Re: Police protect Hindu/Sikh girls forced to convert to Islam
'FORCED CONVERSIONS' MYTH MONGERING BY BRITISH POLICE
25 February 2007
Letter to The Guardian (UK)
Dear Editor
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair's
recent announcement that the police and
universities are working together to target
'extremist Muslims who force vulnerable teenage
Hindu and Sikh girls to convert to Islam' is
disturbing. This statement has been made on the
basis of claims by the Hindu Forum of Britain who
have not presented any evidence that such 'forced
conversions' are taking place. In fact the notion
of 'forced conversions' of young Hindu women to
Islam is part of an arsenal of myths propagated
by right-wing Hindu supremacist organisations in
India and used to incite violence against
minorities. For example, inflammatory leaflets
referring to such 'conversions' were in
circulation before the massacres of the Muslim
minority in Gujarat exactly five years ago which
left approximately 2,000 dead and over 200,000
displaced.
It is highly irresponsible to treat such
allegations at face value or as representative of
the views of Hindus in general.
While we would condemn any type of pressure on
young women to conform to religious beliefs or
practices (whether of their own community or
another) we can only see Sir Ian Blair's
statement as contributing to the further
stigmatising of the Muslim community as a whole
and as a pretext for further assaults on civil
liberties in Britain.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Meena Dhanda, University of Wolverhampton, Dr
Subir Sinha SOAS, University of London, Dr
Rashmi Varma, University of Warwick, Dr Kalpana
Wilson, SOAS, University of London, Dr Anandi
Ramamurthy, University of Central Lancashire, Dr
Manali Desai, University of Kent, Dr Pritam Singh
Oxford Brookes University, Dr Sharad Chari,
London School of Economics.