A QUIET CASE OF ETHNIC CLEANSING
PART FOUR: WHAT MUST BE DONE
Dr.
Richard L. Benkin
http://www.InterfaithStrength.com
drrbenkin@comcast.net
This is the final installment in
a four part series about the ongoing persecution and ethnic cleansing of the
millions-strong Bangladeshi Hindus.
Previous installments established the historical roots of this
relentless and racist attack, the deadly combination of the Islamists’
incessant attacks and government’s tacit agreement, and the shockingly abusive
reaction by their co-religionists in West Bengal, India. Part Four focuses exclusively on what the
West can do to prevent genocide before it occurs. What a novel thought!
The first question to answer
is: Do we find these allegations
credible? The second is: If we do not, are they serious enough to
warrant further investigation; or should we instead turn our backs? And the third is: What action, then, are we and the
international community morally bound to take?
Obviously, answers to the first two questions are not mine to provide;
but there are several specific actions that should be taken on behalf of these
victims of the murderous combination of apathy in the face of passionate hatred.
First, the Indian government maintains a hands-off policy towards
the refugees’ continued persecution, even cross border attacks. It can maintain the fiction that it is an
autonomous matter for West Bengal only insofar as no one
challenges it. The Indian government
needs to be approached about these atrocities occurring on its soil with the
apparent collusion or deliberate non-interference policy of one of its
constituent states. Is Indian inaction a matter of constitutional law or is it
discretionary? Verifying the answer is
itself another answer. Each answer,
however, suggests its own course of action, as well as the appropriate action
by the government of India
and the direction of any protests.
With regard to this and subsequent
actions, people in the democratic West, can be effective by personally lobbying
their representatives; whether those politicians serve in Congress, Parliament,
or any other legislative body. Indian
leaders will take our concerns much more seriously if they are brought to them
by a concerned, friendly nation with which it likely has extensive economic
ties.
Second, the refugees must be granted some sort of legal status
within India. Their lack of any is an open secret. It was very easy for me to locate these
individuals and the camps they call home.
In more than one of them, I found West Bengal
government officials—and no doubt the occasional RAW agent. How much easier
would it be for the government of India
to find these people and get them on some sort of official register! As long as these people remain in a legal
netherworld, they remain vulnerable to abuse and manipulation. Only a legal status will assure them of their
human rights, education for their children, freedom of movement, and better
employment opportunities. Many refugees
used to farm their own lands in Bangladesh
but now are reduced to itinerant day labor or such things as pulling rickshaws;
or as I observed, digging through garbage dumps.
Third, demand refugee status for these people. They fit every classic definition of a
refugee community. They fled religious
persecution by both private groups and a government that refused to protect
them; and they have a reasonable expectation—which they often state explicitly—of
facing more violence should they attempt to return to Bangladesh. Demand protection and economic assistance
from the appropriate United Nations agency.
The UN certainly does not shrink from making a big point about refugees
elsewhere. Bangladeshi refugees are present
in many parts of India,
especially in the northern and eastern regions of the nation. I observed some in Delhi
living in desperate conditions. Many
might declare these people “economic refugees” because the proximate cause of
their flight was economic hardship. It
needs to be stated, however, that if economics caused the flight, it was
economic privation due to religious persecution. Could it be but a coincidence that the
refugees are Hindu and not a proportional mix of Bangladeshi Hindus and Muslims?
Fourth, to the extent that individuals have had their land seized
under Bangladesh’s Vested Property Act
or Pakistan’s
Enemy Property Act, they have a right to compensation from those governments
which instituted and supported the legalized thievery based on religious
persecution. The laws are an affront to the civilized world and that the
civilized world has not taken action in the decades of the laws’ existence is
an affront to the values we claim to espouse.
A credible suit with realistic chances of succeeding is likely the
quickest way to get Bangladesh
to act and act fast.
Five, demand that Bangladesh
immediately repeal the racist Vested Property Act. It offends every principle on which human
dignity is predicated. Yet, no one is
calling it what it is. No one is calling
Bangladesh to
account for it. And so what message have
we been sending to Bangladesh
about its legalized ethnic cleansing?
That MUST stop.
Six—and perhaps most importantly, demand an end to the
carnage: the carnage in Bangladesh,
and the carnage in West Bengal. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
and others often have urged the stationing of international monitors in various
parts of the world; but they have been silent on this matter. The United Nations, NATO, and other
international organizations likewise can be found in all sorts of international
trouble spots and former trouble spots.
But they, too, have been silent on this issue. Humanity itself—as well as other victims of
sectarian violence—cries out for this.
There is little doubt that if left unchecked, radicals will carry out
their intended genocide in South Asia. Our world has been consistently ineffective
when it in combating that. The Nazi holocaust against the Jews, Rwanda,
Darfur, and others come to mind. Nothing was done until the bodies were piled
too high to ignore. This time, let us
stop genocide before it occurs.
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Dr. Richard L. Benkin is an independent human rights activist
who first gained notoriety for his successful fight to free Bangladeshi
journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury from imprisonment and torture in
2005. Since then, he has continued to
advocate for Mr. Choudhury’s rights—are constantly under attack by the government
of Bangladesh—and for other human
rights issues. Most recently, he took a
fact finding trip to West Bengal and other areas in India to confirm the
ethnic cleansing of Bangladeshi Hindus and the severity of their current
situation even in India.
Dr. Benkin is available for talks,
seminars and interviews. Please contact him: drrbenkin@comcast.net
http://www.InterfaithStrength.com
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