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Why shouldn’t Hindus run away?
There is no real freedom of religion: Muslims embracing Hinduism would be immediately killed.
Officials in the western Indian state of Rajasthan have reported an increase in Hindu refugees. PHOTO: AFP
Some people in the establishment in Pakistan will probably smile triumphantly at the news that “dozens of Pakistani Hindu pilgrims who reached the Indian state of Rajasthan on September 9, say they don’t intend to return to their country”. The establishment will rebuke the government for not placing an embargo on their movement out of Pakistan and will probably succeed in getting it to stop any families from the Hindu community from going out of the country in future.
The Hindus visiting India mostly said that they would come back. No sane person can expect a persecuted and scared community to tell the truth about what they will do next after the Supreme Court backed off from inquiring into cases of alleged abduction and marriage of Hindu girls after ullema came out threateningly, proclaiming that Hindu-Muslim marriages after the girl ‘embraced’ Islam were according to sharia. Once in Rajasthan in India, the stricken community was more outspoken and expressed their unhappiness about the abnormal trend in Pakistan of marrying Hindu girls after making them run away from their parental homes.
There is no telling what the Indian government will do: treat them as Pakistani citizens and push them back into Pakistan or take a humanitarian view and accept them for naturalisation as Indians. But in Rajasthan, there were ‘social workers’ aplenty, who took care of them as they arrived. The Samenath Lok Sangathan (SLS) wants India to give them the country’s nationality and help them settle in India and not go back to Pakistan where, by Pakistanis’ own admission, religious extremism is rampant to an extent that even fellow Muslims are not safe. This kind of a thing has happened to thousands of Christians, Bahais, Ismailis, etc, now settled in the West.
The Hindus who arrived in Rajasthan for ‘pilgrimage’ are from the cities of Sanghar and Hyderabad in Sindh. They are the Bheels traditionally targeted by our waderas for bonded labour. They said, according to BBC: “We are feeling insecure because of the alarming rise in Islamic extremism in Pakistan. We would rather die here (in India) than go back to Pakistan.”
Our TV channels are striving to prove that the Hindu girls who married Muslim boys did so with consent. One TV field reporter went to the house of a Hindu bride and heard her recite the Quran and assert that she had decided to embrace the superior faith and was no longer willing to meet her parents. At the conclusion of the interview, he turned triumphantly to the viewers and proclaimed that proof was finally available to give the lie to the Hindu parents’ plaint in the court that their daughters had been forcibly converted.
The question, alas, is not whether there is freedom of religion in Pakistan; it is whether a community feels safe about preserving their religion, which is protected under the law and under sharia. What the Hindu community is pointing to is the changed environment in Pakistan, wherein conversion to Islam has picked up. After 65 years, the Muslim majority community has suddenly become so exemplary that it attracts Hindu girls — and not so much Hindu boys although that may start happening too — to Islam at such a high rate. It is the duty of the Pakistani state to create conditions in which the minority communities are not pushed so far down in the scale of well-being that its youths find it more tolerable to convert.
One factor is the condition of life which has plummeted for the non-Muslims; the other is the increased victimisation of them under various forms of blasphemy in which even the law relating to the desecration of the Holy Quran and the law about the insult of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) are often clubbed together in the mind of the common man, who then proceeds to inflict death on the accused through vigilante action while the police stand aside and admire this shameful summary justice. The other irony is that there is no real freedom of religion: Muslims embracing Hinduism would be immediately killed.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2012.
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Reader Comments (33)
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In turkey, military remains the guardian of secular Turkey.In Pakistan army remains the guardian of ‘Islamic idealogy’ of Pakistan.In the end it’s the army that has to decide which Pakistan it needs.Who is going to influence the army to change it’s course,a very weak voice from a section of liberals or imminent anarchy?.
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“There is no telling what the Indian government will do: treat them as Pakistani citizens and push them back into Pakistan”
No, at this time, the GOI can ill afford to do so. The opposition has already raised this issue in the parliament and the Hindus of India will no longer take things laying down. And why not. India (apart from Nepal maybe) is the only land hindus can call their own. The hindus are resourceful and hardworking people who add value to the place they are in. Need an example? Look at the Sindhis in India. They are one of the most successful bunch.
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In 65 years country is showing social stress due to structural problems-economy is poor, no real export items as textile is low tech and Bangaladesh is already beating Pakistan, Country lost half the territory, religious extremism is to extreme that even sect of its majority religion are not safe, no minister is willing to take a stand, guns are every where, certain part of country not under government control, anything but India policy, Kashmir first policy, use of non state actors and strategic depth policy is paying its dividend. Non state actors were used during 1948 Kashmir, Kargil, Mumbai and other covert action. In reality, in 65 years, Military did not do a better job than civilians. There is no ownership of the country every one is in transit to some where else.
