Seeing light at the pain of prosecution for theft?

LAHORE: Two men in Sialkot converted from Hinduism to Islam this week.

Welcoming them into its fold the local Muslim community gifted the men with Rs1,000 each and a cart to ply fruits as street vendors.

At least one of the converts plans to travel to Jamaatud Dawa’s (JD) Muridke headquarters for a week-long training course.

Local Hindu community leaders have alleged that the conversion was accomplished through blackmail and have accused the police of having lent a hand in forcefully converting the Hindus – a charge the police have refused to comment on. Ashok Kumar, 36 and Labha Ram, 33, live in Sunyarewalla Pul near Roshni Marriage Hall. Upon their conversion, the men have taken up new Islamic names; Ataullah and Abdulllah respectively.

Mangat Ram, a local Hindu leader, told The Express Tribune that Rangpura police had detained Labha Ram, 33, on suspicion of theft from a shop near Rex Cinema.

He said that Labha’s elder brother, Ashok, 36, sought help from Malik Abdul Hafeez, a local JD leader and the owner of SH Tailors at Sialkot’s Bano Bazaar, for his brother’s release.

The latter made the release conditional on the man’s conversion to Islam.

He said that he had learnt that some clerics visiting the police station had threatened Labha with the amputation of his hands unless he converted.

Malik Abdul Hafeez said that the Hindu converts had been his neighbours. A few days ago, he recounted that a worried and confused Ashok Kumar had told him that his brother was being held at Rangpura police station, falsely accused of theft and that he needed money to buy medicines for his mother. He said that he had offered to help them if they converted to Islam.

“The next day Ashok visited him and expressed his willingness to convert,” Hafeez said.

He said that some JD members then visited the Rangpura police station and requested the moharrer (clerk) release Labha because both brothers had agreed to embrace Islam.

The moharrer agreed to the conditions. The brothers were then taken to Abdul Rehman, the khatib of the Majidpura mosque, where they both converted. “Abdul Rehman denied all allegations that Labha was threatened. He also gave them a clear warning that if they embraced Islam and then converted back to their old religion they would be killed as apostates,” he said.

Hafeez said that he expected the families of both brothers to convert soon.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the Rangpura police station moharrer, Sarfraz, confirmed that Labha Ram, picked for interrogation on suspicion of theft was released on the condition of embracing Islam.

He said he had consulted the station house officer (SHO) before releasing the man. Abdul Majid Dar, a local JD office bearer, said he would arrange to send Ashok to Muridke Dora-i-Suffa, on a one-week elementary training course.

The 21-day Dora-i-Aama, he said, is offered at the JD centre in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.  Ashok Kumar (Ataullah) said that the police had not bothered his family since their conversion, adding that his mother Rani, father Saeen Das, elder sister Chunna and elder brother Heera Lal still remained Hindu. He also said that he had been promised help in finding a Muslim girl to marry.

Published in the Express Tribune, June, 6^th, 2010.