Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on March 26th, 2015

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Bose. It's nice to have you here today.

Following a little on Mr. Sweet's question, the relationship between the sitting government and the suggestion of ISIS in the country, what would be the relationship between the two in your view?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

I don't think the Awami League in any way, shape, or form can be allied but they have had to make a pact with their own set of Islamists to stay where they are. Their biggest Mephistophelean fact as far as I'm concerned has been on the madrasa question.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

You spoke of the original Muslim group—

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

Sufis.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Sufis. That brand of Islam was less aggressive.

Relative to the parliamentary Islamist party, are they part of that party or is that a more extreme view?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

No.

The parliamentary party would be more from the Deobandi, which I think Ms. Grewal would know about. The Deobandi are an Indian branch that could be a kind of Wahhabism. They were revivalist—

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

So they are more extreme.

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

They are much more extreme.

Hindus, Sikhs, even Christians, get together with Sufis and go to Sufi shrines.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

That was my belief and that's why I posed the question.

It sounds as if maybe they're disaffected youth as is happening in so many countries and that they're being pulled to more of a fundamentalist, extreme view.

Most traditional religious groups have publications that espouse the values of their faith. If the minority groups your council represents were to put forward the publications, would that be used as some kind of evidence against them? You mentioned that many are fearful of injury, even going on the streets. Is the possibility there of documents being used as evidence against them?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

No, I don't think so. It might be used against the Christians—especially the newer, more evangelical, less mainstream Christians, who tend to leave tracks—but probably not the others. Hindus and Buddhists don't tend to have a lot of written stuff. Two Hindus cannot agree on what Hinduism is.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Again, the minority faith communities will have established churches, gurdwaras, or synagogues—I'm going through a variety of examples here. Are they being destroyed? Are they being attacked? Is there physical damage being done to them?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

A great deal has already been done. The attack on Buddhist temples would be because there are lot of saleable artifacts from very early Buddhist days, and these can command a huge amount of money on the black market and on eBay.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Are you suggesting then that it's not as much hoodlumism as it is a religious-based attack?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

It's both.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

It's both, isn't it?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

They know what's in there. There is gold in Hindu temples because the images are dressed in all kinds of gold ornaments, and people can see it from the outside. It's like Calcutta, where they say, “Let's go into the Catholic chapel, take the ciborium, and run”, because they know what it's worth.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Do you have statistical information on this?

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

Plenty.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

I presume that you will be submitting some of that to the committee.

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

We did already, in our first big submission. If you want, I can load you down with statistics and you wouldn't like me after that.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

It's always to the advantage of our research staff, as they help us prepare our reports, to have that kind of background.

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

Absolutely.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

I presume that's my time, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

It is your time, but I just want to follow up on what you said.

If you have additional material you think is relevant, don't be shy about it being too much. Submit it to the clerk and he'll make sure the analysts get it. They will be able to use it in the preparation of the report we do.

[Dr. Anuradha Bose]

Absolutely.