The story of the Hindu population in Pakistan is one of long decline.
UMERKOT: Diwali is one of the most popular festivals of South Asia. It celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance, although different legends are associated with the festival in different parts of the world. Diwali is a New Year festival in the Vikrama calendar, where it falls on the night of the new moon in the month of Kartika, which means it usually falls in October or November. Business people regard it as a favourable day to start a new accounting year because of the festival’s association with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Diwali is also used to celebrate a successful harvest. The name of the festival comes from the Sanskrit word dipavali, meaning a row of lights. Diwali is known as the festival of lights because houses, shops and public places are decorated with small earthenware oil lamps called diyas. These lamps, which are traditionally fuelled by mustard oil, are placed in rows on windows, doors and outside buildings to decorate them. The lamps are lit to help the goddess Lakshmi find her way into favourable houses. One Diwali legend is about the return of Rama and Sita to Rama’s kingdom after 14 years of exile. In India, oil lamps are often floated across the River Ganges as it is regarded as a good omen if the lamps manage to get all the way across the river. Similarly, in Sindh, the same tradition is followed and lamps are floated in the River Indus at Sadh Belo, i.e., Sukkur and Kotri downstream at Hyderabad.
Approximately, seven million Hindus live in Pakistan, making them the largest minority in the country. The story of the Hindu population in Pakistan is one of long decline. At the time of Partition, hundreds of thousands of Hindus opted to migrate to India where Hinduism is the dominant religion. Those that remained, and their descendants, now make up a tiny fraction of Pakistan’s estimated 190 million citizens and are mostly concentrated in Sindh.
The Hindu community is facing a rise in tide in violence and discrimination. Pakistan’s Hindu community says it faces forced conversions of Hindu girls to Islam, a lack of legal recognition for their marriages, discrimination when it comes to employment and physical abuse when they venture into streets. This discrimination has prompted some Hindus to leave for India. Around 3,000 Hindus left this year, part of a migration that began four years ago, sparked by discrimination and a general rise in crime in Sindh.
The festival of lights really stands for hope. Today, is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple joys of life. The majority community of the country is requested to extend solidarity with the most deprived Hindu minority. This will help create religious harmony in a country, which has become increasingly volatile and hostile towards its minorities.
Sawai Malhi,
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.
