We, the concerned citizens of the Republic of India, wish to place on record our strongest remonstration for the brutal and senseless persecution of the Bahá'ís in general and the academic staff and administrators of the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) in particular, in Iran. The recent atrocities heaped upon this persecuted community, resulting in centrally orchestrated raids on 30 homes in different parts of the country and the arrest of 16 on 21st May, deserves the strongest condemnation from every upholder of human dignity and honour in India and the world.
We further wish to accentuate that the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education came into existence in 1987 as a non-violent, informal and constructive response of the Iranian Bahá'í community to address the educational needs of its youth beyond high school. Since 1979 Iranian Bahá'í youth have been systematically barred by your government from pursuing higher education as part of your ongoing policy to keep your largest non-Muslim religious minority on the margins of society. The consequences of this policy of disallowing the Baha’i youth to have access to higher education will be detrimental not only for the Baha’is community of Iran, but also for the nation as a whole. Denying people access to education is a denial of their right to exist as free and productive human beings.
Iran is a country known for its contribution of the first charter of human rights. It has ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Article 18 of ICCPR states, "everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes "the right of everyone to education," and that, "higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity.” Persecuting people based on their religion, ideology and belief is not only a clear violation of human rights, but also tantamount to flagrantly abusing international law.
We therefore appeal to the Iranian Government to release immediately and unconditionally all those individuals affiliated with the Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education who are in prison since 21st May, to desist such attacks on this Institute and to ensure that all Iranian students have access to higher education.
May 2011
Judiciary
- Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
- Justice Shivraj V. Patil, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
- Justice Rajinder Sachar, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court – Former President, People’s Union for Civil Liberties
- Dr. B.V. Acharya, Former Advocate General, State of Karnataka & Member, Law Commission of India
- Justice G. Patri Basavana Goud, Former Judge, High Court of Karnataka, Former, Upalokayukta, State of Karnataka
- Justice R. Gururanjan, Former Judge, High Court of Karnataka, Bangalore
- Vrinda Grover, Human Rights Lawyer & Supreme Court Advocate
- Advocate K. V. Patil, Ex Principal, I.M. Law College & Legal Advisor Rayat Shikhshan Sanstha, Satara
- Advocate Arvind Kada, Ex District Government, Pleader & Public Prosecutor - Lecturer Law College, Satara
- Ashok Agarwal, Advocate – Member, Social Jurist
Legislative and executive branches of government
- Mr.Udayain Raje Bhonsle, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
- Shambhuraj S. Desai, Ex MLA, Maharashtra
- Mr. V N Garg, Officer of the Indian Administrative Service, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh
4. Nishant D. Patil, Member of Municipal Council, Ex Mayor, Satara
- Jayendra Chavan, Member of Municipal Council - Ex Vice President Municipal Council, Satara
- Shankar Malvade, Ex Vice President, Municipal Council, Satara
- Dr. Subhash Yadav, member of Municipal Board, Bhiwadi, Distt. Alwar, Rajasthan
Academics
- Dr. H. Maheshappa, Honourable Vice Chancellor, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, Karnataka
- Prof. Balraj Singh Chauhan, Vice Chancellor, Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
3. Prof. R. B. Singh, Distinguished Professor IFFCO Foundation, Ex Assistant Director General of FAO
4. Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU – Former Member, National Statistical Commission
- Prof. (Dr.) Tahir Mahmood, Chairman, Amity University Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Former Chairman, National Minorities Commission & former Member, Law Commission of India
- Dr. Patil Suhas Shivalal, Member, Board of Studies, Shivaji University, Member, General Body, Symbiosis University, Pune
- Prof. Madhu Purnima Kishwar, Founder Editor, Manushi – Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
- Mrs. Anagha Vaidya Soocheta, Textile Technology Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Reduit
- Prof. Mohd. Muzammil, Professor of Economics, Lucknow University, Lucknow
- Prof. Vikas Gite, University of North Maharashtra
- Lt. Col. (Dr.) P.P. Venugopalan, Dean, Kannur Medical College, Kannur, Kerala.
