Monday,April 19,2010
(Hindu Womens in Karachi,Pakistan)
By Salahuddin Ayubi (India)It is tragic that though Sanatan Dharma, commonly known as Hinduism, proclaims universal brotherhood and oneness of humanity, and addresses entire humanity as divine children (Shrunvantu vishve amrutsya putraha - Rig Veda: 10-13-1), most of the Hindus have either been killed or converted or driven out from Pakistan and Bangladesh. And those Hindus who are still left in Pakistan and Bangladesh are being treated with disdain and discrimination; and are being denied even the basic human rights.
Genocide & Persecution
Only a few centuries ago, Hindu religion and culture used to reverberate from Afghanistan to Indonesia. The Indian sub-continent including the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and even Zabol in Iran was inhabited by Hindus.
Pakistan comprised of two segments: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh, a separate country. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been declared as Islamic republics.
Hindus have always been threatened and discriminated against in Pakistan and Bangladesh on religious grounds. Although in 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the present day Pakistan’s population, they now number less than two per cent. The situation is equally grave in Bangladesh, where Hindus numbered 31 per cent in 1947, but now number nine per cent. Most of the Hindus / Sikhs have either been driven out, or have been killed or forcibly converted in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have never explained what they have done to their Hindu population, nor does anybody ask them.
Hindus suffer constant threats to their lives, security and property in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many Hindu temples have been desecrated and destroyed there. There are regular reports of illegal encroachments on Hindu temples and lands, looting of Hindu property, discrimination, persecution, molestation and abduction of Hindu girls, both, in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
During 1970 and 1971, Hindus in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) underwent massive massacres by the Pakistani army and its collaborators. Over two million Hindus are reported to have been killed in East Pakistan during 1970 and 1971, leading to the Indo-Pak war in 1971. Besides, countless Hindu women were dishonoured and kidnapped during this period.
As per Dr Sabyasachi Ghosh-Dastidar’s book, Empire’s Last Casualty: Indian Subcontinent’s vanishing Hindu & other Minorities, over three million Hindus have been killed in the process of Islamisation in the area now known as Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since India was partitioned in 1947. This loss of three million lives remains suppressed from the world.
Even now, Hindus are facing genocide, terror, persecution, dishonour and atrocities in Bangladesh every day. And there is selective killing of Hindu judges, professionals, teachers, lawyers and civil servants in Bangladesh to smash resistance.
Human rights organisations like Amnesty International are silent spectators of this blatant ethnic cleansing of millions of Hindus.
Forcible Conversions & Marriages
The alarming trend young Hindu girls being kidnapped and forcibly made to marry majority community men is tormenting Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Although the Pak-Bangla media may occasionally report such atrocities, mainstream media in India observes scrupulous silence in this regard. To illustrate the dismal situation, just one such example is given here. It was reported in Pakistan’s premier English daily ‘The Dawn’ dated November 3, 2005, that 19 Hindu girls mostly from Punjab Colony, Karachi were missing from their homes. Relatives of these girls believed that they had been kidnapped and were being forced to change their religion, the press release added.
Columnist Irfan Husain’s write up entitled “Conversion Losses” published in The Dawn dated December 3, 2005, relates the tragedy of Hindu parents in Karachi whose three young daughters Reena, Usha and Rima of marriageable age vanished in October, 2005. In a few days, the shocked parents received a courier package containing three identical affidavits from their daughters stating that they had converted to Islam and, therefore, could not live with their Hindu parents. And the father of the girls just wailed, “We just sit and stare at each other. For us, life is over.”
And this hopeless situation can be the fate of any Hindu parent in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Kidnappings & Killings
Even during the last few months, thousands of Hindus have been forced to flee Pakistan, and take shelter in India.
Increasing incidents of kidnappings, robberies and forcible conversion have rattled the Hindu (and Sikh) community in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Those unable to pay the ransom are just killed. Hindu film maker Satish Anand’s kidnapping in Karachi and recent release after payment of a huge ransom is just one of such countless examples.
In April, 2009 Sikhs in Karzai in Pakistan were targeted to pay fifty million rupees as Jazia, the tax levied on non-Muslims. As the victims could not pay the said Jazia, their houses were looted and destroyed.
Discrimination & Dispossession
Discrimination against Hindus is a fact of life as also a fact of law in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As per the Constitution of Pakistan, only a Muslim can be the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan. As per Bangladeshi Constitution, too, only a Muslim can be the head of the state.
The Vested Property Act was passed in 1965 as “Enemy Property Act” in Pakistan. This law legitimised confiscation of Hindu property. After emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, this Act was renamed the Vested Property Act in Bangladesh, and the state was made the owner of the Hindus’ property. This Act has legitimised the forfeiture of millions of acres of ancestral Hindu lands. And Hindu lands and properties are being taken over by the government (under the Vested Property Act) to be distributed among others.
