in India—to ensure that true freedom of faith continues to be nurtured."

Dayal said they could apply pressure on the Indian government, pressing home the importance "for the government to ensure that minorities not only be safe, but feel secure" under the rule of law.

Though the hearings raised passions in India, they received little public attention in the U.S. But the chairman of the commission, Elliott Abrams, said that the issue of religious freedom in India and also in Pakistan, where many Christians claim they face severe discrimination, concerned the committee, particularly as earlier this month the U.S. State Department had issued its annual report on international religious freedom. The report concluded that the governments of both India and Pakistan had condoned or even engaged in "grave violations of religious freedom."

Abrams said that by holding a hearing on the two countries the same day, the commission was not trying to "equate the situations in India and Pakistan, or to compare them to each other or to any other country. The situations in India and Pakistan are entirely distinct and each is extremely complex."

Abrams added that President Bill Clinton's visit to India earlier this year and the visit of India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to the U.S. this month provided an opportunity to "consider how the protection of religious freedom should factor into the development and implementation of U.S. policy."

next page... |  2 of 4

share this page

October (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44