US: FBI to track hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus

Washington: For the first time, the FBI will start tracking hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arabs, meeting one of the long-pending demands of these minority communities, who have increasingly been targetted post 9/11 in the United States.

After years of pressure from civil rights groups and lawmakers, the FBI Advisory Policy Board on Wednesday recommended tracking hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arab Americans.

At its meeting, the board recommended to update FBI's Hate Crime Incident Report Forms, which serve as the primary mechanism for the government to document hate crimes committed in the US, to include crimes against these communities.

To date, the FBI has not collected and tracked hate crimes against these communities - despite serious hate crimes perpetrated against the community members.

Sikhs have been targeted in recent years in California, Florida, New York, Washington and most prominently in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, where six worshippers were killed at a Gurdwara in August last year.

In December, a woman pushed a Hindu man to his death on a New York City subway track, and then told police, "I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001."

Statistics on the population of these communities in the United States vary. Singh's organisation estimates 500,000 Sikh-Americans; the Hindu American Foundation says there are 2.3 million Hindus in the US. According to the Arab American Institute, there are about 3.5 million Arab-Americans.

The board's move was welcomed by top American lawmakers. Soon thereafter a group of lawmakers led by Congressman Joe Crowley and including Ami Bera, Tulsi Gabbard and Mike Honda started a signature campaign among their Congressional colleagues urging the FBI to immediately implement recommendations of the board.

"I am thrilled the FBI's law enforcement advisory board agrees that the Hate Crimes Incident Report Forms must be updated to include at-risk communities like Sikhs, Hindus and Arab Americans," Crowley said.

"While this is a monumental step forward, our work cannot end here. That's why I'm calling on FBI Director Mueller to fully and urgently implement the Board's recommendation."

The FBI currently tracks reports of hate crimes against Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and atheists/agnostics. The recently formed American-Sikh Congressional Caucus also lauded the move and termed it as an important step forward.