Three traders belonging to the Hindu community in Balochistan were kidnapped some 140 kilometres from the provincial capital Friday night.
The incident has sparked off protests against the government’s continued inability to provide any sort of safety to residents of the restive province. The minority group’s representative body’s protest was supported widely by local political parties and business associations.
Denesh Kumar, Retesh Kumar and Rathan Kumar were on their way back from attending a family function when they were intercepted by unidentified men at the Jiwa intersection of the RCD Highway in Surab tehsil, Kalat district.
Their van was pulled over by armed men who took the traders hostage at gunpoint, an official of the Balochistan Levies, Abdul Rahim, told The Express Tribune.
“The kidnappers came in two black four-wheel-drive vehicles and a white sedan,” he said. Though no one has approached the relatives of the abducted men, who all belong to one family, it is believed the men were being held for monetary gains. “It could be a case of kidnapping for ransom,” Abdul Rahim added.
Mukesh Kumar, the brother of one of the abducted men, Rathan, is convinced the men have been kidnapped for ransom and said the Hindu community is an easy target for criminals. He, however, added that, “no one had called to make any demands yet.”
Kumar said the traders had left Khuzdar at about five in the evening on Friday and were picked up an hour later. “The kidnappers coerced the driver of the van to get out of the vehicle, which they then drove away with.”
Kumar said the wagon was later found in the Surab area with flat tyres. He added that the women of the family were still in the vehicle, but the kidnappers had whisked the three men away.
Protests
Following the incident, a complete shutter-down strike was observed in Kalat on Saturday.
The call was made by the Hindu Panchayat and supported by the Shaheri Action Committee, Traders Union, Kalat, along with all major political parties. All commercial activity remained suspended as shops and markets were closed throughout the day.
Traders and members of the Hindu community also blocked main roads in protest and chanted slogans against the government and police for failing to protect citizens. Demanding the government to employ all available resources for the safe recovery of the abducted men, protesters threatened to prolong their demonstrations otherwise.
The Quetta-Karachi RCD Highway was blocked for nearly five hours in Kalat with a large number of vehicles stranded for the same reason. As a result, Nato supplies were also disrupted.
There has been a marked increase in kidnapping for ransom cases in Surab Tehsil, the hometown of a provincial home minister, in recent years.
Hindus are seen as easy targets. The Mahraj of Kali Mandir, the historic Hindu temple, was also kidnapped from the same region earlier, but was released after a ransom of Rs8 million was paid for his return.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS (19)
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@Mirza: I don't know if you are being sarcastic, but it is not funny making light of a situation when someone's life hangs in the balance. Of course, Hindus are easy targets in a brutally oppressive Muslim-dominated country where barbarism reigns instead of civilized behaviour and where no one has the courage to speak of a weak community. Muslims and, particularly, Pakistanis should not wonder why they are hated by the rest of the civlized world. They have no right or reason to shed their precious crocodile tears over the maltreatment of other Muslims in other countries.
Sad and very unfortunate. I can't even fully imagine the sort of constant insecurity and fear that Hindus as well as other communities live under in that province.
PS and a minor quibble: Please do not choose sensationalist headlines like this. This is not Daily Mail.
@MIrza:
Yes. They are being prepped for Maya Khan's next TV show
@666: While I agree with your assessment that the prevailing beliefs in society can and do shape the character of the country and that only a large change in peoples opinions will create real change, I'm personally more optimistic about the future. Its a cliche, but extremists tend to be the loudest voices in any society and often create waves disproportionate to their numbers. This is purely personal experience, but while I've encountered a lot of prejudice, I've also seen a lot of tolerance from people in many sections of society. Many countries have drastically changed their national character over the years. Just look at the many colonial powers of previous centuries. Many have gone from being Conquering states filled with bigotry and blind religiosity to being multicultural, democratic states. There's no reason we can't do the same in time.