CJP is making noise but the biggest lost of manpower after 1971 is on its way due to failure to provide justice to Rinkle kumari. Everyone in the world shook head that justice was not done and was not seen being done in open court. CJP owes an apology to Ms.Rinkle Kumari and fellow girls.
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Why ET is using same picture under different heading of same kind of news. Why they are giving so much importance to the migration of few hundred people of Hindu religion. At the same time thousands of muslim pakistani people are moving to middle east, UK and USA every day. Why they are not giving their pictures. 99% migration is because of economic reasons. 1% is secondary to religion and it happens every where.Real damage is coming from 99% because it is BRAIN DRAIN. ET should set the priorties straight from Pakistani point of view.
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great article.
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Great Article, !! Thanks Editor for raising voice against injustice to Hindus.
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Sindh is the motherland of Sindhis both Muslim and Hindu. Sindhi Muslim keep their Hindu castes while most non-Sindhi Muslims do not. This is a fact.
Sindhi nationalists support Hindus so they have a guaranteed support.
Problem is only the Islamization of Sindh by the state agencies so that nationalists (who also ask for independence from Pakistan) can be subdued.
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Pakistan and Afghanistan can join forces to create millions of jobs, simply by investing in the lucrative mining of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth. And there are many intellectual Hindus that could help with the process.
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don’t blame Hindus, even Muslims are running from Pakistan… get your facts straight. Rich Muslims having dual nationalities, when they want to eat Pakistan they come back, when they see they are going to caught or there is nothing remain to snatch more, they run away.
Poor people are running and dying on the border crossings, in the boats drowning on the coasts, or with hunger of by the bullets of border forces.
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@realist: “Need an example? Look at the Sindhis in India. They are one of the most successful bunch.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Need another example: Look at the Parsis in India.
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@It Is (still) Economy Stupid: “There is no ownership of the country every one is in transit to some where else.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In 1971 it led to Bangladesh.
In 2021 it would lead to……
Seems to be the 50 year itch.
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Only few Hindus left Pakistan, but no one bothered when hundreds of Hazaras from Quetta left for Australia, Canada, Europe etc. Which means Hindus are more important citizens of Pakistan then hazaras. Pakistan has kept Hindus because they want to show their enemy that their people are more happy here, but actually no one is happy to be here. Our policies are so childish and flop that our Army and Government cant see it. They are sitting in a room where they don’t have a window or ventilator or a door, to check what impact their policies take. Now every single person knows it is not India or USA but we our own Army is destroying our own homeland. Only few more pieces are left let them make it into pieces, then their will be no more Pakistan, it will be the end. That is how they will get satisfaction.
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@Randall:
Too late. China and USA have already grabbed the mineral wealth. You think USA is sitting there for nothing?
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@realist:
“The hindus are resourceful and hardworking people ….”
I totally agree with you. In UK, where I live, they are more educated then the muslims and whites and they are more employable. They are also the wealthiest and get involve in less crime.
By defination you could perhaps say they are the most successful immigrants in the West. Allah bless them.
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@Fouzia: Not USA or India you know who is enemy no1
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Sad time for Pakistan & Islam, when it cannot provide a safe environment for the the Hindu community, the original inhabitants of this land.
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good to know that some pakistanis know the truth and do not beleive on the distorted history being taught to them…
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……” there is no real freedom of religion: Muslims embracing Hinduism would be immediately killed.” This says it all.
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@Shahid Butt:
One should learn from the history otherwise one is bound to repeat it. Uganda asked Indians mainly Hindu Gujrati’s to leave in 1971. Country is not the same since. All the brain and money has left the country. These very ssame gujratis are now in UK, Canada and USA and own motel worth million dollar each. These people who left were not just warm bodies they took with them brain, investment, soft power and a mosiac of cultrual fabric. Pakistan is becoming a boring society. No variety at all. Everything is same everywhere. Why would a tourist want to come to Pakistan? Once you have spent an hour you have seen the country, every where same faith same type of social fabric. The dye from the social fabric is gone. It is like white sheet used for last rites.
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What to talk of Hindus even the Muslims are not safe in this so called land of the pure.Dont we read daily about killings and attacks by TTP in the name of Islam.
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because i can’t?Recommend
If one can read between the lines, only Hindu girls convert and not the boys, any ordinary human being with average common sense can understand the whole mess. As for conversion to Islam by reading Quran and observing the deeds of Muslims is concerned, the way Pakistani Mullah is interpreting Quran and performing deeds on the name of Islam just forget it some one can convert. A recent study revealed vice verse. In Africa the ratio by which Muslim converting to Christianity has surpassed all the Provo’s records.
