SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2236b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.—The Constitution provides forthe right of peaceful assembly, and the Government generally respected this rightin practice. The authorities sometimes require permits and notification prior to holdingparades or demonstrations, but local governments ordinarily respect the rightto protest peacefully, except in Jammu and Kashmir, where separatist parties routinelyare denied permits for public gatherings. During periods of civil tension, theauthorities may ban public assemblies or impose a curfew under the Criminal ProcedureCode.Srinagar and other parts of Jammu and Kashmir occasionally came under curfew,but more often were affected by strikes called by militants.On March 27, Calcutta police beat primary school teachers participating in apeaceful procession to the legislative assembly, after holding a meeting on demandsthey had made of the state government. On August 13 and 14, police killed 2 personsand injured 3 others after they fired on a crowd of 1,500 Muslims in Agra. Thecrowd had gathered to protest efforts by majority Hindus to prevent them fromusing a plot of land close to a Hindu temple. The minority community wanted touse the land, which was under the supervision of Muslim religious authorities, asa graveyard. Police allege that the protesters turned violent, throwing bombs andbottles filled with acid at police. The police maintain that they fired at the crowdwith live ammunition only after efforts to quell the disturbance with tear gas andrubber bullets had failed. Some of the protesters told reporters that the police actionswere unprovoked (see Sections 1.a. and 1.g.).According to Amnesty International, in August the Gujarat government detainedapproximately 600 persons who were planning to attend a hearing on the Narmadadam (see Section 2.d.). The police charged the protestors with disturbing the peaceand released them shortly after their arrests.The Constitution provides for the right to form associations, and the Governmentgenerally respected this right in practice.In 1999 the Government introduced and enforced a new requirement that NGO’ssecure the prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs before organizing internationalconferences. Human rights groups contend that the new requirement providesthe Government with substantial political control of the work of NGO’s,abridging of their freedom of assembly and association.c. Freedom of Religion.—The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and theGovernment respects this right in practice; however, it sometimes does not act effectivelyto counter societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by stateand local governments to limit that freedom. India is a secular state in which allfaiths generally enjoy freedom of worship; government policy does not favor any religiousgroup. However, tension between Muslims and Hindus, and to an increasingextent between Hindus and Christians, continues to pose a challenge to the secularfoundation of the State (see Section 5). In addition governments at state and locallevels only partially respect religious freedom.Although the law provides for religious freedom, enforcement of the law has beenpoor, particularly at the state and local levels, where the failure to deal adequatelywith intragroup and intergroup conflict and with local disturbances has abridgedthe right to religious freedom. In particular, some Hindu extremist groups continuedto attack Christians during the year. In many cases, the Government response wasinadequate, consisting largely of statements criticizing the violence against Christians,with few efforts to hold accountable those persons responsible or to preventsuch incidents from occurring (see Section 5). Throughout the year, the Governmentgenerally described the violence and attacks as a series of isolated local phenomena,in some states calling for a national debate on conversions, which Hindus had advocatedbeing banned.The Government is led by a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance,which has pledged to respect India’s traditions of secular government and religioustolerance. However, the leading party in the coalition is the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), a Hindu nationalist political party with links to Hindu extremist groups thathave been implicated in violent acts against Christians and Muslims. The BJP alsoleads state governments in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. ManyBJP leaders and party workers are members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS) and share some of its ideology. However, the BJP is an independent politicalparty and the degree of RSS influence over its policy making is not clear. The RSSespouses a return to Hindu values and cultural norms. Members of the BJP, theRSS, and other affiliated organizations were implicated in incidents of violence anddiscrimination against Christians and Muslims. The BJP and RSS officially expressrespect and tolerance for other religions; however, the RSS in particular opposesconversions from Hinduism and believes that all citizens should adhere to Hinducultural values. The BJP officially agrees that the caste system should be elimi-VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00080 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.035 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1