01-03-2006, 09:44 PM
<b>Personal Thought: Agony of Hindus in Pak </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is tragic that though Hinduism proclaims universal brotherhood and oneness of humanity, and addresses entire humanity as divine children (Shrunvantu vishve amrutsya putraha Rig Veda: 10-13-1), Hindus are being treated with disdain and discrimination, and are being denied even the basic human rights in Pakistan and Bangladesh which used to be Hindu lands.
Let us see the plight of Hindus in these nations vis-a-vis the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations".
As per Article 1 of this Declaration, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Article 2 specifies, "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion ...." Article 3 stipulates: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." Article 7 stresses equality before law, and protection against discrimination. And Article 18 makes the tall statement, "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."
Few centuries ago, Hindu religion and culture used to reverberate from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Indian sub-continent including the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and even Zabol in Iran was Hindu land, and had no Muslim presence till Muslims attacked the sub-continent in 8th century. Hindus lost Afghanistan to Muslims in 987. After many centuries, Muslims got Pakistan in 1947.
Pakistan comprised of two segments: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh, a separate country. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been declared as Islamic republics.
Hindus have always been threatened and discriminated against in Pakistan and Bangladesh on religious grounds. Though in 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the then Pakistan's population, now number under two per cent. Situation is equally grave in Bangladesh where Hindus numbered 30 per cent in 1947, but now number nine per cent. However, in India, the present percentage of Muslim population is much higher than that in 1947.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have yet to explain what they have done to their Hindu population.
Hindus suffer constant threats to their lives, security and property in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many Hindu temples have been desecrated and destroyed in Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are regular reports of illegal encroachments on Hindu temples and lands, looting of Hindu property, discrimination, persecution, molestation and abduction of Hindu girls both in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
<b>Forcible conversions and marriages</b>
The alarming trend of Muslims kidnapping young Hindu girls and forcing them to convert to Islam is tormenting Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As reported in Pakistan's premier English daily The Dawn dated November 3, 2005, 19 Hindu girls mostly from Punjab Colony, Karachi were missing from their homes. Relatives of these girls had reason to believe that they had been kidnapped and were being forced to change their religion, the press release added.
Recently, Irfan Husain's article entitled "Conversion Losses" has been published in The Dawn (dated December 3, 2005) http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/20051203.htm which relates tragedy of Hindu parents in Karachi whose three young daughters Reena, Usha and Rima of marriageable age vanished in October, 2005.
In a few days, the shocked parents received a courier package containing three identical affidavits from their daughters stating that they had converted to Islam and, therefore, could not live with their Hindu parents. As reported in the said article, father of the girls told the columnist, "We just sit and stare at each other. For us, life is over."
The ongoing trend in Pakistan and Bangladesh indicates that the girls have been kidnapped, forcibly married, and coerced to convert, but as helpless Hindus in Pakistan, their parents have no hope for justice. And this can happen to any Hindu parent in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
<b>Discrimination and dispossession</b>
Discrimination against Hindus is a fact of life as also a fact of law in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As per Constitution of Pakistan, only a Muslim can be the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan. As per Bangladeshi Constitution too, only a Muslim can be the head of the state.
After being driven out from Pakistan, Hindus are being driven out from Bangladesh. And their lands and properties are being taken over by the government (under the Vested Property Act) to be distributed among Muslims.
The Vested Property Act was passed in 1965 as "Enemy Property Act" when as East Pakistan, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. This law legitimized confiscation of Hindu property. After emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, this Act was renamed as the Vested Property Act, and the state was made the owner of the Hindus' property.
The Vested Property Act in Bangladesh has legitimized the forcible forfeiture of millions of acres of ancestral Hindu land.
<b>Hindu genocide and persecution</b>
During 1970 and 1971, Hindus in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) underwent massive massacres by the Pakistani army. Over two million Hindus are reported to have been killed in genocide of Hindus in East Pakistan during 1970 and 1971 leading to Indo-Pak war in 1971. Besides, countless Hindu women were raped and kidnapped during this period.
Though Amnesty International too has shown concern about the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh, Bangladesh government has done nothing to provide any relief to Hindus.
Hindus are facing genocide, terror, persecution, dishonour and atrocities in Bangladesh every day. And there is selective killing of Hindu judges, professionals, teachers, lawyers and civil servants in Bangladesh to snuff out any chance of Hindu resistance and leadership.
Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh are facing disaster as their life, liberty, honour and property are insecure because of state policies and public action.
<b>Way out</b>
Let not India abdicate its responsibility by doing nothing and saying nothing in the ongoing genocide, deprivation and disaster of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In 1950, Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan signed an agreement called as Nehru Liaqat Pact under which both the governments undertook to protect life, liberty, religion and safety of minorities in each other's country.
It is Indian government's legal and moral duty to ensure that as per the Nehru-Liaqat Pact of 1950, and as per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pakistan and Bangladesh treat their minorities in a human manner. India must also ask Bangladesh to repeal Vested Properties Act, and hand over to Hindus their lands and properties.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) must also be approached to redeem the situation. Denial of human rights to Hindus violates UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
<b>Conspiracy of silence </b>
It is tragic that the unprecedented and unending tragedy of Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh remains untold by Indian media.
Why this Indian media's conspiracy of silence about genocide and oppression of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh? And why this suppression of information about persecution of Hindus? The world needs to know about pathetic Hindu plight in these lands.
Deprived of their basic rights in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus have only the right to suffer and right to silence.
Killing of Hindus in Pakistan, in Bangladesh or even in India is not taken seriously by media, by government or by various political parties or by human rights industry in India.
