Karachi, Two Hindu girls have been kidnapped from their homes in Pakistan's southern Sindh province in recent days, community leaders said and demanded safeguards to stop "frequent abductions" and "forced conversions."
Shiva Kachi, a Hindu community leader in Hyderabad, said: “We are receiving information about such incidents almost every week from different parts of the province and no one seems to care. “There is a lot of fear in the Hindu community now.”
Kachi runs Pakistan Darewar Ittehad, an organization fighting for the recovery of kidnapped Hindu girls, allegedly forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men who in many cases are much older.
In the last few days there have been two incidents in Khairpur and Mirpurkhas in which two girls were kidnapped from their homes by armed men, he said.
In the first case, a 16-year-old girl was kidnapped from her house in Khairpur, while a seventh-grade student was kidnapped from Digri town near Mirpurkhas.
Kachi said that in the first case, a young Muslim woman claimed that she eloped with him and married him after converting to Islam.
He said the Pakistani government and provincial authorities needed to put in place safeguards to ensure the safety of the Hindu community.
Ramesh Kumar, a social activist from Hyderabad city, claims that once girls are kidnapped, even the police do not cooperate and refuse to lodge FIRs on behalf of the affected families, who are mostly poor and uneducated.
"There is a nexus between some influential clerics, police and Muslims and the suffering Hindu community," he said.
Hindus are not the only minority who claim to be discriminated against and face injustice. On Tuesday, an Ahmadi family (Ahmadiyyas are declared non-Muslims in Pakistan) saw their under-construction house vandalized in Karachi's Shah Faisal Colony.
“Everything was fine. We have been building the house for the last few months, but yesterday someone spread a rumor that Ahmadis were building a place of worship and today a mob came and severely damaged the under-construction building,” said Shahid Ahmed.
In many cases, Pakistan's 500,000-strong Ahmadiyya community does not reveal itself openly for fear of repercussions.
Kumar also referred to the shooting incident at a Hindu temple, Rama Par, in Hyderabad city and said the police were so far delaying the arrest of all those responsible for entering the temple and opening fire during a religious ceremony.
Dozens of Hindus held a protest in Hyderabad on Monday demanding the arrest of those responsible for the alleged assault on the temple in which five people were injured.
"The police have filed complaints against 11 people, but have only made two arrests," he said.
A religious ceremony was going on in the temple when a scuffle broke out between two groups of the Hindu community and this led to the involvement of outsiders who came and opened fire in the temple while the ceremony was not over. or GSP
GSP ASHES
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Shiva Kachi, a Hindu community leader in Hyderabad, said: “We are receiving information about such incidents almost every week from different parts of the province and no one seems to care. “There is a lot of fear in the Hindu community now.”
Kachi runs Pakistan Darewar Ittehad, an organization fighting for the recovery of kidnapped Hindu girls, allegedly forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men who in many cases are much older.
In the last few days there have been two incidents in Khairpur and Mirpurkhas in which two girls were kidnapped from their homes by armed men, he said.
In the first case, a 16-year-old girl was kidnapped from her house in Khairpur, while a seventh-grade student was kidnapped from Digri town near Mirpurkhas.
Kachi said that in the first case, a young Muslim woman claimed that she eloped with him and married him after converting to Islam.
He said the Pakistani government and provincial authorities needed to put in place safeguards to ensure the safety of the Hindu community.
Ramesh Kumar, a social activist from Hyderabad city, claims that once girls are kidnapped, even the police do not cooperate and refuse to lodge FIRs on behalf of the affected families, who are mostly poor and uneducated.
"There is a nexus between some influential clerics, police and Muslims and the suffering Hindu community," he said.
Hindus are not the only minority who claim to be discriminated against and face injustice. On Tuesday, an Ahmadi family (Ahmadiyyas are declared non-Muslims in Pakistan) saw their under-construction house vandalized in Karachi's Shah Faisal Colony.
“Everything was fine. We have been building the house for the last few months, but yesterday someone spread a rumor that Ahmadis were building a place of worship and today a mob came and severely damaged the under-construction building,” said Shahid Ahmed.
In many cases, Pakistan's 500,000-strong Ahmadiyya community does not reveal itself openly for fear of repercussions.
Kumar also referred to the shooting incident at a Hindu temple, Rama Par, in Hyderabad city and said the police were so far delaying the arrest of all those responsible for entering the temple and opening fire during a religious ceremony.
Dozens of Hindus held a protest in Hyderabad on Monday demanding the arrest of those responsible for the alleged assault on the temple in which five people were injured.
"The police have filed complaints against 11 people, but have only made two arrests," he said.
A religious ceremony was going on in the temple when a scuffle broke out between two groups of the Hindu community and this led to the involvement of outsiders who came and opened fire in the temple while the ceremony was not over. or GSP
GSP ASHES
GSP
