Hindu migration a concern in Pakistan

By Mohammad S.Solanki (Executive Editor)
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

(Photo: Pakistani Hindu women's performing Laxmi Puja on Diwali Festival in Karachi City of Sindh State)

Islamabad : Hindu leaders in Pakistan say persecution is the main reason for the recent migration of members of their community from the country.

“Every month a Hindu family leaves for neighboring India. Insecurity, killings, kidnappings and forcible conversion of women to Islam are the major causes,” said Jaipal Chabria, a Hindu politician in Pakistan.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says that every year about 300 Hindu girls are abducted and converted to Islam against their will in Sindh province alone.

Hyderabad diocese’s Vicar General Father Samson Shukardin also referred to “increasing frustration” among minority groups. “Most of the cases registered from Hindu families are from the Haris (peasants) community. The recent murder of the only Catholic federal minister has also increased desperation among minority groups,” said the director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace in the Catholic diocese in Sindh province. “Many Christian families wish to leave the country but cannot do so because they are poor,” he said adding “Minorities are feeling left out.”

Out of a population of 170 million, 78 percent are Sunnis, 16 percent Shiites and 6 percent non-Muslims. Christians are the second largest minority after Hindus, who make up 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s population. About 90 percent of the Hindus live in the rural southern region.

The recent number of Hindus is the sharpest decline in contrast to 20 percent of the population at the time of country’s independence in 1947, Chabria said.

“The mass migration, the non return of the Hindu community is bad news. Other minority groups including Christians and Ahmadis are discriminated likewise,” said Pritam K. Rohila from the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia. “The younger generation do not trust the government any more and opt for living abroad,” he said. The use of religion for power and politics will only distance people from the county’s establishment, he added.

Media reports say about 30 temples remain out of 300 Hindu places of worship at the time of independence in Karachi.

Rights group say that Pakistan’s stringent laws relating to religion have been used to persecute minority faiths.

Hundreds of Hindus and Christians are said to be among the accused.

Pictures of 2011 Holi celebration and No public holiday for Hindu festivals in Pakistan

By Krishna Kumar (PHL)
Monday, March 21, 2011

 (Photo : 2011 Happy Holi Banner from Shri Ramdev Shiv Santosh Mandli (SRSSM) and Pakistan Hindu Post (PHP) in Pakistan)

• Hindus celebrated 2011 Holi despite increased religious persecution in Pakistan

Islamabad : Hindus in Pakistan are celebrating Holi today - the festival of colours - that falls in the lunar month of Phalguna of the Hindu calendar. Te festival of joy is not just about colour and fun, it’s about the arrival of spring and more importantly, the triumph of good against evil.

The frolicsome colour fights that are the highlight of the festival will, however, not start until the Holika Dahan (the burning of Holika) which is the raison d’être of the day that falls on Poornamashi (a full moon). An effigy of the demon Holika is burned on a stack of wood, straw and bamboo.  In Karachi, the biggest celebrations are held at the Swami Narayan Mandir near the city courts.

• At Swami Narayan Mandir : Wear old clothes to Holi but come with a fresh spirit in Pakistan

(Photo : 2011 Holi, Hindus celebrate Holi at Swami Narayan Temple in Saddar on Saturday. According to legend, young Krishna was jealous of Radha’s fair complexion since he was dark. His mother Yashoda teasingly asked him to colour Radha’s face in whichever colour he wanted)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi at Swami Narayan Temple in Karachi , Pakistan)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi at Swami Narayan Temple in Karachi , Pakistan)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi at Swami Narayan Temple in Karachi , Pakistan)

KARACHI:  “Holi hai! Holi hai,” shouted the young and old as the fight of colours started after the fire was lit at the Swami Narayan mandir on Saturday.

Hundreds of families thronged the temple in white and old clothes to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. “It’s a time of celebration but never wear your best clothes on Holi,” cautioned an elderly woman who had come with her grandsons and daughters.

Newly wed couples, celebrating their first Holi after their weddings, were the first ones to reach the ground. Brides dressed in their red and green wedding saris, decorated with heavy copper, gold and silver sequins, come with their husbands to receive blessings. “They don’t want their wedding dresses to get stained,” quipped one woman mischieviously. Each couple first did the pooja (worship) before again taking the seven rounds around the fire.

While the children were busy spraying each other with colours against a backdrop of Indian Holi songs, the women were busy with pooja, performing the customary rituals of sprinkling rice into the fire, and milk around it.

According to another custom, a pot full of chickpeas is set in the middle of the vertical logs of the fire and it cooks the whole night. In the morning, the cooked chickpeas are checked to access and predict the harvest of the year. If they are raw it suggests that the harvest will be bad, explained Nandlal Bhatia, an organiser.

