Lawmakers call for ensuring minority protection

The issue of minorities was raised through points of order, by PPP’s Nawab Moammad Yusuf Talpur and Ms Palwasha Khan, and PML-Q’s Akram Masih Gill particularly in the context of kidnappings for ransom in Sindh province and the resignation of a Hindu member of the provincial assembly there and his reported migration to India.

Ram Singh Sodho a Hindu law maker from Sindh Assembly of Pakistan) Islamabad : Amid rising incidents of abduction of Hindu nationals in Pakistan, the speaker of the Sindh assembly has accepted the resignation of a Hindu law maker who had resigned from his provincial assembly seat recently after receiving threats and left Pakistan for India.

As per the news published in ‘the Express Tribune’, Parliamentarians belonging to the ruling and opposition parties on Monday sought urgent government action on hate crimes against religious minorities, including an increase in kidnappings in the southwestern regions, which has forced many to abandon their hometowns.

The migration of a Hindu lawmaker from Sindh to India last week and an increase in the kidnapping for ransom incidents against the community were at the centre of all the speeches in the National Assembly session.

“Have we descended to that level of insecurity that minorities are forced to opt for migration? Have they lost faith in the religious and constitutional guarantees promised by the state of Pakistan?” asked Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member Palwasha Khan.
She argued this situation was contrary to what was envisaged in the 1973 Constitution wherein minorities were promised equal rights and protection of life, property and honour.

Akram Masih Gill, a Christian member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, endorsed Khan’s views, saying that minorities were facing “toughest time ever”.

“We (non-Muslim Pakistanis) are being pushed into a blind alley. We are left with fewer options. It seems no political party has any framework for the protection and rights of minorities,” Masih warned.

Another PPP stalwart Nawab Yousuf Talpur was also among those who sensitised the government against a trend among Hindu communities to seek shelter with their relatives in India.

“They are leaving Pakistan…they don’t believe that the state can protect them anymore,” Talpur added.
Earlier, a female member of the Awami National Party (ANP) called for penalising elements who stopped women from casting vote in last week’s by-election in one of the provincial assembly seats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

An editorial in the Daily Times Wednesday said: “On Saturday the resignation of a Hindu member of the Sindh Assembly, Ram Singh Sodho, after reportedly receiving threats is alarming.”

Mr. Sodho was elected in 2008 on a Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) reserved seat for minorities. Fearing for his life, he sent in his resignation from India to the speaker of the Sindh assembly, Nisar Ahmad Khoro.

“Historically, minorities – especially Hindus – in Sindh and Balochistan have been an integral part of society. Even during the time of partition when Punjab was witnessing some of the worst communal riots in the history of the subcontinent, Sindh and Balochistan were comparatively peaceful.

“Interior Sindh is abundant with prominent Hindu families that thrive economically and have been central to the province’s development. These families are also steeped in and maintain the indigenous heritage and culture of Sindh,” the editorial said.

Noting that religious intolerance has been “in the forefront ever since the Lal Masjid operation in 2007”, it said: “No minority, irrespective of caste, creed or religious beliefs, is safe.”
Citing media reports that 400 to 500 Pakistani Hindu families, who have received threats, are trying to obtain Indian citizenship, the editorial pointed out that with attacks on “Shias, Ahmedis, Christians and now Hindus becoming a daily occurrence, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government, which champions itself as the defender of minority rights, must deliver”.

It bluntly said that successive governments have “failed to legislate and provide sufficient mechanisms for protecting minorities”.
“The blame is even greater on the governments during the 1970s and 80s for promulgating laws that ostracised minorities. Minority groups rightly raise questions as to the fulfilment of the promise made before partition for the integration as full and equal citizens of minorities in Pakistani society.”
The editorial said that due to the “extremism that has crept into society, we have become increasingly intolerant.

The greatest example of this is the assassination of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer for his stance on the blasphemy laws.

According to the report published in various national ‘Dailies’ and in international media with regard to the Pakistani Hindu families seek asylum in India. The Times of India report says Kidnapping, killing force Pak Hindus to seek political asylum in India. The Hindu says In the latest incident in that country targeting minorities, an abducted elderly spiritual leader is still untraced.

Extremism in Pakistan has forced thousands to flee their homes. Some of them are members of the country’s minority Christians, Hindu and Sikh communities, who say they are increasingly becoming targets of religious persecution.

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