Claiming they have no representation in the country’s legislatures, representatives of Hindu and Christian minorities have condemned the kidnappings and subsequent forced conversions of the Hindu girls at the hands of a handful of miscreants who they said were conspiring to divide the country’s people along religious lines.
“The reserved seats [of minorities] should be filled on the basis of election and not selection,” demanded Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) patron Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, while talking to the media at the Karachi Press Club on Monday.
Former Sindh Assembly member Javed Michael, office bearers of PHC and parents of Rinkle Kumari, Dr Lata and Asha Kumari were also present on the occasion.
Rinkle and Lata have been sent to shelter homes by courts but Asha is yet to be recovered by the police.
Demanding the immediate recovery of Asha, the speakers appealed to the president, prime minister, chief justice and the chief of army staff to allow the mothers of Rinkle and Lata to visit the shelter homes for at least a month.
“The girls were brainwashed by their abductors but left without counselling,” claimed a female member of the PHC.
“All I need is my [daughter] Rinkle,” said a weeping Silchiny Kumari, the mother of the Hindu girl, renamed Syeda Faryal Bibi, after allegedly being forced to embrace Islam by her kidnappers in Mirpur Mathelo.
The uncle of Rinkle, Raj Kumar, told journalists that in the Dharki area, miscreants were threatening to take out processions and kidnap another four Hindu girls if the courts gave an unfavourable decision in Rinkle’s case.
The parents of Lata and Asha also made similar appeals.
Challenging the claims that the girls had converted on “freewill”, Vankwani questioned the kind of freewill the Hindu girls would have exercised being surrounded by a number of armed people.
“The country’s 10 million minority members, with seven million living in Sindh, are being forced to leave their beloved homeland,” he said. “A month ago, at least 250 Hindu families had left the country silently, with no official quarter bothering to ascertain the reason.”
The PHC chief also demanded that the Chief Justice of Pakistan forms a judicial commission to probe into the “biased” attitude of the police in Ghotki, where the speakers demanded deployment of army.
Speaking on the occasion, Michael said that the two Christian hospital workers kidnapped in the city around 20 days ago should be recovered immediately. “We also have reservations against the police and courts that sent the two girls recovered to government shelters instead of their homes,” he added.
Vankwani said that Hindu panchayats from across the country would gather at a conference to be held in Karachi on March 25 to form a committee that would protect the interests of minorities. “We all would also appear before the Supreme Court on March 28.”
The PHC official also called for security for his community representatives, who are being harassed and threatened with dire consequences in interior Sindh areas like Mirpur Mathelo.
Replying to a question, Vankwani lambasted the “so-called minority lawmakers” in the country’s legislatures, saying they were representing their political parties and not their communities.
“There is no representation of minorities in the assemblies,” he said. “We have been demanding representation based on elections and not selections.”
When drawn towards the support shown by Sindh Assembly minority legislators on the issue, the PHC patron said that if two or three lawmakers were feeling their responsibility towards their community, it did not matter. “If two or three MNAs and MPAs highlight the issues, it does not mean the system is alright.”
