Jodhpur killing

Pakistani Hindus have begun protesting against the Jodhpur incident as well as the hardships faced by members of the minority community that migrated to India in search of a better life. The false dreams that many of them have are regularly shattered by the harsh reality of India’s still-strong caste system, which rarely allows lower-caste Hindus to rise. Many of the Pakistani Hindu migrants are from those lower castes. For this, they often end up having to wait for decades to be allowed to become citizens of a country that claims to welcome all Hindus.

Pakistan Hindu Council Patron-In-Chief Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani made a much more explosive claim that Indian intelligence agencies have been forcing Pakistani Hindu migrants and tourists to speak against Pakistan and even killing people who refuse to do so. As evidence, Vankwani referred to the last month’s case of 11 members of a family who died under mysterious circumstances in the Indian city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The family had moved there years ago, motivated by those same false promises of a better life in India. Instead, they ended up being poisoned in their home.

The case itself is interesting for the secretive manner in which India has acted. The family of subsistence farmers was clearly not spies, yet India has refused to share any investigation details with Pakistan or allowed access to the survivors, even though they all were still Pakistani citizens at the time they died.

Vankwani implied that this was because a surviving family member had nominated the RSS and the ruling BJP in the police report. He also noted that no arrests had been made in the case which is extremely concerning.

After decades of throwing accusations about the treatment of Hindus in neighbouring Muslim countries, India has shown that it is just as dangerous. We would think that now, at least New Delhi would try to show that it takes justice for dead migrants seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2020.

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