“It won’t be cold for a single more day here,” remarked Bhatia, speaking from 64 years of experience. Holi marks the end of winter.

The fire will be extinguished early morning with pots of water but the colour fights will continue well into the night and into the next day.

• Minorities in Pakistan: No public holiday for Hindus for festivals

MULTAN :  Hindus celebrated Holi, one of the community’s most significant religious festivals on Saturday. But while ceremonies were held across the country, the vast majority of Hindus did not take leave and went about their everyday chores.

While most employers are flexible about giving leave and government employees use off-days from their quotas, private companies cut salaries of those who avail the holiday.

“Minorities should have equal rights. Those working for the government should be given special leave,” says Shakuntala, whose husband works for a government office in Multan.

According to the Pakistan Hindu Council’s statistics for 2011, over seven million Hindus live in Pakistan. The figure is almost double that of Christians in the country who enjoy a public holiday on Christmas.

Ram, who is a senior member of the community from Rahim Yar Khan, said that it was regrettable that minorities were living in fear. “Even though the constitution says so, religious minorities in the country do not enjoy the same rights as those enjoyed by the majority,” he said.

While heads of state also send out felicitation messages for Eid and Christmas, no such greetings are made for Hindu festivals. For Eids, special monetary announcements are also made but for Hindu festivals, only the government of Punjab announced special financial relief. The provincial government has given Rs5,000 to each Hindu family living in southern Punjab, where over 150 Hindu families live. However, in Sindh, where many more Hindu households can be found, no such fiscal measure was announced.

Over 97 per cent of Pakistan’s Hindus live in Sindh and Punjab.  “We have not received any stipend or other financial assistance even though this event is an important one for the community,” said Rajeev, a young labourer from Jacobabad.

While those with jobs are able to take days off, students, especially schoolchildren, almost always have to miss out on ceremonies to attend school.

“I wasn’t able to attend the ceremony because I had to attend class. I am very upset at missing out,” said Raas Damin, a student of grade 9 in Hyderabad.

 (Photo : 2011 Holi, A Pakistani Hindu girl stands beside dishes filled with various colors prepared by Hindu community to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors, at a temple in Lahore, Pakistan Sunday, March 20, 2011)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi, Hindu women smear each others faces with color to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors, at a temple in Lahore, Pakistan Sunday, March 20, 2011)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi, Hindus celebrate the festival 'Holi' in Lahore on March 20, 2011. The Hindu festival of Holi heralds the arrival of spring)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi, Hindus throw coloured water on each other during the Hindu srping festival 'Holi' in Lahore on March 20, 2011. The Hindu festival of Holi heralds the arrival of spring)

 (Photo : 2011 Holi, Hindus dance after smearing their faces with colors to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors, at a Krishna temple in Lahore, Pakistan)

NOTE : We will soon share more pictures of 2011 Holi celebrated by Hindus in different provinces of Pakistan like Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa or NWFP and Islamabad  City etc.

---By Pakistan Hindu League (PHL)

Unicef says, Sindh faces acute hunger with parts of Balochistan in Pakistan

By  Rajesh Kumar (Islamabad City)
Monday, January 31, 2011

(Photo : A young girl, displaced by floods and stranded on land only accessible by air, cries as she waves flies away from her face in Garhi Khairo near Jacobabad in Sindh province)

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan’s Sindh province, hit hard by last year’s floods, is suffering levels of malnutrition almost as critical as Chad and Niger, with hundreds of thousands of children at risk, Unicef said on Wednesday.
A survey conducted by the provincial government and the UN Children’s Fund revealed malnutrition rates of 23.1 per cent in northern Sindh and 21.2 per cent in the south.

Those rates are above the 15 per cent emergency threshold set by the World Health Organisation and are on a par with some of the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Northern Sindh also had a 6.1 per cent severe acute malnutrition rate and southern Sindh had 2.9 per cent, both far above the WHO thresholds.

“We are looking at hundreds of thousands of children at risk,” Unicef chief of communication Kristen Elsby told Reuters.

A full report would be released on Friday by the Sindh government, she said, along with the province’s response plan.

Elsby said it was unclear if the August’s floods had caused a spike in malnutrition, but that it had revealed the extent of the problem because babies and mothers were being screened for the first time.

“People were already vulnerable and this kind of kicked the chair out from under them,” she said.

Monsoon floods starting in late July last year devastated Pakistan. More than one-fifth of its territory was inundated and 20 million people affected. Ten million were left homeless and nearly 2,000 people died.

Six months later, many communities in Sindh are still surrounded by floodwaters. In Sindh and Balochistan, some 600,000 people are still living in temporary camps, according to the World Food Programme.

