San Ramon, CA – In the wake of the brutal terrorist massacre of Hindu tourists in Jammu and Kashmir, India on April 22, 2025, prominent Hindu organizations based in the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK) have issued a series of powerful open letters to global institutions including the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. State Department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
The letter campaign, coordinated by HinduPACT’s Hindus Advancing Human Rights (HAHRI) initiative, urges global institutions to acknowledge and confront the religious ideology that fuels Islamist terrorism against Hindus, Christians, and other non-Muslim minorities worldwide.
On that fateful April day, 26 unarmed Hindu pilgrims were ruthlessly gunned down by Islamist terrorists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Eyewitness accounts indicate that victims were forced to recite Islamic declarations of faith, produce identity documents, and even subjected to physical checks to determine if they were circumcised – a chilling tactic to identify and target Hindus and other non-Muslims. The terrorists then opened fire, murdering the identified victims in front of their families.
Rahul Sur, Executive Director of the Hindu American Human Rights Initiative (HAHRI), stated:
“This was a grave violation of international human rights laws. It was not a random act of violence—but a premeditated, religiously motivated massacre, singling out Hindus. And it is part of a global pattern that has taken countless Hindu lives across South Asia and beyond. We call upon international institutions and countries to stop enabling Islamist extremism through silence or appeasement and fulfill their obligations undertaken as signatories of human rights treaties. Hindus will no longer be invisible victims. We are demanding institutional honesty."
This attack is only the latest example of such religiously motivated brutality inflicted upon Hindus by Islamists: a “drip-drip genocide." in Pakistan, ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh, as well as attacks upon them reported by the United Nations(UN) and their wipeout in Afghanistan. In 1989-90, Hindus in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir were given the option "convert, flee, or die." Of those who fled, most have yet to return home.
The letters also point out the worldwide pattern of Islamist terrorists deliberately separating and killing non-Muslims. In Nigeria, Burkina Faso, the Philippines, Mozambique, and Kenya, Islamists have used similar tactics to isolate and kill Christians for their faith. These are not unrelated incidents, but expressions of a deeply rooted global ideological menace. Our research shows that between 1979 and May 2021, at least 48,035 Islamist terrorist attacks took place worldwide. They caused the deaths of at least 210,138 people. One hundred percent of the entities sanctioned by the Security Council, ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, are Islamist terrorists.
The UN Security Council considers that “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security” and "acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever, and by whomever committed."
This worldwide problem demands a reality-based response. The European Union (EU), concerning "the root causes of violent terrorism," explicitly mentions “a Salafi-jihadi interpretation of Islam.” It makes clear that terrorists or potential terrorists are motivated by both political and religious factors. A UN handbook on the management of violent extremist prisoners lists the motivations to resort to violent extremist acts, which include "extreme interpretations of religious ideologies and beliefs that advocate the use of violence."
Addressing the root causes of Islamist terrorism is not Islamophobia. The deliberate killing of non-Muslims is only one aspect of the much larger problem of Islamist terrorism haunting the world, which requires accurate terminology and policy reform. The problem can be addressed comprehensively only when it is accurately named, its root causes are established, and action is taken according to international law.
Deepti Mahajan, President of HinduPACT, emphasized the need for the international community to name and confront the ideology behind these attacks:
"It is time to abandon politically expedient euphemisms like 'violent extremism' and name the threat for what it is—Islamist terrorism. If the UN and global agencies genuinely care about human rights, they must recognize Hindus as victims and Islamism as a worldwide ideological threat. The massacre of Hindus in Kashmir must be the last straw. The world must stop denying the reality of Islamist terror. If the rights of Hindus are ignored today, then the rights of all non-Muslims are in danger tomorrow.
The open letters demand that:
- The FBI reactivates and establishes counter-extremism training programs that address the religious-political roots of Islamist terrorism.
- The UN Human Rights and Counter Terrorism Office should organize high-level expert workshops around the world, to examine the extent to which national legislation, jurisprudence, and policies consider whether the religio-political ideology motivating Islamist terrorists arouses hatred, hostility, intense and irrational emotions of opprobrium, enmity and detestation towards non-believers (the kuffar) and whether they can be restricted under articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the term ‘Violent Extremism’ be replaced by ‘Violent Islamist Extremism’ when it occurs and the Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism pending for the last thirty years in the UN be finalized.
- The USCIRF should determine the worldwide impact of the religio-political ideology utilized by Islamist terrorists on religious freedom and the lives of non-Muslims through the lens of international human rights standards, such as those found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- The EU should “introduce a comprehensive counter-terrorism agenda to prevent radicalization” to analyze the religio-political ideology utilized by Islamist terrorists and publish the results thereof.
Signatories:
Deepti Mahajan
President
Hindu Policy Research and Advocacy Collective - HinduPACT
Rahul Sur
Executive Director
Hindus Advancing Human Rights (HAHRI), an initiative of HinduPACT
Rajiv Malhotra
Author
Geeta Sika
Vice President Communications
American4Hindus
Nikunj Trivedi
President
Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA)
Dharmansh USA Board
Dharmansh USA
Prakasarao V Velagapudi, PhD.
Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF)
Mohinder Gulati,
President
Global Hindu Temple Network (GHTN)
Samir Kalra, Esq,
Hindu American Foundation, Director, Policy and Programs
Hindu American Foundation (HAF)
Dr. Richa Sinha
Chairperson
Scottish Hindu Foundation
