The plight of Hindu minority in Islamic Republic of Pakistan

LAHORE: Pakistani human rights activists are perturbed by the erosion of minority rights, particularly the alarming frequency with which cases of forcible conversion of the country’s Hindu nationals are surfacing.

In a latest case of forced conversion, the head of a religious seminary in Rahim Yar Khan district of Pakistani Punjab first abducted a minor Hindu girl and then stopped her from meeting her parents, saying the girl had converted to Islam and no longer wanted to meet her “non-Muslim relatives”.

According to Mehnga Ram, the father of the 13 year old Hindu girl, his daughter Radha was abducted in December 2009 and since then she is not being allowed to see her parents. “Since her abduction, we have knocked on every door stretching from the president of Pakistan to the chief minister of Punjab, but to no avail. In fact, local police, including the district police officer of Rahim Yar Khan are supporting those who had abducted Radha”.

He adds: “The police authorities are neither registering a first information report (FIR) against the accused, nor are they taking any action to recover the girl from the custody of Abdul Jabbar”. Mehnga Ram said his daughter had been missing since December 21, 2009, and the family had searched for her everywhere. Eventually, he said, some locals informed him that the girl was in the possession of the head of the Darul Aloom in Khanpur.

“We went to the Abdul Jabbar, the head of the madrassa, and others and requested them that our girl be returned to us. They initially denied that Radha was in their custody, but later admitted the fact only to then tell us that they could not allow us to meet our daughter since she had converted to Islam and did not want to see any of her non-Muslim relatives,” the father said, adding that he then went to the police, seeking an FIR against the culprits, but the police refused, saying the girl had converted and the family should just forget the matte”.

However, Radha was not the only one to have converted to Islam in recent days. As a matter of fact, a total of 57 Pakistani Hindus converted to Islam in the Sialkot district of Punjab in a short span of two weeks (between May 14 and May 19, 2010) under pressure from their Muslim employers in a bid to retain their jobs and to survive in the Muslim-dominated society. As many as 35 Hindus converted to Islam on May 14, another 14 on May 17 and eight on May 19, 2010. All the 57 Hindus who have converted actually belong to the Pasroor town of Sialkot.

Mangut Ram, a close relative of some of the new converts, who lives in Sialkot, said that these Hindus had to embrace Islam because they were under pressure from their Muslim employers. He said four Hindu brothers along with their families lived in the village of Nikki Pindi. Two of them and their families embraced Islam on May 14 in the local Haidri Mosque in the village. Mangut Ram said that Hans Raj, Kans Raj, Meena/Kartar and Sardari Lal along with his with nephews and sons worked at an eatery in Karachi. He said some Muslim people from his village also worked in Karachi.

According to Mangut Ram, his co workers often spoke against Hindus in Karachi where his family worked. “The owner of the shop where I worked said that after a few months of his employing me the sales dropped drastically because people avoide purchasing and eating edibles prepared by Hindus. Many people opposed the large presence of Hindu employees at his shop and my boss felt pressured to change the situation,” he added. Ram said Sardari Lal and his brother Meena/Kartar had worked at the sweets shops for several years and made a decent living that allowed them to support their families. He said other Muslims employees of the nearby shops discriminated against them and persecuted them. The shop owner was forced to think about their future at his establishment. “That was when the two brothers and their families decided to embrace Islam in order to keep their jobs and be secure,” he added.

Ram confirmed that 13 family members of Sardari Lal, 12 members of Meena/Kartar, their nephew Kans Raj’s son Boota Ram along with three adults and several children of these families embraced Islam on May 14, 2010. “I don’t blame them, Sardari Lal, has succeeded in saving his job and can support his family,” Ram said. He said that Sardari Lal’s older brothers Hans Raj and Kans Raj remained Hindus. Hans Raj too has said that he might consider converting to save his job. He said that life was ‘just easier if one was Muslim’ and he wouldn’t be discriminated against. Ram said that 14 Hindus of the Tapiala village had embraced Islam on May 17 because they were extremely poor and could not get jobs because no one would employ the large Hindu family. He said that another relative of his, Parkash, who lived in the village of Seowal, along with his eight family members had embraced Islam in order to save their lands. “After embracing Islam Parkash Ram usually came to the village and wept before me, he told me that Muslim neighbours had been mistreating him and had forced him to convert,” Mangut Ram said.

Ansar Buney, chairman of the Ansar Buney Welfare Trust, is dismayed over the state of affairs: “It’s heart-rending to see forced conversion of Hindus to Islam, since the Pakistan that Mohammad Ali Jinnah had envisioned granted absolute religious freedom to the minorities”. He then asks, “Have you ever heard of an Indian Muslim girl being forced to embrace Hinduism?”

I.A. Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, links the erosion of minority rights to the process of Islamisation that the military regime, under President Zia-ul-Haq, initiated in the eighties. Pakistan was declared an Islamic republic, its social and political life was influenced by the Islamist agenda; the Hindus have had fewer privileges and rights since then. A leading Pakistani NGO Aurat Foundation’s Nuzzhat Shirin too blames Islamic fanaticism for the ordeal of Hindus. “It’s Muslims winning by intimidation. It’s Muslims overcoming a culture by threatening it”.

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