On an average around 20 to 25 Hindu girls are being forcibly converted to Islam every month in the southern Sindh province, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said.
Urging the authorities to take note of these forced conversions, HRCP officials told reporters on Saturday that culprits were taking advantage of loopholes in the law.
Amarnath Motumel of the HRCP said that within a month 20 forced conversions had taken place.
“Apart from minor school girls, married women with children are not spared either,” he said.
The issue of Hindu girls being forcibly converted has come to the fore after the case of 18-year-old Rinkle Kumari from Sukkur who has converted and taken the Muslim name of Faryal after marrying a Muslim boy.
The family of the girl claim she was kidnapped and forcibly converted even after she appeared in court in Sukkur and claimed she converted out of her own free will.
But Motumel pointed out that not only were affected families warned of dire consequences but whenever a Hindu girl or her family appeared in court hundreds of religious zealots gather to pressurise them or they take to the streets as pressure tactics and to create an atmosphere of fear.
The families of Rinkle Kumari were also present at the conference in which her brother Inder said that had she been allowed to meet with her family members privately and even once she would never have converted.
“Despite the President’s orders for the girl’s rescue we are still waiting for something to be done.”
HRCP official Professor Badar Soomro said there was a need to enact new laws to restore a sense of security among the Hindu community.
He also said if a girl is kidnapped and her family registers a case she should be kept in a Darul Aman at least for a month before she is produced in court to record her statement.
Keywords: religious conversion, Hindu minorities, Pakistan minorities, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
This is a shameful incident for Pakistani Hindu Community. I don't understand that what are they doing till now. They must make it a Nationalized Issue with a Nationwide Protest. The incident is not new in Pakistan. I
wat happened to 12 march decision????
it is this kind of religious fanaticism that reinforces the same in the opposite camp ; happy that there are some people in Pak too who don't encourage this kind of religious bigotry !
All perfectly "legal" under Shariah law. Those poor girls have a choice of submission or death, for themselves and their families. How can people in the U.S. or anywhere else think it is harmless to "dabble" in Shariah law and allow its foot to get in the door?
The minority Sindhi Hindu community has been living in a state of perpetual fear as they are persecuted along religious, ethnic and political lines for quite some time by fundamentalist groups from the majority community with powerful political connections. The perpetrators also seem to divide communities against one another, the sole purpose being nothing but harassment which has led to insufferable humiliation,violence and death by the ethnic religious minorities. The poor Sindhi comm.girls are being systematically raped, forcibly converted and made to marry someone from the majority community. These organized violence has made them to migrate and suffer.These kind of horrible persecutions are against inter. laws because these are crimes against humanity and have provisions to prosecute the groups as well as the authorities indulging in such heinous crimes directly or indirectly hand in glove with zealots.It's high time India takes up this matter with Pak. in a forceful manner.
What will happen when a Muslim girl is converted to Hindu after marriage? What will be the reactions from the Muslim community?
Why isn't BJP taking up this issue with the govt to put pressure on Pakistan to stop this persecution of whatever small Hindu community still left in the country, why isn't UPA govt taking it up with Pakistan govt!
I'd recommend that all remaining Hindus in Pakistan be allowed to immigrate to India under religious asylum since they have nowhere else to go and their own country cannot protest them against persecution. India took in millions of Hindu, Sikh refugees after partition, a million more won't make much difference in a population of 1.2 billion. At least we would be spared from reading such sad and heart wrenching news as these.
Pakistani government must take stern measures to stave off growing
incidence of forcible conversion of Hindu girls into Islamic religion
in the Sind province. On an average around 20 to 25 Hindu girls are
being forcibly converted to Islam every month in the southern Sindh
province, says an atrocious report of Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP. No country should allow its rabid and obscurantist
forces representing majority religion to rear their ugly heads in
wreaking havoc and causing incalculable damage to the vulnerable
community belonging to minority religion.
Forced conversions and proselytization has been occuring in most Islamic countries for hundreds of years. Credit to the HRCP for actually making a statement like this. Wouldn't be surprised if HRCP official Professor Badar Soomro gets shot by his bodyguard today, or mauled to death by his milkman tomorrow, for blaspheming the 'Law of the Land.' I believe there isn't a single Islamic country in the contemporary world that guarantees minority rights and protects its citizens against forced conversions. The problem isnt with Islam or the Muslims, or with misinterpretation of the Q'uran, or with a Medieval Code of Conduct - the problem lies with the rest of the world and its inability to understand the sentiments of the Mohammedans - as has been the case for the last 1400 years. Good day.
This is not a surprise anymore. Pakistan is a country submerged in theocracy with little to no freedom of religion being practiced. People of pakistan played a huge rule in bringing their country to its current state. They have far more bigger problems to contemplate about than just playing pressure tactics on minorities. After all, Pak is not a secular country.
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