Centuries have passed. Rulers have changed. Politics has evolved. Political geography has been reset. But the atrocities against Hindus, just because they are Hindus and believers in Rama, Krishna and motherliness of cows, has not come to an end. Faith-induced atrocities against Hindus continue in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and even in India.
It is not surprising that even the UN draft resolution, sponsored by 33 European countries and approved by the Third Committee dealing with social, humanitarian and cultural issues, mentions only three Abrahmic religions, but not Hinduism or Sikhism or any of the Indic religions.
India, recently, had to tell UN to take a direct stand against Hinduphobia and violent bigotry targeting the Sikhism and Buddhism.
India had to point out: “This August body fails to acknowledge the rise of hatred and violence against Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism.”
And India did ask: “UN resolutions on such important issues speak only of these three Abrahamic religions” which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam that trace their origins to Jewish prophet Abraham. Why this selectivity?”
The atrocities against the Hindus, and Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Jains, in Pakistan and Bangladesh equals unparalleled proportions in human history. Entire populations have been decimated and either forced to migrate or convert. Only a tiny proportion of the community has been left, only to serve the torturing masters, to clean their sewers and latrines, and to serve as slaves and minions.
The majority community of these two countries, Afghanistan is not mentioned here because they have already finished off almost all Hindus, feels free to attack, abduct, rape, torture, kill HIndu girls at will and burns and vandalises Hindu temples in a wanton manner. Yet, you will not find any mention of such tortures and crimes against humanity in any international discourse or media narrative.
No one even mentions the mass killing and rape of Hindus by Pakistan Army in Bangladesh in 1971. The world just does not care that the human tragedy caused by the Pakistan state in its Eastern part, now Bangladesh, was no less than what was done by Hitler on jews in Europe.
Vanishing of Hindu population in Pakistan and Bangladesh should be matters of major humanitarian enquiries the world should urgently carry out. Crores of Hindus have simply vanished. Lakhs have been killed, converted, raped, tortured since 1947, and especially after 1971.
Someone only has to read the Book “The Blood Telegram” by Gary J Bass to understand the scale of genocide of Hindus perpetrated by Pakistan Army in 1971. Although, Bangladesh was created and the perpetrators of 1971 genocide lost that part of the country, things did not change for the Hindus. Their persecution, on a relatively lower scale, continues till date in Bangladesh.
Yet, in international discourse, Hindus are never the victims. They are always the perpetrators of crimes. And it is a shame for those who run and control the discourse and the intellectual narratives in the world. They should be ashamed for having ignored the centuries of annihilation and torture against Hindus in their narratives, history and memory.
It is true that the world does not care because Hindus themselves do not care about the atrocities being committed against them. No jew of the world is unaware, or unconscious, of the holocaust. Yet, most Hindus just don’t care about what goes on in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh or even in their own country.
The world affairs are determined by discourses. And Hindus just don’t count in such discourses. Hindus lack the clarity, vision and adeptness to draw attention of the world even when they are undergoing the worst humanitarian crisis and torture.
The sad fact is that things are unlikely to change much in the near future.
It is hard to awaken a community that is forgetful of its own history and fearful of coming out of its deep slumber.
