Voicing concern: Hindus demand equal job opportunities in every sector

Rights organisations decry lack of implementation of privileges accorded to minorities.

KARACHI: Pakistan Hindu Seva (PHS) and the Sindhi Hindu Youth Wing (SHWY), Sakrand, held a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday to raise their voice against the injustices being meted out to minorities.

PHS coordinator Girdhari Lal said the press conference was aimed to raise awareness about the rights accorded to minority communities by the Constitution. "We are highlighting the major issues that we face, especially in Shaheed Benazirabad district," said Lal, who hails from Umerkot.

Hindus in Sindh are victims of forced conversions and not given jobs on merit, he said, stressing for the implementation of the job quota in every sector. "The five per cent quota for minorities is just a number in books and papers. We want this number to be implemented in every province and government departments," he added.

Sharing statistics from various fact-finding reports, the PHS information secretary, Vishal Anand, stated that three cases of forced conversions and abductions of Hindu girls in Samaro town were still pending investigation before the authorities.

"Why are only our (Hindus) girls being made victim of forced conversions?" the SHYW head Vijay Kumar questioned the media. Not a single girl who was forcibly converted is living a married life, she said.

There are several injustices faced by minorities in other districts of Sindh. In the past two years alone, there have been several cases of abductions and forced conversions. Since January 2015, four cases of forced conversions have been registered in Sindh, disclosed the PHS president, Sanjesh Dhanja. Of the 35 reported cases of conversion in 2014, 17 were of forced conversion.

He added that Jeevni Bagri, an 11-year-old girl was the latest such case of forced marriage and forced conversion.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2015.