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Ghotki in Sindh, where the infamous Mian Mithu operates, has once again been declared an epicentre of forced conversion of Hindu girls. A 37-page report titled “A Culture of Hate Mongering’’ published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said that Ghotki is the “epicentre for forced conversion of teenage Hindu girls’’.
The report, for which field research was done by journalist Rabia Mehmmod, who is also its author, was released on Wednesday. Almost all Pakistani newspapers, TV channels, and social media platforms have failed to give any coverage to the report. It has been mentioned in Najam Sethi’s The Friday Times only.
The report also noted with concern the incidents of attacks on Hindu temples, one at Karachi and the other at Kashmore. It has also chronicled the attacks by Islamist radicals on Ahmadiyas who were declared non-Muslims by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975. The report covers the period from July 2022 to June 2023 and says that the state has encouraged the fundamentalists both through “its actions and inactions’’.
Some new legislation, as well as laxity in the implementation of existing laws and court orders, have seriously impacted the human rights of all minorities in Pakistan. All political parties of Pakistan have been complicit in fanning religious intolerance. Most parties use “religion’’ as a card to garner support and also indulge in one-upmanship on this score, the report added.
Religious parties have also been making efforts to make blasphemy laws more stringent by tabling laws and by fanning debates in public. Anti-Shia, anti-Ahmadiya, and anti-Christian sentiments were instigated by them. The state failed to initiate any corrective steps, and authorities silently facilitated this conduct.
Ahmadiyas at individual levels, as well as their places of worship, were targeted by violent groups. Incidents targeting Ahmadiyas have witnessed “an escalation’’ in the past few years. Most of these attacks have occurred in Punjab and Sindh with immense impunity, the report said.
Most Hindus left now in Pakistan live in Sindh, presently ruled by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. It is here that Mian Mithu operates and is among the religious leaders who run Bharchundi Shareef Dargah. This dargah has long sheltered gangs of criminals who often kidnap Hindu women, even young girls, rape them, and then force them to convert. Mian Mithu’s real name is Abdul Haq and he is a former Member of the National Assembly (MNA, akin to Lok Sabha MP in India) of the PPP.
Mian Mithu came under sharper focus on media in 2012 after Rinkle Kumari, a young Hindu woman was forcibly converted to Islam at this Dargah. Protests broke out and the fast dwindling Hindus stated that Rinkle was kidnapped and forcibly converted against her will. It was also said that Mian Mithu has sheltered Rinkle’s kidnappers and provided them protection. He also intimated and threatened Rinkle into giving statements that she had chosen to convert of her free will.
The appeals by Rinkle’s parents to different courts and even the Supreme Court failed as they could not get custody of their daughter. At that time in 2012, Asif Ali Zardari was the President of Pakistan and he did little to address the issue, despite appeals from the Hindu community, and even a letter from the US. As luck would have it, Zardari has become the President again in lieu of support extended to Shehbaz Sharif’s minority government. Most experts working on human rights issues in Pakistan have expressed serious concern over a likely spike in the number of attacks on minorities.
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