Pakistan’s plurality at stake

Lal Chand Malhi of PTI says Hindu girls are abducted and converted every day

While reports in the media on forced conversions appear frequently, the issue fails to create as great an impact as it ought to. PTI lawmaker Lal Chand Malhi, serving as MNA on a minority seat, recently highlighted the issue again, arguing for the need to pass and implement legislation on forced conversions. The parliamentarian from Umerkot — the only district in the country where almost half the population is Hindu — has stated that forced conversions have become a matter of routine in some parts of the country.

As was highlighted in this paper recently, there are no confirmed statistics on forced conversions in Pakistan although unofficial estimates based on media reports suggest that as many as 1,000 girls are forcibly converted to Islam from other religions every year. This issue has been an ongoing one for many years now and has led to a significant number of Pakistani Hindus being forced to migrate to India. Their plight isn’t any easier there where they continue to suffer from discrimination on account of being Pakistani. A significant portion of Pakistani Hindus belongs to the lower castes, with neither the means nor the influence to get cases of forced conversions reported. The existence of this class barrier was highlighted by Mr Malhi, who said that cases of forced conversions often only get reported when upper caste Hindus are the victims. Forced conversions are a grave human rights concern. Silence over this evil means that Hindu girls, particularly minors, are being forced to a lifetime of subjugation and separation from their families, and remain forcibly divorced from their religion. The lack of a concentrated effort to put a stop to this evil practice by the provincial and federal governments is deplorable and reflects either indifference or bias, or both. If we don’t wake up to this reality soon, Pakistan will continue to lose some of its most hard-working and law-abiding citizens, as the exodus of minorities from the country continues. As a result, the country will be poorer off as it will lose whatever is left of its pluralistic landscape.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.