Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tried to impart lessons to India on tolerance after Naseeruddin Shah's unwarranted and unfounded comments on Bulandshahr violence. But shouldn't the cricketer-turned-politician have been better off trying to put his dilapidated house in order? Imran had earned a fair degree of respect as a cricketer, and a captain who led Pakistan to their maiden World Cup title. He would do well not to fritter it all away with shallow statements as the Prime Minister of his country.
It's common knowledge that Pakistan had bowed down to Islamic fundamentalism a long time back and continues to do so. MyNation takes this opportunity to highlight the dismal condition of Pakistan's minorities.
There were around 20% minorities at the time of Partition in Pakistan,less than 2% remain now. On the other hand minority population has grown significantly in India since Independence. Pakistan is the last country that should be lecturing any country on how to treat minorities. https://t.co/6GTr3gwyEa
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif)
- Religious minorities in Pakistan such as Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmedis and Hazaras continue to face violence almost everyday.
- The Human Rights Commission, in its State of Human Rights report in 2017 — dedicated to the late activist Asma Jahangir — said people continue to disappear in Pakistan for either being critical of the country of for advocating peace with India.
- The commission emphasised on the rising incidents of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, and the extension of the jurisdiction of military courts.
- At the time of Independence, Pakistan’s religious minorities constituted over 20% of the population. According to the 1998 census, the numbers had shrunk to just over 3%. While the recent census data have not yet been made public, it is expected that the numbers of the religious minorities will show a further decline, the report said.
Also read: Imran Khan offers sympathy to Naseeruddin Shah's 'fears'; actor says 'No thanks'
- The report said Hindus are the most oppressed in Pakistan. With a population of around seven million, the Hindus form the largest religious minority in Pakistan. They are persecuted due to their perceived association with India.
- In most cases, Hindu girls, many of whom are minors, are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and then married off to Muslim men, the report said.
- Pakistan is not safe for Christians either. ranked fourth on the Christian support group Open Doors' World Watch List of 2017 among 50 countries most hostile towards Christians.
- Violent persecution of Christians is a common occurrence in Pakistan. Christians are targets of murder, bombings, abduction of women, rape, forced conversions, and eviction from home and country. Fake cases under blasphemy laws are regularly used to terrorise Christians, the report said.
- Persecution of religious minorities and sects within Islam have forced people like the Hazaras to seek asylum in European countries. A signicantly large number of Ahmadis have migrated to Europe and live in exile.
Also read — So much for Imran Khan's urge for peace-talks with India: Pakistan minister vows to protect Hafiz Saeed
- Hindu women have been known to be victims of kidnapping and forced conversion to Islam. According to the estimate of an official of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 2010, around 20 to 25 Hindu girls are abducted every month and forcibly converted to Islam.
- Sadiq Bhanbhro, a researcher on public health and gender-based violence at the Sheffield Hallam University found reports in English dailies of 286 girls being forcibly converted from 2012 to 2017, though this number is likely to be higher.
- South Asia Partnership Pakistan has stated that every year at least 1,000 girls, mostly belonging to the Hindu community, are forcibly converted annually. Amarnath Motumal, who works for Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, has stated that 20 to 25 were kidnapped and converted every month.
- A survey carried out by All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement revealed that out of 428 Hindu temples in Pakistan only around 20 survive today.
- In the 1990s, according to an estimate, nearly 1,000 Hindu temples were vandalised by the frenzied Islamists.
- Hindus often live in fear, have to hide their identity, adopt Muslim names and mannerisms to survive and avoid persecution. In 1992, mobs attacked five Hindu temples in Karachi and set fire to 25 temples in towns across the province of Sindh.
- Jains have been targeted too. Jain Mandar at Jain Mandar Chowk in Lahore was destroyed by a bigoted Muslim mob in 1992.
- According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan data, around 1,000 Hindu families fled to India in 2013. In May 2014, a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, revealed in the National Assembly that around 5,000 Hindus are migrating from Pakistan to India every year.
- In 2005, 32 Hindus were killed in government firing near Nawab Akbar Bugti's residence during bloody clashes between Bugti tribesmen and paramilitary forces in Balochistan.
- On October 18, 2005, Sanno Amra and Champa, a Hindu couple residing in the Punjab Colony, Karachi returned home to find that their three teenaged daughters had disappeared. After inquiries at the local police station, the couple discovered that their daughters had been taken to a local madrasa, converted to Islam, and denied unsupervised contact with their parents.
- In January 2017, a Hindu temple was demolished in Pakistan's Haripur district. In 2006, a Hindu temple in Lahore was destroyed to pave the way for the construction of a multi-storied commercial building.
- In 2009, the Taliban imposed Jizya on non-muslims, houses of 11 Sikh families were demolished in the Orakzai agency for refusing to pay jizya. In 2010, a Sikh youth, Jaspal Singh, was beheaded in Khyber agency after his family could not pay the big jizya tax. Consequently, thousands of Sikhs had to abandon their homes and flee from tribal areas to resettle in areas with larger Sikh population, such as Peshawar, Hasan Abdal and Nankana Sahib.
- In July 2010, Hindus were attacked following an incident when a Hindu youth drank from a water tap near an Islamic mosque. In January 2014, in an attack on a temple in Peshawar, the guard was gunned down.
- The July 2010 Lahore bombings killed 50 people and wounded 200 others in two suicide bombings on the Sufi shrine, Data Durbar Complexin Lahore.
- The May 2010 Lahore attacks left 94 dead and more than 120 injured in nearly simultaneous attacks against two mosques of the minority Ahmadiyya community. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, as well as their Punjab wing, claimed responsibility for the attacks. They were also blamed by the Pakistani police.
- In 2012, Jundallah militants massacred 18 men travelling on buses. All but one of the victims were Shia Muslims. Others on the buses were spared.
- On September 22, 2013, a twin suicide bomb attack took place at All Saints Church in Peshawar, in which 127 people were killed and over 250 injured.
- On March 15, 2015, two blasts took place at the Roman Catholic Church and Christ Church during Sunday service in the Youhanabad area of Lahore. At least 15 people were killed and 70 were wounded in this attack.
- On March 15, 2014, a crowd of Muslims burnt down a Hindu temple and a dharmashala at Larkana in Sindh, after unverified allegations of a Hindu youth desecrating a copy of the Quran.
- In January 2014, a policeman standing guard outside a Hindu temple at Peshawar was gunned down.
- A church in Quetta was bombed in December last year with nine being killed. The Islamic State took responsibility for the attack.
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