By RICHARD SPRINGER
India-West Staff Reporter
In the wee hours of the morning as the final session of the 109th Congress concluded Dec. 9, the U.S. Senate took one final action - confirming the first South Asian woman ever named a U.S. Attorney heading a federal district in the United States.
Kerala-born Rachel Kunjummen Paulose is the 40th U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota and the first Asian American ever named to that post.
She becomes the federal government's chief law enforcement officer in Minnesota, with responsibility over all federal agencies, federal indictments and cases, and accountability for the Justice Department's federal prosecutors and support staff in Minnesota.
Nominated to the position by President George W. Bush, Paulose told India-West Jan. 9 that she and her family were up till nearly 3 a.m. Dec. 9 watching C-SPAN waiting to see if she would be confirmed before the sunset of the 109th Congress.
"It was the last item on the agenda and I felt so fortunate that by a unanimous vote it passed," she said.
The U.S. Attorney's position is Paulose's fourth time working with the U.S. Department of Justice.
She previously was senior counsel to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, special counsel for health care fraud, and special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Paulose also was an assistant attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota from 1999-2002.
In a statement, she thanked Bush for giving her the opportunity and added she appreciated "the confidence placed in me by the United States Senate and my home-state senators: Senator Norm Coleman, a steadfast supporter; and Senator Mark Dayton, both of whom worked hard for my confirmation."
She explained in an interview that it was Coleman, as Minnesota's senior Republican in a GOP-majority Congress, who initially submitted her name as one of a handful of potential candidates for the post, which requires conformation by the U.S. Senate.
After background checks by the FBI ("I think this was my sixth"), the Justice Department selected her and forwarded the nomination to Congress.
She needed the support of Dayton, a Democrat who had decided not to run for reelection. Both U.S. senators gave their support and had "nice things" to say about her in the press.
Asked about her party affiliation, she said she is a registered Republican and has worked for GOP candidates, but said the appointment was a "decision based on politics."
She cited her work background and her lack of involvement in big-donor contributing and fundraising. "The (U.S. Attorney post) is a non-partisan office," she pointed out.
Paulose is the daughter of Lucy Paulose, president and chief executive officer of Home Electronic Specialists, and Joseph Paulose, an administrator with the Hopkins school systems in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan.
Her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Sara Kunjummen, immigrated to the U.S. from Kerala in the 1960s, and raised their family in Minnesota. Her paternal grandparents, both deceased, also lived in Kerala.
Paulose told India-West that her father came to the U.S. from Kerala when she was about 10 days old and she followed him a few months later. While she grew up in Ohio, she frequently visited her grandparents in Minnesota and moved permanently to the state when she was about 17 years old.
In 1994, Paulose received a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Minnesota, where she was a Truman Scholar and chair of the student representatives to the university's Board of Regents. She received a law degree from the Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow.
Paulose began her legal career in 1997 as a law clerk for Chief Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas.
While she was a federal prosecutor, she prosecuted cases related to violent crime, illegal drugs, economic crimes and civil rights enforcement. She also worked as a trial attorney in the Attorney General's Honors Program from 1998-1999.
From 2002-2005, Paulose worked in private practice for law firms including Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., focusing on business and health care litigation. W&C defended such high-profile clients as Oliver North and President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings.
She has served on the boards of the Yale Law School Fund, the Federal Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, and the Trust for Public Land.
Paulose told India-West that family issues, primarily illnesses involving some members of her family, led to her move back to the Minneapolis area.
She said the U.S. Attorney's office will focus on six areas: terrorism; economic crime, including fraud and public corruption; Internet crimes against children; gun and gang violence; drug trafficking; and civil rights, including human trafficking, immigration violations, and identity theft fraud.