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@Fouzia:
The hue and cry over Hindus is understandable. They are Pakistan’s prime human assets. Besides showcasing them as minorities who still live in a country that is besieged by extremist violence which has destroyed what fake semblance there was of a sham tolerance , Pakistan is going to regret at the void created by the departing Hindus. With their entrepreneurship, creativity and resourcefulness, Hindus provide a strong economic impetus in a country that is virtually on the cliff and staring at an empty abyss below. India is the right place for them to thrive. You don’t have to look farther than Sindh to understand why it experienced a wave of Hindu migration to India at the time of partition. Many of the Sindhi Hindus arrived in India with nothing, after their homes and properties were looted, robbed and burnt down by Pakistani Muslims at the time of partition. Hindu Sindhis are today one of India’s most enterprising communities. And so are the Gujaratis, Parsis, Punjabis, Marwaris, etc. Religious fanaticism, unleashed by your mullahs and their hate-filled madrassah mobs, are destroying your social fabric. You have to think out of the box of religion. You have to control and stop this madness. There is no glory in destruction and pretending to belong to a “superior faith”, if minorities of other faiths cannot defend themselves and assert their inalienable rights in a county that has become a joke in the international arena. Yes, to quote your editorial caption, Hindus have to “run away” from the killers with their families and belongings. Any sane person would do that. Recommend
@True Indian:
No one teaches us anything against Hinduism, Sikhiksm, Christianity in our schools. For all these years, there was no problem. Then came the US to this region, and bombed people. That radicalized the youth. Think fairly. What do you think radicalized people will do?
These radicals not only kill Hindus – they kill army soldiers, they kill Hazaras and they kill and disrespect our Pashtun elders in FATA.
Prior to 9/11, did you hear of Hindus getting persecuted?
And we Pakistanis OWN our Hindus. We think they are as Pakistani as Muslims but can you say the same for the Muslims in India?
There are many Indians who hate Muslims and think they should be exterminated.
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@Shahid Butt:
Because, the status (in terms of social security) of weaker sections in a society reflects the morale of a country.. The weaker should be protected from the stronger by the STATE on at least humanitarian grounds.. It is the real rule of the state.. Being a 4th Pillar of the constitution, the media (Not Corporate, money-minded TV media) should call a spade “a spade”..
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@Sane_Minded
Yes, you are right. Muslims are persecuted in India – which is why thousands of Indian Muslims migrate to Pakistan every year? Right? You really exposed the truth about India there, friend.
Pakistan has sowed the seeds of religious extremism in the past few decades – these migrations are just a manifestation of that. Its only a matter of time once all the ‘unbelievers’ are done away with, the extremists will turn on the less extreme practitioners of the faith. Would have been a fitting case of ‘sowing the wind’ were it not for the sheer human tragedy involved. I wish your country all the best, but somehow don’t feel too optimistic about it going the right way. Recommend
TODAY 6 MUSLIM WERE KILLED BY POLICE IN INDIA WHILE PROTESTING AGAINST DESECRATION OF QURAN, BUT THE NEWS DIDN’T COVERED BY ANY MEDIA IN THE WORLD NOR ANY CONDEMNATION OF KILLING OF MINORITY IN INDIA.
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God Bless you for speaking out the truth.Recommend
Perfect Article. I am bit surprised, but at the same time I think the Fanatics have not read this.
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@SHER:
and how do you know that when no media has reported it? continue to leave in this self created bubble of victimization and conspiracy theories
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@amit:
I did not say Muslims in India were persecuted. But there is hatred against them. Be fair. Read my post carefully – no ”persecution.’
‘ Go to youtube and find out. There is even a channel that has secretly recorded the Gujarat government officials where they admit to killing Muslims. I am not saying everyone in India hates Muslims. I am saying there are segments of the population that do. And likewise, majority of Pakistanis have no problem with Hindus, Christians. A minority of foolish people hate them.
The difference is felt in our country because almost everyone has a gun and guns are freely available so they do what they want to do. Persecution of HINDUS in Pakistan is WRONG!!!
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@SHER: Where did it happen and how did you get the information when it has not been covered by the local/ international media as per your own statement ?
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@Sane_Minded: You make it sound as if the conditions of minorities on both sides of the border are the same. If that be so then why is the migration only one way ? The journalist who recorded the interview is a Hindu from Thelka.com who put his life at risk to record the interview based on which the BJP politicians have been convicted in the Narodia Patia case openly give credit where it is due even when it happens to be a Hindu.Secular Hindus have been at the forefront in getting justice to the Gujarat riot cases i do not find anyone pursuing the case of Rinkle Kumari by now the poor girl would be in Hira Mandi.
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