Archana Thakeria
Falun Dafa is being practiced in more than 114 countries around the world. But it is unfortunate that in China, where Falun Dafa had its origins, it is being persecuted since July 20, 1999, which continues to this day. Falun Dafa practitioners around the world treat this day as “Protest Day” by holding peaceful demonstrations, rallies and candle light vigils thereby making people aware about brutal persecution going on in China.
Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) is an ancient spiritual practice introduced to public in 1992 by Li Hongzhi in China. Falun Dafa and its founder, Li Hongzhi, have been awarded with over 3000 awards and proclamations worldwide. Hongzhi has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Sakharov Award for Independent Thoughts.
Persecution in China
Due to its tremendous health benefits and spiritual teachings, Falun Gong became so popular in China that by 1999, about 7 to 10 Crore people started practicing it. The membership of the Chinese Communist Party was 6 Crores at that time. The then Chinese President Jiang Zemin considered Falun Gong a threat to his sovereignty and despite its peaceful nature, banned it on July 20, 1999.
For the last 20 years, Falun Gong practitioners are facing torture, murder, brainwash, imprisonment, rape, forced labour, propaganda, condemnation, looting, and economic deprivation in China. The scope of torture is huge and the number of cases registered by human rights organizations is in tens of thousands.
Illegal human organ harvesting in China
It seems incredible, but for organ transplantation in China, the organs come not only from prisoners who received death penalty, but also from a large number of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. The annual turnover of China’s illegal human organ transplantation industry is over $1 billion. It has been revealed by independent investigations that Chinese government, in collusion with government hospitals, is involved in the crime of illegal human organ harvesting. Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed in this inhuman act. According to the Kilgour and Matas report, about 41,500 organ transplants were performed in China between 2000 and 2005, where the source of the organs is unknown. According to independent investigator and China Specialist Ethan Gutmann’s book ‘The Slaughter’, 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed in China between 2000 and 2008 for their organs. For more information, please see: www.endtransplantabuse.org
Why is it relevant to India?
The relationship between India and China has been tense for some time now. To pressurize India, China has been using Masood Azhar issue, Arunachal Pradesh, Doklam controversy etc. But China itself is standing on crossroads today. On the one hand is the Chinese Communist Party, whose history is full of lying, cheating, deceit and frauds.
On the other hand, the voices of democracy and secularism are rising. Ideology and policies of the Chinese Communist Party contradict everything that represents an ancient culture and modern democracy like India.
China has a lot to learn from India. India should condemn human rights abuses in China. India needs to play a decisive role in ending illegal human organ harvesting in China.
This thinking and stance can give India the status of a world leader. We are eager to see India stand in favour of humanity and stand on the right side of history.`