Paulose jumped at the chance to expound on these priorities - mentioning that the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office has two terrorism case pending, indicted three Minnesota city council members on corruption charges, and vigorously pursued a case of Internet pharmacy fraud totaling about $20 million in illegal sales. The defrauder faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
Paulose pledges to keep the heat on child pornographers who, she said, are becoming "more graphic, more heinous and frankly appalling." She also emphasized her office's increasingly tough sentencing requests for weapons' offenses, with violent crime on the increase in the urban areas of Minnesota.
"We must protect all citizens, young and old, from the violence that threatens our way of life," she said in a statement. "We must hold everyone, particularly public officials, accountable for their actions. And we must ensure the civil rights of all people."
While she has already been informally sworn into office, Paulose plans a formal investiture ceremony in March. She is looking for a large enough location to accommodate "all of my relatives who are coming (to Minneapolis) from all over the United States."
Showing posts with label Christians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christians. Show all posts
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Persecution of Minorities in India , a Letter from a Christian Migrant
Let me introduce myself, I am an Indian living in Canada. I immigrated here 2 years ago to get married to my girlfriend who moved here 8 years ago.
For 25 years, I lived in India, a democratic multi-religious nation. Although there is no state religion, Hindus make up the largest population group numbering over 80.5% of the total population followed by the Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (Jews, Zorastrians etc). As a child growing up in Mumbai (Bombay), I had friends from different religions and was unaware of any form of religious persecution. We did study about the British policy of 'Divide and Rule' which led to partition and the formation of the countries of India and Pakistan (Islamic nation run on Islamic laws), but we were taught that as a nation we had learnt not to repeat mistakes from the past.
The first persecution that I can recall, during my life time, was the Babri Masjid issue (December 6 1992); where radical Hindus led by certain politicians tore down the Babri Masjid. Babri Masjid was a mosque built on the site where some hindus believe Ram (Hindu Deity) was born. What followed were the most gruesome riots across the whole country. I was 13 at the time and Bombay was in the grip of a religious violence with Hindus killing Muslims and vice versa. At the time there was a city wide self imposed curfew. Self imposed only by fear that if you stepped out of the house you would probably not come home alive. This went on for a while and the repercussions of that event can still be felt in India even today. From that day onwards, minority religious groups became very aware of their position in a Hinduized society and for the first time we felt the weight of being a minority and what it meant to be a religious minority.
The second experience with persecution was much closer to home as it affected the Christian community directly not in Mumbai, but in Gujarat. The history of this is complex but I shall try to summarize it.
India is a largely agrarian economy with three fifths of the population involved in agriculture. India also has a social system based on Hinduism called the Caste system which promotes untouchability. A small percentage though significant ( 14.9%) in Gujarat are tribals who do not fit into the Hindu caste system. Gujarat has some fertile land in the southern part of the state which is owned by rich landlords. To run this land, these landlords need a cheap supply of labour which they could exploit by paying less than minimum wages.
The Dalits (untouchables in the caste system) and tribals make up the perfect cheap work force as they do not have any rights (though they are granted all rights by the constitution). The reason they don't have rights is because politicians are in collusion with the rich land lords. To remain in power the politicians need the rich landlords for monetary support and the landlords use their power to coerce the dalits and tribals to vote for the politicians.
Christian missionaries run schools in tribal areas for the tribal and dalit population and over time, some dalits have begun to speak up against the oppression. Many of the tribal and dalit children no longer work in fields (child labour) but go to school. The missionaries also provided health care and other services for the tribals and dalits.
This is a thorn in the side of the landlords and the politicians, as now the educated tribals and dalits make their voices heard and could no longer be oppressed so easily. Hence the landlords and politicians raise the bogey of forced conversions saying that Christian missionaries forcibly convert tribals and dalits away from Hinduism (the first group are non-Hindus and the second group are treated as outcasts in Hinduism). A fringe group amongst the Hindus who also happen to support, and in turn get support from a major political party proceeded to conduct many attacks on Christians and Christian missionaries in Gujarat including the killings of priests, raping of nuns and destruction of Christian schools and institutions in 1998.
