Pakistani Hindus in India protest ‘atrocities’

Pakistani Hindus hold placards as they shout slogans during
a protest against alleged human rights violations in Pakistan,
outside the United Nations office in New Delhi, India

A group of Hindus who travelled to India from Pakistan staged a rally at the United Nations office in New Delhi on Wednesday against alleged persecution in the Islamic republic. The right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Forum), which organised the rally, said protesters will not return home due to “atrocities” against Hindus in Muslim-majority Pakistan. “We have appealed through the UN that Hindus in Pakistan should be allowed to live with dignity and those who have left the country due to atrocities must be given proper rights wherever they are,” VHP spokesman Vinod Bansal said. “Those who have arrived in India must be given citizenship because they are part of the country,” Bansal said, as Hindu children from Pakistan carried posters which read “We Want Justice”.

Bansal said protesters, numbering about 100, were from a group of 480 people who arrived on pilgrim visas to attend a Hindu festival in February, adding that Hindus from Pakistan regularly travel to India. Pakistani Hindus say attitudes against them have hardened due to the country’s progressive Islamisation over the last 30 years that has fuelled intolerance of religious minorities. (AFP)

Courtesy: Arab Times