Bahais in India against Iran's holocaust moves

The community has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the matter with Teheran.

The Bahai community in India is concerned over a report that activities of the followers of the faith in Iran are being monitored at the direction of supreme leader Ayotollah Khomenei.

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They have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the matter with Teheran.

A special rapporteur of UN Commission on Human Rights Asma Jehangir, had recently said in a press release that in a "confidential" letter, Khomenei had instructed various ministries to collect any and all information on members of the Bahai faith in that country.

She had said such monitoring constituted an "impermissible and unacceptable interference" with the rights of the members of religious minorities in Iran.

She also expressed concern that the information gained as a result of such monitoring would be used as a basis for the "increased persecution of and discrimination against members of the Bahai faith, in violation of international standards".

National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of India, taking serious note of the report, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to take up the matter with the Iranian authorities.

"We also plan to co-ordinate with our local units across the country and sensitise the matter among the two million Bahaians in India, the media as well as among the common public," Farida Vehdi, secretary of External Affairs of the Assembly says.