Why number of Hindus in Pakistan is declining?
Recently on Pakistan TV, a poor Hindu boy from Pakistan was shown changing his religion to Islam under a mullah’s guidance. After the conversion, the studio audience congratulated him and shouted out suggestions for his new Muslim name before he was renamed Mohammad Abdullah. This conversion sent a clear signal that other religions don’t enjoy the same status in Pakistan as Islam does and it is a country where minorities are treated as second-class citizens in many ways and there is lack of tolerance towards religious minorities.
I think this is a sheer mockery of the two great religions and epitome of unjust and unethical practises. The forced conversions and abductions of non-Muslims living in Pakistan is not new to anyone. The Pakistani media always make big hue and cry about alleged atrocities carried out in Indian Kashmir and the Gujrat riots but never discuss anything about the pathetic condition of Hindus in Pakistan.
In 1951, Hindus constituted 22 percentage of the Pakistani population, today, the share of Hindus are down to 1.7 percent in Pakistan. This decline of the Hindu population over half a century is stark evidence of the effects of the discriminatory nature and anti-Hindu policies of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The increasing Islamisation and Talibanisation of Pakistan and antagonism against India have been some of the major factors behind the persecution of Hindus in Pakistan. Such Islamisation include the blasphemy laws, which make it dangerous for religious minorities to express themselves freely and engage freely in religious and cultural activities.
The promulgation of Sharia, Quranic law has also increased the marginalisation of Hindus and other minorities. Following the Babri Mosque riots in India, riots and attacks on Hindus in retaliation has only increased; Hindus in Pakistan are routinely affected by communal incidents in India and violent developments on the Kashmir conflict between the two nations.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 2010 reports, at least 25 Hindu girls are abducted in Pakistan every month and converted to Islam. Earlier this year, Rinkle Kumari, a 19 year old Hindi girl was kidnapped and forced to convert from Hinduism to Islam and marry a Muslim boy. Her case was appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and generated widespread attention in the media.
I think this is a sheer mockery of the two great religions and epitome of unjust and unethical practises. The forced conversions and abductions of non-Muslims living in Pakistan is not new to anyone. The Pakistani media always make big hue and cry about alleged atrocities carried out in Indian Kashmir and the Gujrat riots but never discuss anything about the pathetic condition of Hindus in Pakistan.
In 1951, Hindus constituted 22 percentage of the Pakistani population, today, the share of Hindus are down to 1.7 percent in Pakistan. This decline of the Hindu population over half a century is stark evidence of the effects of the discriminatory nature and anti-Hindu policies of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The increasing Islamisation and Talibanisation of Pakistan and antagonism against India have been some of the major factors behind the persecution of Hindus in Pakistan. Such Islamisation include the blasphemy laws, which make it dangerous for religious minorities to express themselves freely and engage freely in religious and cultural activities.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 2010 reports, at least 25 Hindu girls are abducted in Pakistan every month and converted to Islam. Earlier this year, Rinkle Kumari, a 19 year old Hindi girl was kidnapped and forced to convert from Hinduism to Islam and marry a Muslim boy. Her case was appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and generated widespread attention in the media.
Source: Abhisays.com