Way Out
In 1950, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan signed an agreement called the Nehru Liaqat Pact under which both the governments undertook to protect life, liberty, religion and safety of minorities in each other’s countries.
But government in India is doing nothing regarding the ongoing genocide and deprivation of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
It is the Indian government’s legal and moral duty to ensure that as per the Nehru-Liaqat Pact of 1950, and as per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pakistan and Bangladesh treat their minorities in a humane manner. India must also ask Bangladesh to repeal the Vested Properties Act, and restore the lands and properties of Hindus to Hindus.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights must also be approached to redeem the situation. Denial of human rights to Hindus violates UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus have only the right to suffer and right to silence. Shockingly, the tragedy of Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh remains untold by Indian mainstream media.
India's callous inaction regarding the pathetic plight of Pak-Bangla Hindus is disgusting. Killing of Hindus in Pakistan and in Bangladesh is not taken seriously by mainstream media, by government or by various political parties or by the human rights organisation in India. Why just shed tears selectively for the Palestinians or the Tibetans, when there is so much horror being perpetrated in neighbouring countries?
May god bless you all. Please continue to expose the plight of Hindus in Pakistan. The more exposure the better to get the world attention and keep this aspect of the struggle in the limelight. Keep in contact with all the major human rights organizations. In fact tell all Hindus to contact them about this situation.
ReplyDeleteThe Dawn of tomorrow may make the above commentator a Muslim, then he will also join his fellow muslims to kill Hindus. Its a hopeless case and a hate and love saga, you can't live with Muslims and can't live without them. Muslims are like roaches and the whole world is invested with them. You kill them, they go silent, then come back with more of them. Their greatest weapon is democracy. What one thousand years of muslim rule in India could not do (managed to convert only 15%), they have converted three times more in just 60 years. It is not surprising to see an Islamic subcontent in next 100 years.
ReplyDeleteThe Dawn of tomorrow may make the above commentator a Muslim, then he will also join his fellow Muslims to kill Hindus and obliterate the relics of Hinduism from the face of this earth. Its a hopeless case and a hate and love saga, you can't live with Muslims and can't live without them. Muslims are like bed bugs and the whole world is infested with them. You kill them, they go silent, and then they come back with more of them. Their greatest weapon is the modern Democracy. What one thousand years of Muslim rule in India could not do (managed to convert only 15%), they have converted three times more in just 60 years, and that’s after carving out one-forth of our land. Can you imagine the magnitude of their spread in the sub-continent? It is bone chilling. It is not surprising to see an Islamic subcontinent in next 100 years, and by that time, with relief, I will breath my last with pride as Hindu that I never gave up.
ReplyDeletecomment was typed out a few minutes ago
ReplyDeleteThis is a good step to show plight of Hindus in Muslim country.There is no tolorancy for
ReplyDeleteother religion specially for hindus who worshippes idol.In Islam muslims go to Haj
and bow to macca and take the circule and kiss
the "sang e avsad".worshipping Majar is also prevail in muslim community.
Hindu should unite and eradicate all evils
like untouchability and differences from society.all caste should unite in one ambrella
and feel proud to be hindu.Give support to poors and weak people in our society,spread education.Make some sheltar for helpless women,children from society.Celebrate festivals and perform rituals togetherly and
show our strenght.
During Partition the Congress leaders were confident (foolishly) that because of the Muslims in India were to stay with an overwhelming majority Hindus that itself was enough security for Hindus in Pakistan.Plainly that means if Hindus in Pakistan are attacked the Hindus in India would retaliate.(See "India Wins Freedom" by Abul Kalam Azad.)But it is for everybody to see that under the Congress Govt. it is the Hindus in India, their own country who are persecuted.(as in Kashmir,and now even in parts of W.Bengal also).So the Hindus are destined to be slaves as they were during the last one thousand years.Is there another instance in the annals of History ,when a community constituting nearly 80 % 0f a country are haunted and hounded in their own country?The Congress as had been its role from the outset and more so under the leadership of M.K.Gandhi had with impunity favoured Muslims giving Hindus a raw deal.Finally they presented Muslims with Pakistan; and made India a joint property of Muslims,Christians and Hindus.Obviously the same Congress being voted to power by foolish Hindus is hell bent to do everything in its power to islamise and christianise India, so that the Minority in this country are very shortly going to lord over the Hindus Hindus learnt nothing from history and history would repeat itself .
ReplyDeleteIt's sensational post and also image. I liked it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hindublog.co.in/
Just feeling so sad for hindus who live at Pakistan and Bangladesh.. As a South Indian I was completely unaware of these brutal activities till now. This is really pathetic.
ReplyDeleteI wish all Hindus comeback to India and settle down here