Our way or get out

Authorities whose job it is to protect people, uphold tenets of justice should address forced conversions immediately

The mystery surrounding the case of the 12-year-old Hindu girl in Daharki once again underscores the issue of forced conversions in Pakistan, particularly for Hindus living in Sindh. The world has a long history of religious communities impinging upon each other’s free will, but most civilised countries today have managed to get past such attitudes. However, minority communities in Pakistan still continue to grapple with this serious problem. Whether the 12-year-old girl converted of her own will or was coerced into changing her religion is for the courts to decide; however, it is extremely difficult to believe that a person of such a young age made such an important life decision without any coercion whatsoever. Not only that, it is curious that the official who allegedly helped her convert deemed her adult enough to have eloped with a Muslim boy. As forced conversions have been common in Pakistan for a long time now, the details of the case need to be explored and any wrongdoing committed must be corrected.

The authorities whose job it is to protect people and uphold the tenets of justice should address the topic of forced conversions immediately. Likewise, there is clearly a need for the citizens of this country to be more tolerant of different communities, rather than allowing religion to divide a nation that needs to stand united now more than ever against the evils of our time. To date, thousands of Hindus and members of other religious communities have emigrated from Pakistan, their motherland, only because some of their fellow citizens made life here a living hell. Many have been robbed of their basic human rights with no one to turn to for justice. It is a scary thought that there are people in this country who did not mourn the recent murder of the Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan. Sadly, when some of our fellow Pakistanis belonging to minority communities migrate to India, they are not welcomed there, either. This leaves them with a sense of alienation from the region altogether and the blame lies solely on those in Pakistan who played a part in driving them out in the first place.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2014.

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