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Challenges Facing Religious Minorities in South Asia

Date:
Location:
340 Cannon House Office Building

Hearing Notice

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the continuing plight of religious minorities in South Asia, focusing particularly on Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

South Asia is the birthplace of four world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. It is also home to 30 million Christians and over 500 million Muslims -- about one-third of the world’s entire Muslim population. Although many of the countries in the region have democratic systems of government with constitutions that provide varying degrees of protections for religious minorities, many of these systems are fragile and, in practice, religious freedoms are often constrained, in some cases by the states themselves. As a result, sectarian and religiously-motivated violence is chronic and the governments have been unable or, in some cases, unwilling to protect religious minorities. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at 202-225-3599 or tlhrc@mail.house.gov.

Hosted by:

Frank R. Wolf
Member of Congress
Co-Chair, TLHRC
James P. McGovern
Member of Congress
Co-Chair, TLHRC
Witnesses

Witnesses

Panel I

  • Leonard A. Leo, Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
    Written testimony

Panel II

  • Majed El Shafie, Founder, One Free World International
    Written testimony
  • Amjad M. Khan, National Director of Public Affairs, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA
    Written testimony

Panel III

  • Dr. Sachi G. Dastidar, Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Politics Economics and Law, State University of New York at Old Westbury
    Written testimony
  • Dr. Angana Chatterji, India Human Rights Specialist
    Written testimony
  • Dr. Najid Hussain, President, Ahsan Jafri Foundation
    Written testimony
Meeting Documents

Transcript

Video

Contact The Commission

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
4150 O'Neill House Office Building
200 C Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20515
United States of America

Phone: +1 (202) 225-3599
Fax: +1 (202) 226-6584
TLHRC@mail.house.gov

Accessibility

The Commission seeks to make its events, meetings and hearings accessible to persons with disabilities.

If you are in need of special accommodations, please call (202) 225-3599 at least four business days in advance.

Questions with regard to special accommodations in general (including availability of Commission materials in alternative formats and assistive listening devices, sign language interpretation, etc.) may be directed to the Commission.

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