Date: 26/03/2013
Forced conversion of Hindus in Pakistan jolts US, not India – Chidanand Rajghatta
Posted on March 17, 2012 by IS
http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/forced-conversion-of-hindus-in-pakistan-jolts-us-not-india-chidanand-rajghatta/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_conversionWashington, DC, USA: Pakistan’s state-endorsed discrimination, and in some cases extermination, of its minorities has finally caught the eye of Washington lawmakers. Coming on the heels of support in Congress for a Baloch homeland in the face of Islamabad’s depredations in the region, a US Congressman has zeroed in on the abduction and forced religious conversion of Hindus in the country highlighted by the case of Rinkel Kumari.
In a sharply worded letter to Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, Congressman Brad Sherman urged him to take action to ensure the return of Rinkel Kumari to her family, pursuant to reports that she had been abducted with the help of a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker. In a case that has been widely reported in the liberal Pakistani media, Rinkel, who was abducted on February 24, was forced to marry one Naveed Shah and convert to Islam.
http://www.chakranews.com/at-least-25-hindu-girls-abducted-every-month-in-pakistan/655She was subsequently produced before a civil judge twice, but she was reportedly coerced into claiming that she had converted on her own will, even as her family was denied access to her in kangaroo court proceedings that revealed in video clips to be led by a frenzied mob of zealots, including armed followers of the Pakistani lawmaker. According to Pakistani civil liberties activists in Washington DC, Rinkel was allegedly threatened while in police custody that if she did not change her statement, she and her family would be killed.
”Rinkel Kumari’s case is just one case of abduction and forced religious conversion in Pakistan,” Congressman Sherman said in the letter to Zardari, citing the Asian Human Rights commission figure of 20-25 kidnappings and forced conversions of Hindu girls in Sindh every month. ”I urge you to take all necessary steps to bring an end to this practice and other harassment of Hindus in Pakistan.”
The Rinkel Kumari case was brought to the attention of US lawmakers not by Hindu activists but by the Sindhi American Political Action Committee (SAPAC), a lobby group that, like the Baloch groups, is increasingly asserting the secular and syncretic identity of Pakistan’s Sindhi community in the face of growing Islamization in the country. Sapac activists are telling US lawmakers that state sponsored discrimination against minority groups in Pakistan is rampant and is causing Hindus to migrate out of Pakistan in droves.
http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/World/Hindu_Girl_Abduction_Forced_Conversion_Spa_-7111.htmlHindus, who constituted more than 15 per cent of Pakistan’s population soon after Partition, have now dwindled to less than two per cent, mostly in some districts of Sindh. There have been several reports in recent months of Hindu families seeking to migrate to India in the face of growing radical Islamization of Pakistan, including abduction and forcible conversions, but it is the first time that Washington, which literally slept over Pakistan’s genocide of Bengalis in 1970-71, is paying attention to the issue.
US interest in the Rinkel Kumari case comes close on the heels of sudden support in Congress for Baloch self-determination, an effort led by California lawmaker Dana Rohrabacher. That effort has rattled Islamabad to the extent that it has told American interlocutors that Pakistan-US ties will be deeply affected if Washington interfered in Balochistan, even though the Obama administration has clarified that support for an independent Balochistan is confined to the Hill, where lawmakers are free to introduce any legislation they deem appropriate. That in turn resulted in Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., writing to House Speaker John Boehner, expressing deep concern over Congressional action on Balochistan. – Times of India, March 14, 2012
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Hindu girls are forced to marry Muslims, says Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Azra Fazal Pechuho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azra_PeechohoIslamabad: Acknowledging that Hindus face a lot of challenges in Sindh, sister of Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari said in Pakistan’s parliament on Thursday that Hindu girls are being forcibly kept in madrassas in the province and are forced to marry Muslims.
The remarks by Azra Fazal Pechuho, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, came against the backdrop of the Pakistan supreme court’s recent directive to authorities to produce three Hindu women who were allegedly kidnapped in Sindh.
Two of the women - Rinkle Kumari and Lata Kumari - have told magistrates they voluntarily converted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nafisa_ShahSpeaking in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament on the issue of Rinkle Kumari, Pechuho said Hindus faced a lot of challenges in Sindh.
She stressed the need for laws to protect the rights of minority communities and to end forced conversions.
Nafisa Shah, another lawmaker from Sindh, endorsed Pechuho’s stand and said parliament should introduce legislation on forced conversions. - Times of India, March 15, 2012
See also
Pakistan Hindu girl sent to protective custody amid conversion row
Pakistan Supreme Court directs police to trace three Hindu women
Woman tortured for ‘anti-Islam views’ in Pakistan
Hindus in Pakistan – A People Without a Voice
Hindu and Sikh Temples Targeted in Pakistan
60 Hindus Attacked and Forced Out of Their Homes for Drinking Water from ‘Muslims Only’ Fountain
Hindu’s in Sindh, Pakistan Continue to Face Extreme Discrimination
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