@Sunil Kumar
Playing the victim card wont help either, when kidnappings and killings are happening cuz of criminal reasons shaping them as intolerance and bigotory might win you few fans on ET or in India but on ground you are just facilitating the job of all those who accuse hindus of not having pakistan's interest at heart. You know very well most kidnapping of hindus are due to ransom reason. This govt has failed in law and order, if we insist on improvement in law and order instead of making every crime a secretarian violence we might succeed.
@Saad Ibrahim Rasheed: Problem with your narative is that a country created for people of a certain religion will find it inherently difficult to be non religious or secular. The kidnappings are sad and you are right that the people are Pakistani first and then Hindu later. However many muslims would say they are a muslim first and then their nationality. ET highlighting the victims to be hindu is a reflection of that prevelant mindset in pakistani society in my opinion.
No society is perfect however the more tolerant a society is, secretarian violence will reduce proportionately and even a few deaths will result in outrage. Just to highlight, when a shooting happens anywhere in the US and Europe (irrespective of the sect), there is national outcry. In pakistan people get killed and its just accepted as a way of life and if the people are from a minority sect then the killings are often justified with some non sensical religious based ideology.
Pakistan will always be an islamic state as the leadership though pretending to be psuedo secular will never go against anything termed as islamic even if it doesnt make any sense.
Hindu Kidnappings very common !!!! but who cares ? the pakistani nation is busy in burma violence condolence
i think kidnapping abduction is not related Hindus even all Kalat people suffering from worse law and order situation. the Government Ministers engaged and court proof it that provincial ministers involved in kidnapping for ransom. On other side the law enforcement agencies like Police F.C Levies let free hand criminals in over all District just for getting share from criminals. The citizens of Kalat Citizen Action Committee Kalat, all Major Political parties set a committee to not only release abducted Hindus but also maintain law and ordering situationists in Kalat. in this regard the protest Road Block National High way and gv 48 hours to release these abducted hindues otherwise they continue their protest.
Rehamn Malik has failed to implement law and order.
@Sunil Kumar: Well said! I honestly can't believe how many people continue to buy into this bigotry. Pakistan was meant to provide a solution to the religious and racial tensions that were plaguing the region at the time, not to help create even more hatred and intolerance! Our founding principles were intended to guide us towards becoming a just and secular state where everyone, not just Muslims can follow their beliefs in peace. Instead, these ideas were thrown by the wayside for the benefit of certain religious leaders both inside the country and outside of it. Personally, I believe that a Pakistani is someone who calls the region home. No more, no less. Everything else, genetics, religion, whatever is secondary to that.
President Zadari needs to shift President House in Baluchistan as well as the Prime Minister House in order to defuse the tension in Baluchistan and to put the pressure on Local Authorities to maintain the law n order.
May be a Camp Office!
Everyday there are kidnappings in Balochistan and ET never mentions their religion but what is this. ET should do some responsible journalism. They are kidnapped for ransom not for Religious Purposes. Our own media outlets are a reason to bring masala and division in our society. Assam and Burma violence could not be mentioned on ET as they cannot portray Pakistan in a bad manner.
First item in the agenda of the Indo Pak dialogue should be liberal visas to all hindu brothers to migrate to India by the Indian Govt and Pak visa to all those muslim brothers who want to migrate to Pakistan. So that Pakistan can become a souverign Islamic state as wished by the mullas & fundos
ET once again poor reporting do you also mentions muslim kidnapped, punjabi kidnapped or killed in baluchistan? They being Hindu is irrelevent they are pakistani stop inflaming secretarian divide
Hafiz Saeed: I wonder what exactly do you mean by "sending them BACK to India?" Pakistani Hindus are not the ones who came from India, they are the ones who stayed back after partition and what do they have to do with India anyway? They were born and raised here here. And besides it's not just government's responsibility to protect them. No government can do anything if the overall society in general becomes so intolerant like we have in Pakistan at the moment.
:(
Will these traders be "willingly" converted to Muslims?