Minorities at the verge of extinction in Pakistan - When would the world react to Pakistan’s atrocities?

 

 Ronik Sharma

 

Hindu-Sikh minorities are under attack in Pakistan since the partition of India-Pakistan, with time this has become a common practice in Pakistan as forced conversions are on verge. In 1947, when Pakistan became a separate country with Muslims in majority, other minorities such as Hindu, Sikh, Christians, Parsi only became second class citizens.

 

 

By far, there is no rule of law to protect or safeguard the rights of these communities in Pakistan. Over course of time, number of cases of violence, brutality and other discriminations got registered at different levels, but no prompt action was ever taken when it came to these sections of minorities in Pakistan. There is neither a freedom of speech and expression for minorities nor a fundamental right that delivers justice to them. May it be Government of Pakistan or the other State Administrations, all the bodies have repetitively failed to safeguard lives, liberty and other rights of the minorities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During partition of India-Pakistan in 1947, almost 23 percent of Pakistan’s population was comprised of non-Muslims but today, the proportion of non-Muslims has shockingly declined to mere 2-3 percent. The major fallout of this percentage is due to forcible conversions or forced evacuations. Pakistan suppresses the minority groups to an extent that they live under constant fear. The Muslim clergy with the patronage of Pakistani government and other ancillary agencies forcibly converted the maximum minority population either on gun point or by any other force like kidnapping, abduction and extortion. Hindus, Sikhs and Christians of Pakistan are not allowed to celebrate their customary functions and other festivities openly, as the minority population lives under the fright of terror and fundamentalism.

 

 

The Jihadi groups and other fundamentalists openly threat the Hindu- Sikhs of Pakistan and all other minority groups to accept the Islam or face the consequences in the form of abduction of their daughters or killing of the community men. Due to constant threats emanating from Jihadi groups the minority groups don't have freedom to profess their religious faith and are also not allowed to visit temples and perform pooja on daily basis. The imposition of various restrictions upon minority communities force them to bear humiliation and tortures in lack of any sort of support from the Govt of authorities of Pakistan. There are countless cases of desecrations of Hindu idols as well as temples, shrines, churches and Gurdwaras pending and unheard in each corner of Pakistan. But the Govt. of Pakistan is always a mute spectator and are hand in gloves with perpetrators of violence against minorities thus always hiding and covering the facts and reality that’s surfacing in Pakistan widely. There is no holiday on religious festivals of the minorities apart from these total restrictions imposed on celebrations too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In last few years there has been a considerable increase in the number of persecuted Hindu-Sikh families thus forcing them to flee from their homes and hearths to save their lives and take shelter or seek refuge in India. Many unmarried girls and women belonging to minority community are found missing, have been kidnapped and their cases are still untraceable. Even after strong protests by their family members and representatives of the minority communities if anyone got traced, it was only to find her religion being forcibly converted to Islam. In such a rogue state of Pakistan even minors and old aged people are not spared from religious persecution. On routine basis small girls between 12 to 18 yrs of age forcibly get converted and married with older men, three to four times of their age. Many funded Organisations are working on this particular issue of conversation of left out minorities in Pakistan after independence. Many incidents took place where girl child is being ignored to accept Islam but police, army or even judiciary of Pakistan supported the kidnappers and the fundamentalists. Government of Pakistan never took any strong steps to prevent the illegal killings and forced conversions. Many a times jihadi groups active in Pakistan targeted and killed the individual who raised the voice against these atrocities.

 

 

Target killing of Hindu-Sikh leaders is a common practice in Pakistan. Over the years, there has been serious violations of human rights of minority community in Pakistan yet there is absolutely no one to listen to the sobs and cries of these unfortunate people.