Migration of Hindu Ex-lawmaker to India, exposes Intolerant face of Pakistan

By Mohammad S.Solanki (Executive Editor)
Thursday ,March 17, 2011

 (Photo : Ram Singh Sodha a Hindu lawmaker from Pakistan)

The 1971 Indo-Pak war saw mass exodus by the Sodhas, a Rajput clan, from Sindh in Pakistan to Kutch in Gujarat. The trickle of migrants has not dried up since. However, perhaps nobody has drawn so much attention as Ram Singh Sodha, a one-time minister and PML(Q) MLA from Sindh.

The resignation of Ram Singh Sodha, the Mithi constituency representative of Pakistan's Sindh province who moved to Kutch with his family eight months ago, has been accepted by the Speaker of Sindh Provincial Assembly.

Sodha's move to India marks a high point in a renewed wave of Hindu migration from an increasingly intolerant Pakistan. Hundreds of Pakistani Hindus fled to Rajasthan and Gujarat from Sindh, Kohat and Balochistan last year to escape religious persecution.

The former legislator's switch has sparked a controversy in Sindh, with TV channels scrambling for phone-ins with Sodha from his three-room rented house in Nakhatrana town.

Sodha, a Rajput, says: "I do not face any immediate threat. But looking at the way religious militancy is spreading in Pakistan and moving to Sindh, I decided to secure my family's future. Sooner or later we would have been forced to flee. Also with Rajput families becoming fewer, getting matrimonial matches was becoming a problem in Pakistan."

The feeling of insecurity that engulfed Pakistani Hindus after Partition has only increased over the years, Sodha says. He has applied for a seven-year visa as a first step towards Indian citizenship. A lawyer, Sodha first became an MLA in 1985 as an Independent and went on to become a minister for minority affairs. He was elected again 2008 on a Muslim League (Q) ticket. He has been the target of a smear campaign questioning his loyalty to Pakistan.

"I do feel the pain of living my birthplace and country but I have taken the step after deep thought. Nothing is more important that your family's security and well-being. Plus, the region I belong to was as good as part of Kutch before Independence," he says.

Resignation of Ram Singh Sodho a Hindu lawmaker is 'alarming', says Pakistani daily

By Mohammad S.Solanki (Executive Editor)
Wednesday, February 02, 2011

(Photo : 2009 Hindu MPA Ram Singh Sodho debating on how thousands of acres of land were lying un-allotted in Tharparkar district in Pakistan)

Islamabad : The resignation of a Hindu lawmaker who had received threats is 'alarming', said a Pakistani daily, adding that 'no minority, irrespective of caste, creed or religious beliefs, is safe' in the country. 

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.'

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 (Punjab governor) Shaheed Salman Taseer for his stance on the right of a Christian woman to justice'.