When home is hell on Earth
It seems no manner of inhumanity can push authorities, in the centre and provinces, to move on the issue of minority rights. For decades religious extremists have persecute religious, sectarian and ethnic minorities, with the government unable, rather unwilling, to take the bull by the horns. Ruthless murders of the Shi’a community have, unfortunately, become as commonplace as lynching of helpless Christians, as was witnessed recently. And the Hindus of Sindh, never forgiven for sharing religion with the ‘enemy’, have been victimised since partition itself. The years since Zia, of course, saw their harassment worsen just like other minorities that the ‘land of the pure’ could not tolerate anymore.
Kidnapping and forceful conversions of young, under-age Hindu girls has become common practice in Sindh. Things seemed moving in the right direction finally with the arrival of Bilawal Bhutto in the lead position of the PPP. When he recently addressed Larkana’s Hindus on one of their more prominent religious gatherings, the province’s shrinking liberal circles finally breathed a sigh of relief. But hopefully his position on minorities is more enduring than some of his other initiatives. His show-cause notice to the CM was also appreciated – there was hope for Thar after the huge, recurring tragedy – but soon the notice was retracted. So much for draught, famine and deaths, it seems, when national and family politics is at play.
It doesn’t help, also, that the PPP has a long history of not honouring promises to minorities during its long reign in Sindh. Party lawmakers have made a habit of promising the moon, especially to Hindus each time their little girls are taken away, forcibly converted, and married off without consent. Yet there is hardly a precedent when they turned their words into action, or even cared to. The Sindh government even passed a law last year that criminalises under-age marriages. Yet the law is helpless in face of the more enduring custom of hatred, persecution, kidnapping, etc. The Sharifs, of course, are not interested in such matters. And the PPP, losing ground everywhere, will find Sindh a rapidly shrinking plate too if it does not pull its socks up. If the deaths of Thar are not enough to haunt them, the Hindus of the province will not forgive them either. It’s little surprise that Hindus are migrating to India. Their lives in Pakistan are unbearable, and unless relevant authorities arrest this trend, they too will be pushed out of their comfortable thrones.
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