- Prof. Satish Jain, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU, Delhi
- Mr. A.R. Garde, Former Director, Ahmedabad Textile Industries Research Association, Gujarat
- Prof. Babu Mathew - Visiting Professor, National Law University, Delhi
- Dr. Gayatri Bari, Lecturer & Human Rights Activist, Nasik
- Dr. Smita Bharadwaj, Naturopath, Motiwala Hospital and Medical College, Nasik
- Dr. Gharte Mita, B.H.M.S P.G.D.P.S,CCH.CGO, Nasik
- Dr. K. P. Bagmar, Educator, Human Rights Activist, Nasik
- Dr. Swanad Shukla, RYK College, Nasik
- Dr. Varsha Dharane, lecturer, Motiwala Hospital and Medical College, Nasik
- Prof. DR. Vimla. K. Patil , ex head of Marathi department of Shivaji college ,Satara
- Gopalakrishna, Librarian, B M S Institute of Technology, Bangalore
- S. M. Sonawane, Principal, New College of Education, Nasik
- Sanjay S. Shinde, Principal Samarth College of Education, Satpur, Nasik
- V. N. Suryawanshi, Principal HPT Arts & RYK Science College Sharanpur Road, Nasik
- M. A. Kulkarni, Prog. Co-ordinator, Dr. Moonje Institute, B.M.College, Nasik
- Mamta S. Lal, Lecturer. MVPS College, Nasik
- Sayyed Mursalin Sikander, RTC, “RAHNUMA” Urdu Primary School, Nasik
- Swapnil B. Nirmal, Principal, Motiwala College of Education Science, Nasik
- Raj Kishore Mishra, Secretary, Institute of Orissa Culture, Bhubaneswar
- P. C. Mohapatra, Former President, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa
- B. R. Dev, Principal, Jupiter Science College, Bhubaneswar
- K. Bharat Chandra, Vice-principal, Jupiter Science College, Bhubaneswar
- Jaydeep Mohanty, HOD, Botany, Jupiter Science College, Bhubaneswar
Religious Leadership
- Rev. Dr. Dominic Emmanuel, Spokesman of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, Catholic Bishop Church of India
- Fr. Philip Kuruvilla, Coordinator, ESHA Project, NCCI – Secretary, India Interfaith Coalition on HIV
- Rabbi Ezekiel Issac Malekar, Chief Priest & Honorary Secretary Judah Hyam Synagogue
- Prof. Dr. MD Thomas, National Director, Commission for Religious Harmony, CBCI, New Delhi
- Fr. Jacob Thundyil, President, PREM, Orissa
- B. K. Durgesh Nandini, Sister in-charge, Brahmakumari, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
NGOs and Human Rights groups
- Dr. V. Mohini Giri, Chairperson, Guild for Service, former Chairperson, National Commission for Women
2. Miloon Kothari, Coordinator, Housing and Land Rights Network – Former UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
- Maja Daruwala, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
- Mathew Cherian, Chief Executive, Help Age India,& Core Group Member, National Human Rights Commission of India
- Madhu Mehra, Director, Partners for Law in Development
- Neera Misra, Chairperson, Draupadi Trust
- Mira Shiva, Coordinator, Initiative for Health & Equity in Society - Member, Diverse Women for Diversity
- Asghar Ali Engineer, Founder, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Islamic Scholar and activist
- Ravi Narayan, Secretary General, Indian Committee of Youth Organisations
- Jayant Kumar, Head of Programme, Church's Auxiliary for social action (CASA)
- Anju Talukdar, Executive Director, Multiple Action Research Group
- N. Paul Divakar - General Secretary, Dalit Arthik Adhikar
- Rohit Gandhi, International Correspondent
- Captain U.R. Nikam ,editor Fauji Varta, President, Maharashtra ex service men and Pensioners Association
Corporate Sector
- Paresh Tewary, Director, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry- Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence, Delhi
- C. Bose, President Textile Association (India) Mumbai Unit and Ex Vice President of Reliance, Silvassa
- Ashish Jain, Ex India Glycol, Vice President, Colourtex, Surat
- Dr. John Sequeira, Manager - Textile Application & QC Lab & Management Representative, CHT India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
- Ullhas Nimkar, Ex CEO, Texan Laboratory, Mumbai
- Dr. Ashok Sable, R&D, Manager, Sarex, Mumbai
- Mrs. Vaishali Rane, Q&A, Manager Supertex, Kishangarh, Ajmer
- D. S. Bhogle, V. P. Operations, Wilhelm Textiles India Co Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon
