World bodies must initiate economic sanctions and punitive measures against Pakistan for not honoring the fundamental and Human rights of minorities in the rouge Islamic country.
– Ronik Sharma
Hindu-Sikh minorities are under attack in Pakistan as forced conversions of these Minorities who are living in Pakistan since the partition of Bharat is going on unabated and has become a common practice in the Islamic country. Seven decades after Independence, the Muslim community of Pakistan still treats other minorities i.e Hindus, Sikhs,Christians, Parsis, etc. as second class citizens. As such there is no rule of law to protect and provide safeguards to the rights of these minority communities in Pakistan.
From time to time many cases of violence, brutality and other discrimination have been registered at different levels but in vain because there is no freedom of speech and expression for these minorities. Government of Pakistan as well as all other State Administrations have always failed to protect and safeguard the life, liberty and other rights of the minorities.
At the time of partition in 1947, almost 23 percent of Pakistan’s population was comprised of non-Muslims. But today the proportion of non-Muslims has declined to approximately 2-3 percent. The decline in percentage of population of minorities in Pakistan is due to forcible conversions or compelling the minorities to emigrate. 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 employing other tactics like kidnapping, abduction and extortion.
Hindus, Sikhs and Christians of Pakistan are not allowed to celebrate their customary functions and other festivities publicly, as the minority population lives under the scare of terror and fundamentalism. The Jihadi groups and other fundamentalists openly threaten the Hindus, Sikhs and all other minority people either to accept Islam or to face the consequences in the form of abduction of their daughters or killing of the men from the community.
Due to threats emanating from Jihadi groups, the minority people don’t have freedom to profess their religious faith and are also not allowed to visit temples and perform pooja on daily basis. There are various restrictions imposed upon minority communities which restrict them from exercising their personal liberty and safeguard their lives.
There are many cases of desecration of many Hindu idols as well as temples, shrines, churches and gurdwaras in every part of Pakistan. But the Pakistani government is always a mute spectator and is hand in glove with the perpetrators of violence against minorities and thus the truth and reality of what is happening in Pakistan is always hidden. There is no holiday on religious festivals of the minorities. Apart from this, total restrictions are imposed for celebrations too.
From the past few years there has been considerable increase in the number of persecuted Hindu-Sikh families thus forcing them to flee from their homes and hearths to save their life and honor and take shelter or seek refuge in Bharat. Many unmarried girls and women belonging to minority community are found missing and are kidnapped and they are mostly untraceable. Even after strong protest by their family members and representatives of the minority community, even if anyone is traced and found, her religion would have been forcibly converted to Islam.
In such a rogue state even minors and aged people are not spared from religious persecution. On a routine basis young girls in between the age of 12 and 18 forcibly get converted and married off to men who are thrice or four times their age. Many Islamic organisation’s are said to be working behind the scenes to convert even the few minorities who are still left in Pakistan. There have been many instances where the girls who were kidnapped refused to convert to Islam but the police, army and even judiciary have conspired to support the kidnappers and the fundamentalists.
Government of Pakistan has never taken any strong measures to prevent the killing and forced conversions. Several times Jihadi groups active in Pakistan have targeted and killed those individuals who have raised their voice for the minorities and against the atrocities committed on them. Target killing of Hindu and Sikh leaders is a common practice in Pakistan. There are serious violations of human rights of minority community in Pakistan over the years and there is no one to listen to the sorrows and cries of these unfortunate people.
Despite criticism by world human rights organisations, UNO and European Union, Pakistani government has not done any thing on ground to protect and safeguard to minority communities who continue to live in Pakistan since 1947. This is a awakening call for the world to act firmly against the Pakistani state and non-state actors to save the minorities from human catastrophe.
Pakistan needs to be warned that it has to act to safeguard the rights, life and liberty of minorities, and provide a life of dignity and honor, and stop forcible conversations of minorities. Failing which the World bodies must initiate economic sanctions and punitive measures against Pakistan if it fails to comply with the directions and for not honoring the fundamental and Human rights of minorities in Pakistan.
(Author is an Advocate and the Convener of ‘Roots in POJK’)