An example from the Human Rights News Website:
Jamuna Bhen, a thirty-year-old agricultural laborer in Dangs district, told Human Rights Watch, "The Hindus removed the ornamentation from our church on December 25 [1998]. They threatened us by saying that they will set the church house on fire. Then they started taking down the roof tiles…. There were one hundred to 200 people who came from other villages. They said, 'We will burn everything.' We begged them not to. We said, 'Don't do this,' and said we will become Hindu."
In January 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were trapped in their car and burned alive in the state of Orissa, reportedly by Dara Singh, a local leader of the extremist group Bajrang Dal. On the eve of India's national parliamentary elections in September and October 1999, the situation for minorities in the state deteriorated significantly. In August 1999, Singh struck again, chopping off the arms of a Muslim trader before setting him on fire. One week later, Rev. Arul Doss was shot in the chest with an arrow and beaten to death by a group of unidentified assailants.
Muslims in India similarly face a lot of persecution as can be seen from the Babri Masjid issue and the Best Bakery Case in which 14 people were burnt alive during the 2002 riots. Following an attack on a train in Godhra, Gujarat, on 27 February 2002 in which 59 Hindus were killed, violence of unprecedented brutality targeting the Muslim community spread in the state and continued in the next three months, leaving more than 2000 people dead. The state government, administration and police took insufficient action to protect civilians and widespread reports at the time implicated police officers and members of Hindu nationalist groups, including the ruling BJP, in violence against Muslims.
Besides this, there have been various other acts to make the lives of religious minorities difficult in India. The Indian Constitution grants to all its citizens, the right to practice and follow any religion of choice and the freedom to change ones religion. Yet some states are trying to pass laws which will make religious conversions illegal, these laws are aimed especially at Christians to prevent religious conversions. These laws if passed will also violate the freedoms of Dalits and Tribals and any Indian who may want to convert to a religion of choice. The underlying aim of such legislation is to prevent dalits, tribals and other backward castes from converting to Islam or Christianity and thereby lifting the shackles of a caste based religion.
Besides these glaring forms of persecution, there have been other forms of persecution against Christians. Which are too numerous to go through but can be found at the All India Christian Web site (www.aiccindia.org) under the press releases and resources section.
To avoid this kind of religious persecution, despite constitutional protections, some Indians migrate to other countries like Canada and the USA. These people seek a better life for themselves and their families, both monetary as well as spiritually. However, in India, the persecution against Christians and religious minorities are visible and can be protested.
For 25 years, I lived in India, a democratic multi-religious nation. Although there is no state religion, Hindus make up the largest population group numbering over 80.5% of the total population followed by the Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (Jews, Zorastrians etc). As a child growing up in Mumbai (Bombay), I had friends from different religions and was unaware of any form of religious persecution. We did study about the British policy of 'Divide and Rule' which led to partition and the formation of the countries of India and Pakistan (Islamic nation run on Islamic laws), but we were taught that as a nation we had learnt not to repeat mistakes from the past.
The first persecution that I can recall, during my life time, was the Babri Masjid issue (December 6 1992); where radical Hindus led by certain politicians tore down the Babri Masjid. Babri Masjid was a mosque built on the site where some hindus believe Ram (Hindu Deity) was born. What followed were the most gruesome riots across the whole country. I was 13 at the time and Bombay was in the grip of a religious violence with Hindus killing Muslims and vice versa. At the time there was a city wide self imposed curfew. Self imposed only by fear that if you stepped out of the house you would probably not come home alive. This went on for a while and the repercussions of that event can still be felt in India even today. From that day onwards, minority religious groups became very aware of their position in a Hinduized society and for the first time we felt the weight of being a minority and what it meant to be a religious minority.
The second experience with persecution was much closer to home as it affected the Christian community directly not in Mumbai, but in Gujarat. The history of this is complex but I shall try to summarize it.
