Challenges Facing Religious Minorities in South Asia
Announcement
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:
Co-Chairman, TLHRC
Co-Chairman, TLHRC
Witnesses
Panel I
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Leonard Leo, Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Witten testimony
Panel II
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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
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Dr. Sachi G. Dastider, 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 tesitmony -
Dr. Najid Hussain, President, Ahsan Jafri Foundation
Written testimony