- Nilkanth Desai, Managing Director of Neelwhite Chemicals, Mumbai
- Murthy Sanjiva, CEO of New Star Marketing , Mumbai
- Elham Naimi, Senior Software Engineer, LG Soft, Bangalore
- Vivek Naik, Chartered Accountant, Vivek Associates, Mumbai
- Charan Singh
- Sameer Dua, Deputy General Manager ( Sales and Marketing), Precision Rubber Industries Pvt Ltd, New Delhi
- Dr. G. P. Nair, Technical Adviser (Textiles),P I Director, Mudra Lifestyles Ltd., Mumbai
3 comments:
It is pretty immature on the part of 86 Indians Petition to the Iranian Government for Immediate Release of the staff and faculty of the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education.. As most of these eminent personalities are highly educated – some even authorities on law – it would have been appropriate that they should have verified the facts before making a petition. Has anyone of these personalities checked with the Government of Iran? Are petitions to be signed purely on single side of the story? On whose influence are signatures taken? Do these personalities know that the Government of India cannot support a resolution which is country specific?
This was none of the business of so called imminent citizen to issue an petition .If they were so concerned about the Release of the staff and faculty of the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education ,they would have just conveyed their concerned to the government of India and not breaking into pens or shouting from roof tops. The shrewd Bahais have used these imminent citizens of India.
Now let us see the facts!
1. The Bahai community has repeatedly been convicted in several sensitive countries of carrying espionage activities. The Bahais have been under scanner for violating law of the land in several countries for carrying our religious conversions by deception. It seems the Baha'i administration is interested in having "martyrs" for its cause in different countries rather than to see their own people save their lives.
2. Bahais involved in espionage in India
Why, even in India there are cases filed against the Bahai faith members for possessing fraudulent documents and carrying out espionage activities and for supplying classified defense documents to Iranian and Israeli spying agencies in return making huge amount of foreign currency. (Refer Hindustan Times 13th July 2006 New Delhi Edition,)
3. BAHAI Administration with all modern techniques involved in conversion of Simple Indians.
Recently Universal House of Justice, the apex organization of the Baha’i Faith in a new encyclical has issued a call to Baha’is to go out and actively convert Indians. In this era of globalization, Baha’i administration with unlimited funds use sophisticated, deceptive techniques to lure, brainwash and convert innocent people.
They forcefully converted Hindus by inducement and deception. Many poor illiterate tribal people in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were deceptively converted into Baha’i Faith, although anti conversion law is passed in 11 of the states in India. This will have a disastrous effect on India's political, cultural and social fabric.
For centuries Indians have been forcefully converted into other religions. Religious conversion has profoundly affected our cultural legacy by the after-effects of genocidal coercive religious conversion. It has left its wounding imprint on our individual psyches and our collective consciousness.
Although coercive religious conversion of Hindus in India and abroad has deep historical roots, recent deceptive religious conversion techniques used by Baha’is movements pose serious political, social, ethical and psychological problems.
http://ruhibooks.blogspot.com/
4. Bahai Teaching Institutes involved in deceptive conversion
On 3rd March the locals of Wai district in Panchgani caught the Bahais red handed indulging in conversion activities. The Bahais arrived in a Mini Bus to propagate Bahai religion to the local people in Wai. The Bahais were taken to the police station where Bahai officials said that "we were conducting practicals for these students". They were told that why the students can’t go to different schools and get their practical training.