Is it because for some sections in India, only the terrorists, anti-national elements and Pak-Bangla infiltrators are entitled to fundamental and human rights?
JG Arora
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Let us see the plight of Hindus in these nations vis-a-vis the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations".
As per Article 1 of this Declaration, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Article 2 specifies, "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion ...." Article 3 stipulates: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." Article 7 stresses equality before law, and protection against discrimination. And Article 18 makes the tall statement, "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."
Few centuries ago, Hindu religion and culture used to reverberate from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Indian sub-continent including the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and even Zabol in Iran was Hindu land, and had no Muslim presence till Muslims attacked the sub-continent in 8th century. Hindus lost Afghanistan to Muslims in 987. After many centuries, Muslims got Pakistan in 1947.
Pakistan comprised of two segments: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh, a separate country. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been declared as Islamic republics.
Hindus have always been threatened and discriminated against in Pakistan and Bangladesh on religious grounds. Though in 1947, Hindus accounted for 24 per cent of the then Pakistan's population, now number under two per cent. Situation is equally grave in Bangladesh where Hindus numbered 30 per cent in 1947, but now number nine per cent. However, in India, the present percentage of Muslim population is much higher than that in 1947.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have yet to explain what they have done to their Hindu population.
Hindus suffer constant threats to their lives, security and property in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many Hindu temples have been desecrated and destroyed in Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are regular reports of illegal encroachments on Hindu temples and lands, looting of Hindu property, discrimination, persecution, molestation and abduction of Hindu girls both in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
<b>Forcible conversions and marriages</b>
The alarming trend of Muslims kidnapping young Hindu girls and forcing them to convert to Islam is tormenting Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As reported in Pakistan's premier English daily The Dawn dated November 3, 2005, 19 Hindu girls mostly from Punjab Colony, Karachi were missing from their homes. Relatives of these girls had reason to believe that they had been kidnapped and were being forced to change their religion, the press release added.
Recently, Irfan Husain's article entitled "Conversion Losses" has been published in The Dawn (dated December 3, 2005) http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/20051203.htm which relates tragedy of Hindu parents in Karachi whose three young daughters Reena, Usha and Rima of marriageable age vanished in October, 2005.
In a few days, the shocked parents received a courier package containing three identical affidavits from their daughters stating that they had converted to Islam and, therefore, could not live with their Hindu parents. As reported in the said article, father of the girls told the columnist, "We just sit and stare at each other. For us, life is over."
The ongoing trend in Pakistan and Bangladesh indicates that the girls have been kidnapped, forcibly married, and coerced to convert, but as helpless Hindus in Pakistan, their parents have no hope for justice. And this can happen to any Hindu parent in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
<b>Discrimination and dispossession</b>
Discrimination against Hindus is a fact of life as also a fact of law in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As per Constitution of Pakistan, only a Muslim can be the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan. As per Bangladeshi Constitution too, only a Muslim can be the head of the state.
After being driven out from Pakistan, Hindus are being driven out from Bangladesh. And their lands and properties are being taken over by the government (under the Vested Property Act) to be distributed among Muslims.
The Vested Property Act was passed in 1965 as "Enemy Property Act" when as East Pakistan, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. This law legitimized confiscation of Hindu property. After emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, this Act was renamed as the Vested Property Act, and the state was made the owner of the Hindus' property.
The Vested Property Act in Bangladesh has legitimized the forcible forfeiture of millions of acres of ancestral Hindu land.
<b>Hindu genocide and persecution</b>
During 1970 and 1971, Hindus in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) underwent massive massacres by the Pakistani army. Over two million Hindus are reported to have been killed in genocide of Hindus in East Pakistan during 1970 and 1971 leading to Indo-Pak war in 1971. Besides, countless Hindu women were raped and kidnapped during this period.
Though Amnesty International too has shown concern about the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh, Bangladesh government has done nothing to provide any relief to Hindus.
Hindus are facing genocide, terror, persecution, dishonour and atrocities in Bangladesh every day. And there is selective killing of Hindu judges, professionals, teachers, lawyers and civil servants in Bangladesh to snuff out any chance of Hindu resistance and leadership.
Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh are facing disaster as their life, liberty, honour and property are insecure because of state policies and public action.
<b>Way out</b>
Let not India abdicate its responsibility by doing nothing and saying nothing in the ongoing genocide, deprivation and disaster of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In 1950, Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan signed an agreement called as Nehru Liaqat Pact under which both the governments undertook to protect life, liberty, religion and safety of minorities in each other's country.
It is Indian government's legal and moral duty to ensure that as per the Nehru-Liaqat Pact of 1950, and as per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pakistan and Bangladesh treat their minorities in a human manner. India must also ask Bangladesh to repeal Vested Properties Act, and hand over to Hindus their lands and properties.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) must also be approached to redeem the situation. Denial of human rights to Hindus violates UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
<b>Conspiracy of silence </b>
It is tragic that the unprecedented and unending tragedy of Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh remains untold by Indian media.
Why this Indian media's conspiracy of silence about genocide and oppression of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh? And why this suppression of information about persecution of Hindus? The world needs to know about pathetic Hindu plight in these lands.
Deprived of their basic rights in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus have only the right to suffer and right to silence.
Killing of Hindus in Pakistan, in Bangladesh or even in India is not taken seriously by media, by government or by various political parties or by human rights industry in India.
Is it because for some sections in India, only the terrorists, anti-national elements and Pak-Bangla infiltrators are entitled to fundamental and human rights?
JG Arora
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