State of the World's Minorities 2006 - India

A change in the political climate had an impact on the religious minorities of India. The coalition led by the Hindu Nationalist Party (Bharatiya Janata Party) lost the general parliamentary elections held in April-May 2004 and was succeeded by the Indian National Congress. Notwithstanding a change in the federal government, security forces continued to pursue policies, inter alia, of extrajudicial killings, detentions and torture. The implication of such policies was particularly tragic for India's religious, ethnic and linguistic minority groups. Arbitrary practices of arrests, detentions and torture were deployed against the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir; courts in Jammu and Kashmir were reluctant to hear cases involving militants and failed to act expeditiously on habeas corpus cases. Jammu and Kashmir has a bitter and painful political history, the roots of the conflict going back to the partition of India in 1947 and leading to three wars between India and Pakistan. The conflict between the Kashmiris and the Indian armed forces has been brutal, resulting in more than 40,000 deaths within the past 15 years. Since April 2005 (with the visit of Pakistan's Military leader Pervez Musharraf to India) some, albeit slow, progress has been made in developing a peace dialogue. In April 2005 a bus service opened between the two parts of the divided Kashmir. In June 2005, a number of Kashmiri leaders held talks with the Pakistani leader, with a view to advancing the peace initiative. This was followed by the decision at the end of August by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold talks with the Kashmiri separatists. The talks, which were conducted with the moderate wing of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Dehli on 5 September 2005, provide cause for optimism: the leader of the Hurriyat – an umbrella group of parties opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir – agreed in principle to denounce all forms of violence within Kashmir. However, in the light of the intransigent stance of all the parties involved in the conflict and the continuing violations of Indian security forces, a resolution to the dispute appears distant.

In addition to the grievances emerging from Kashmir, Muslims of India claim to have suffered persecution and genocide in the state of Gujarat. Muslim leaders condemn the failure of the Gujarat government and the Indian courts to prosecute those involved in the killing of over 2,000 Muslims at the hands of Hindu extremists. In many cases, attempts to hold perpetrators of Gujarat riots accountable were hampered by the allegedly defective manner in which police recorded complaints. There were allegations made by the victims that the police failed to register their complaints or recorded the details in such a way as to lead to lesser charges. Victims complained that the police and governmental authorities deliberately failed to bring charges against prominent people involved in attacks. No appropriate action has been undertaken against those involved in the Gujarat riots. A retrial was ordered in relation to the most serious instance of rioting in Gadhra, and arrest warrants were issued for 10 of the 21 accused. However, in November 2004, the key prosecution witness refused to testify in the Mumbai court in one of a series of recantations.

There was also the continuation of another related sectarian Hindu-Muslim dispute over the sacred site of Ayodha. On 5 July 2005, six men pretending to be tourists used explosives to blast through the wall of the Ayodha site. Although all the assailants were killed, Hindu nationalist parties such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) called for retaliatory action to be taken against Muslim organizations and blamed Pakistan for orchestrating the attack. The 166.6 million Scheduled Castes (including the Dalits) and the 84.3 million Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) continued to face discrimination and social segregation in many aspects of public and private life. Dalits were victims of social ostracism, having inadequate access to health care and poor working conditions. Dalit women continued to face 'double discrimination' on the basis of their caste as well as gender – deprived of education and basic health care they were frequently forced into slave-like work and menial labour. In the light of the egregious and systematic denial of the fundamental rights of the Dalits, the UN, on 19 April 2005 (in an unprecedented move) decided to appoint two special rapporteurs to examine the substantial and deep-rooted problem of caste-based discrimination. The special rapporteurs are mandated to study all issues surrounding the discrimination against Dalits and report to the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The three-year process will lead to the drafting of a set of Principles and Guidelines aimed at eliminating caste-based discrimination.