Pessimism rides high in Hindu community after kidnappings

Ravi Kumar is just one of many from the minority group, who have become targets.

QUETTA:

The recovery of another bullet-riddled body of a young Hindu trader in Balochistan has visibly shaken the confidence of the community which is an indelible part of  the province’s culture and contributes substantially to its economy.

The unfortunate 26-year-old Ravi Kumar was loading trucks with flour in Satellite Town on October 22 when a group of armed men kidnapped him in broad daylight.

The kidnappers demanded Rs4 million in ransom for his release afterwards which meant that he remained in captivity for over two months.

After negotiations, the abductors agreed to have Rs1 million as ransom money. However, negotiations did not bear any fruit since on December 13, it was only Kumar’s body which turned up in Satellite Town. Ravi’s family wanted to march along with the dead body towards the chief minister’s house or the press club in order to register their protest.

However, the community suddenly withdrew their decision out of fear that it might spark religious conflicts in a province already marred by ethnic and linguistic tensions.

“Police did not fully cooperate with us when Ravi was abducted,” stresses Ravi’s father, Kalyan Das.

He breaks into tears whenever his son’s name comes on his lips and is unable to narrate the macabre tale.

He is helped along the way by Ravi’s uncle, Dr Maher Chand, who speaks of the community’s marginalisation where their way of
life seems to have come under threat.

According to Maher, as many as 100 people belonging to the Hindu community have so far been kidnapped during the past three years in the province.

Some of these victims returned safely to their homes after paying huge sums of money to their kidnappers. But many were not that fortunate.

“The killings have sent a clear message that we should pay ransom if we want to survive in Balochistan,” Dr Chand tells The Express Tribune.

‘Soft targets’

Despite being a part of the government, Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Basant Lal Gulshan also seems dissatisfied with the treatment being meted out to the Hindu community in Balochistan.

“Hindu people are soft targets and kidnapping gangs have come to believe that they can easily get ransom money from Hindu families since they form a minority,” he laments.

However, his determination to stay on and fight for the rights of Baloch Hindus, has not flagged.

“Hindus are real sons of the soil of this region and we will not leave Balochistan at any cost. We love Pakistan and have as much rights on it as any Muslim citizen,” Gulshan adds, with emotion manifest in his tone.

According to estimates of Hindu community itself, over 200,000 Hindu people are residing in different parts of Balochistan and most of them are traders, shopkeepers and contributing substantially to the local economy.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2011.