True sons of the soil

LAHORE: This is with reference to Ammar Zafarullah’s article “The acceptance of intolerance” (August 7). I am a Hindu Rajput belonging to the Thar desert area. Not many people know that Hindus from the region of Tharparkar have been living here for the past 2,000 years, making us true children of the soil of Pakistan. Before 1947, Tharparkar’s population was majority Hindu and after Partition hardly any Hindus migrated because we believed in the “land of the pure” and because we believe that leaving our matra bhomi (motherland) is the biggest sin one can ever commit. But we are degraded, disrespected and discriminated against. We are not considered humans, but regarded as something worse: kafirs. But all this has not made me hate my country and never will. I was born a Pakistani and shall die a Pakistani. The Muslims of this country should support us. Minorities alone do not have the strength to fight this injustice. If people like Ammar Zafarullah are present in this country, then the day shall come when we will all be known as Pakistanis and will not be differentiated on the basis of religion.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2010.