India is a largely agrarian economy with three fifths of the population involved in agriculture. India also has a social system based on Hinduism called the Caste system which promotes untouchability. A small percentage though significant ( 14.9%) in Gujarat are tribals who do not fit into the Hindu caste system. Gujarat has some fertile land in the southern part of the state which is owned by rich landlords. To run this land, these landlords need a cheap supply of labour which they could exploit by paying less than minimum wages.
The Dalits (untouchables in the caste system) and tribals make up the perfect cheap work force as they do not have any rights (though they are granted all rights by the constitution). The reason they don't have rights is because politicians are in collusion with the rich land lords. To remain in power the politicians need the rich landlords for monetary support and the landlords use their power to coerce the dalits and tribals to vote for the politicians.
Christian missionaries run schools in tribal areas for the tribal and dalit population and over time, some dalits have begun to speak up against the oppression. Many of the tribal and dalit children no longer work in fields (child labour) but go to school. The missionaries also provided health care and other services for the tribals and dalits.
This is a thorn in the side of the landlords and the politicians, as now the educated tribals and dalits make their voices heard and could no longer be oppressed so easily. Hence the landlords and politicians raise the bogey of forced conversions saying that Christian missionaries forcibly convert tribals and dalits away from Hinduism (the first group are non-Hindus and the second group are treated as outcasts in Hinduism). A fringe group amongst the Hindus who also happen to support, and in turn get support from a major political party proceeded to conduct many attacks on Christians and Christian missionaries in Gujarat including the killings of priests, raping of nuns and destruction of Christian schools and institutions in 1998.
An example from the Human Rights News Website:
Jamuna Bhen, a thirty-year-old agricultural laborer in Dangs district, told Human Rights Watch, "The Hindus removed the ornamentation from our church on December 25 [1998]. They threatened us by saying that they will set the church house on fire. Then they started taking down the roof tiles…. There were one hundred to 200 people who came from other villages. They said, 'We will burn everything.' We begged them not to. We said, 'Don't do this,' and said we will become Hindu."
In January 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were trapped in their car and burned alive in the state of Orissa, reportedly by Dara Singh, a local leader of the extremist group Bajrang Dal. On the eve of India's national parliamentary elections in September and October 1999, the situation for minorities in the state deteriorated significantly. In August 1999, Singh struck again, chopping off the arms of a Muslim trader before setting him on fire. One week later, Rev. Arul Doss was shot in the chest with an arrow and beaten to death by a group of unidentified assailants.
Muslims in India similarly face a lot of persecution as can be seen from the Babri Masjid issue and the Best Bakery Case in which 14 people were burnt alive during the 2002 riots. Following an attack on a train in Godhra, Gujarat, on 27 February 2002 in which 59 Hindus were killed, violence of unprecedented brutality targeting the Muslim community spread in the state and continued in the next three months, leaving more than 2000 people dead. The state government, administration and police took insufficient action to protect civilians and widespread reports at the time implicated police officers and members of Hindu nationalist groups, including the ruling BJP, in violence against Muslims.
Besides this, there have been various other acts to make the lives of religious minorities difficult in India. The Indian Constitution grants to all its citizens, the right to practice and follow any religion of choice and the freedom to change ones religion. Yet some states are trying to pass laws which will make religious conversions illegal, these laws are aimed especially at Christians to prevent religious conversions. These laws if passed will also violate the freedoms of Dalits and Tribals and any Indian who may want to convert to a religion of choice. The underlying aim of such legislation is to prevent dalits, tribals and other backward castes from converting to Islam or Christianity and thereby lifting the shackles of a caste based religion.
Besides these glaring forms of persecution, there have been other forms of persecution against Christians. Which are too numerous to go through but can be found at the All India Christian Web site (www.aiccindia.org) under the press releases and resources section.
To avoid this kind of religious persecution, despite constitutional protections, some Indians migrate to other countries like Canada and the USA. These people seek a better life for themselves and their families, both monetary as well as spiritually. However, in India, the persecution against Christians and religious minorities are visible and can be protested.
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