Los Angeles, US (March 19, 2014): According to information available with the Sikh Siyasat News (SSN), representatives of the Sikh community of Greater Los Angeles met with U.S. Representative Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) on Tuesday (March 18) morning to urge him to support a U.S. Congress Resolution that would require the United States to discuss religious freedom and human rights issues in formal dialogues with India.
Sarbjit Singh and Preet Charm Singh with Congressman Sherman
Sarbjit Singh and Preet Charm Singh, who spent 20 minutes with Congressman Sherman urging him to co-sponsor House Resolution 417, reported to Organizations for Minorities of India (OFMI), who arranged the meeting, that the representative listened intently and promised to read a 22-page report about how passing the resolution would “mean pursuing a policy of recommending our friends maintain commitment to moral standards acceptable to any civilized people.”
H. Res. 417 was introduced on Nov. 18, 2013 by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN). It has solid bi-partisan support, with 22 Democrats and 19 Republicans having signed on as co-sponsors. It has been referred to the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees. Congressman Brad Sherman is on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is assigned to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Since mid-January, OFMI has met with staff from five California congressional offices — Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove), Jeff Denham (R-Modesto), Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), Tom McClintock (R-Roseville), and Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton). Congressman Bera, who is the only Indian-American representative in Congress, is on the Foreign Affairs. Congressman Sherman is the first of several California representatives from the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees with whom OFMI has scheduled a personal meeting.
H. Res. 417 is titled: “Praising India’s rich religious diversity and commitment to tolerance and equality, and reaffirming the need to protect the rights and freedoms of religious minorities.” It would enact ten items requiring U.S. policy in talks with India be formulated around encouraging a greater respect for human rights. The first two items state that H. Res. 417:
“(1) recognizes the suffering of all Indian citizens who have been victims of religious violence, including the victims of all faiths from the 1992 Babri Mosque riots, the 2002 Gujarat riots, the 2008 Odisha riots, and violence that is ongoing today;
“(2) calls for religious freedom and related human rights to be included in the United States–India Strategic Dialogue, and for these issues to be raised directly with federal and state Indian Government officials when appropriate.”
Remarking on the importance of the resolution, OFMI Founding Director Bhajan Singh said: “It has been decades since South Asian Americans have had a better opportunity to work with their elected representatives to stand against persecution of minorities in India. H. Res. 417 expresses the sentiment of our Congress that the United States should recognize the suffering of Indian minorities who were massacred in the 1992 Babri Mosque genocide, the 2002 Gujarat genocide, and the 2008 Odisha pogrom. As Sikhs know all too well, they were the earliest targets of such genocidal attacks when thousands were massacred in the streets of Delhi in 1984 at the instigation of Indian Members of Parliament.”
Rep. Sherman has shown his willingness to speak on international human rights issues in the recent past, including in statements about atrocities in Iran and in Syria. In 2010, for instance, speaking about Iranian nuclear ambitions, he said: “We have continued insistently with a policy of doing everything we can through persuasion.” He even expressed support for sanctions on Iran, saying, “If we are going to achieve our goal go far beyond a mere persuasion policy.” In 2013, when “unknown assailants” abducted two Christian Archbishops in Syria, Rep. Sherman stated: “We must do everything we can to ensure that Christians and other religious minorities have a safe future in Syria.”
Such past remarks by the representative inspired Pieter Singh, an advisor to OFMI, to say, “We are hopeful that Congressman Sherman will continue his pattern of speaking in defense of international human rights by adopting a similar approach to India of persuasion and commitment to ensuring protection of religious minorities who are under threat there.”