PHC to start protest against Jodhpur killing today

Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani says India not sharing details of investigation

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) Patron-In-Chief Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani has said the Indian intelligence agencies try to force the Pakistani Hindus visiting India into speaking against Pakistan and do not hesitate to kill people who refuse to comply with their demands.

“Thousands of people of the Hindu community are on their way to Islamabad to take part in the sit-in that I have called in protest against killing of Pakistani Hindu family in Jodhpur,” Dr Vankwani, who is also a member parliament, said while taking to Express News on Wednesday.

“The sit-in will start today [Thursday] outside the Indian Embassy in Islamabad,” he added.

Eleven members of a family of Pakistani Hindus were found dead inside a rented farmhouse in the northwestern Indian city of Jodhpur on August 9 under mysterious circumstances.

Immediately after the incident, the Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi had asked the Indian authorities for provision of access to the surviving members of the bereaved family.

It had also asked India to share copies of the first information report (FIR) and the initial investigation and to facilitate presence of Pakistan officials during the post-mortem of the deceased.

Dr Vankwani said despite repeated requests by Pakistan to share the details of the probe into the mysterious death of its citizens, India was not cooperating.

“Both India and Pakistan are signatory to the UN resolutions and New Delhi is bound to provide such details. We will keep pressuring India to bring to light the facts,” he added.

A day earlier, the PHC chief had called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and told him that a surviving member of the family, Shrimati Mukhi, had filed an FIR in Sindh’s Sanghar district on the incident, nominating right wing RSS and BJP for involvement in the murder of her family members.

“As per Ms Mukhi, her father, mother and other family members were murdered after they refused to spy on Pakistan and issue anti-Pakistan statements at the behest of Indian intelligence Agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW),” he had said.

The MNA had told the foreign minister that over a month had passed since the incident but the culprits had not been apprehended.

“Despite the PHC's strong demand for a transparent investigation, the Indian police covered up the real facts and described the deaths as suicides. The country's Hindu community has run out of patience. The PHC will start its protest and hold a sit-in until justice is served," he had stated.

Responding to his concerns, FM Qureshi had said Pakistan has protested over the inhuman incident and has demanded that the Indian government involve Pakistan in the investigation.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will raise its voice at every possible forum for a transparent investigation into the tragic killings,” the foreign minister had said.