The students confessed that they were going to villages for conduction of Bahai religious classes for children and youths and they were told by their teachers that their course will be completed only when they do these activities. The teacher warned them to be ‘TACTFUL’ while propagating the Bahai religion.
On seeing the Bahai books it became clear for the Police that it was a conversion class. As the 'Ruhi Book' that they were having, contained Baha'i religious material and chapters such as "UNDERSTANDING THE BAHA'I WRITINGS."
The Police officials reprimanded Bahais of their hypocritical behavior and warned them not to teach Bahai Faith to the students/staff of NETTC as well as locals of Wai and Panchgani.
On further inquiry it was revealed by the staff, that
There are numerous complaints against all the three institutes of Bahais namely:
• NETTC
• New Era School and Junior college
• New Era Baha'i Academy
The conversion activities going on in these institutes are in the name of Children Moral Classes, Youth Classes etc. In fact some of the staff of these institutes have given a written complaint to the government authorities that these institutes demands 'Conversion' in return of confirmation and promotion in these institutes. Therefore some of the staff just to gain the facilities provided by these institutes like good salary, food, boarding and lodging have apparently accepted the Bahai Faith, but in actuality they practice their ancestral Religion.
The heads of all the three Bahai institutions are Iranians who have hired local Indians to go to the villages, schools, colleges and universities to teach Bahai Training courses which are nothing but purely 'Bahai Religious Teachings'. Some of these people are well versed in local languages so they cunningly escape the authority scanners.
The staff further gave information that sometimes they have to conduct 'Ruhi Classes' for all the students of the class. The students are least interested in these courses but the staff and students have to do it compulsorily for hours and hours together. These courses have hidden agenda of teaching of Bahai religious passages. The students are supposed to memorize long Bahai prayers and quotations in order to enrich themselves with Bahai Teaching and culture.
Even the tiny tots are not spared from Bahai teachings. They too have to undergo various Bahai children courses designed for them, that are based on Ruhi books.
One of the senior staff who has retired from the school and now taken another assignment in one school elaborated the whole teaching process of the Bahais. He said that Bahai Faith has no acceptability in the society. Bahai Faith has nothing new to offer to the society although they claim that they have solutions for all the problems, but first the people should accept Bahai Faith. In fact Bahai teachings have been copied from other religions. Therefore in order to spread the Bahai teachings, the Bahai Administration emphasizes on establishment of Schools and considers the children as best and fruitful targets.
Some of the parents have seriously objected to Bahais proselytizing going on in these Bahai Institutions. But then they have limitations to change the schools at this stage.
http://panchgani-bahais.blogspot.com/
BAHAI METHODOLOGY
It has been the habit of Bahai to have active public relations and persuade high ranking government officials and eminent personalities in every country to speak for them. Why do the Bahais never speak of the huge injustice and oppression being meted out to fellow Indian citizens in different parts of world? Are Indian Bahais, first Bahais and then Indians?
It is not the first time that the 86 Indian have fallen into the trap of cunning Bahais. Earlier in 2010 there were 31 eminent Indians who were taken by the Bahais for a ride.In the Issue of 7 Bahai prisoners in Iran. This point to a very strong Bahai network operating in India.
In India from Sorabjees to Mistrys, from Corporators to Member of Parliaments and from State Minister to Cabinet Ministers is contacted to bring pressure on Iran as if the Government of India has nothing else to do except protect the Bahais. Inspite of these efforts the Bahais do not lack behind in claiming that we do not interfere in politics.
Unfortunately, the petition by eminent Indian citizens has served the following purpose for the Bahais
1-Propgation of Bahai Faith in India
2-Defamation of Iranian Government
3-Attempt to sabotage the good and cordial relation between India and Iran.
I earnestly request Indian politicians and bureaucrats not to succumb to Bahais charming persuasion and verify facts and evaluate long term repercussions before taking-up a stand.
Rajan Desai
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