‘Hounded’ Hindus take shelter in Karachi cattle pen after drinking water from mosque, Pakistan

By Mohammad S.Solanki (PHP Managing Editor)
Friday, July 09, 2010

(PHOTO : Location of Karachi City in Sindh State of Islamic Republic of Pakistan)

Karachi : In an incident which showcases the brutal hatred with which Hindus are seen in Pakistan, at least 60 members of the minority community, including women and children, were forced to abandon their house in Karachi’s Memon Goth area just because a Hindu boy drank water from a cooler outside a mosque.

Local tribesman, who hold a good clout in the area, thrashed several Hindus forcing them to run away and take shelter in a near by cattle pen, The News reports.

“All hell broke loose when my son, Dinesh, who looked after chickens in a farm, drank water from a cooler outside a mosque. Upon seeing him do that, the people of the area started beating him up,” said Meerumal, a resident of the area.

“Later, around 150 tribesmen attacked us, injuring seven of our people, who were taken to the Jinnah Hospital,” he added.

One of the injured, Heera, said that another 400 families of the area were also being threatened to leave their households and settle elsewhere.

“Our people are even scared of going out of their houses. We are also putting up with living in the filthy pen because we cannot go home for fear of being killed,” Heera said.

Police officials are aware about the incident, but they have failed to take any steps to stop the atrocities being meted out to theminority community.

“A trivial incident led to riots between the people of the area. Since both the communities happened to be illiterate, the matter just flared up,” said Memon Goth Station House Officer (SHO).

Meanwhile, Minority Affairs Minister Dr Mohan Lal has assured Hindus of full government protection.

“I have directed the DPO and the SHO to ensure that these people go back to their houses safely,” Lal said.

BJP Demands, Grant dual citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs of Pakistan

By Gopinath Kumar (Executive Editor)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

(PHOTO : Hindu Residents of Hosri protest against the kidnapping of their relatives, during a demonstration outside the press club in Hyderabad, June 19, 2010)

Jalandhar : The BJP on Tuesday demanded dual citizenship for the Sikhs and Hindus living in Pakistan on the lines of NRIs settled in other countries. It also asked the government to take up the issue of Indian citizenship for those Hindus and Sikhs who had migrated from Pakistan to India in the last two decades. with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) . The BJP demanded financial aid of Rs 500 per person for the migrants every month by the government.

The state BJP has formed a three-member committee, headed by Avinash Rai Khanna, member of Rajya Sabha, to look into this matter. Senior BJP leaders Dr Baldev Raj Chawla and Narottam Dev Ratti are the other two members of the committee.

“We met several families in Jalandhar, Rajpura and Amritsar, who are living in miserable conditions here. They had come to India after being harassed in Pakistan. The government has, however, not responded to their repeated pleas for Indian citizenship,” said Khanna, while addressing the media on Tuesday.

He said the committee would meet Punjab Chief Minister and Minister of State of External Affairs Preneet Kaur. He said if NRIs settled in other countries can get dual citizenship, why can’t Hindus and Sikhs living in Pakistan and Bangladesh get the same. He said the condition of Hindus and Sikhs settled in Pakistan was bad and they were being mistreated.

Recently, nearly 200 Pakistani Hindus, who had migrated to India in the last two decades, collectively started fight for their identity and gave their representations to the deputy commissioner concerned.

They lamented that despite spending over 10 to 15 years in India, the government did not given them Indian citizenship.

Rules say

According to the Citizen Amendment Rules, 2004, made under citizenship Rules,1956, of Citizenship Act, 1955, notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs, “In respect of minority Hindus with Pakistan citizenship, who have migrated to India more than five years back with intention of permanently settling down in India and have applied for India citizenship, the authority to register a person as a citizen of India under clauses (a), (c), (d) and (e) of subsection (1) of Section (5) of the Act shall be the concerned collector of the district where the applicant is ordinarily resident”.

Pakistani Minorities form Working Group for Human Rights Issues

By Dr. Radhe Shyam Kumar (PHP Managing Editor)
Sunday, June 20, 2010

(Photo : Pakistani Hindu during festival time in Sindh and according to Pakistan Hindu Council, there are about Five million Hindus in Pakistan. Nearly 4.5 million of them live in Sindh province. Most are from the low caste Dalit community. )

KARACHI : The representatives of Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Bahai, Ahmedi and Zoroastrian communities of Sindh formed on Saturday a working group on ‘Right of Communities Vulnerable Because of Their Belief’ during a meeting at a local hotel. The Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) would support the group.

The group will highlight human rights violations through fact finding reports, researches, issuing public statements and arranging press briefings and also to analyse the laws, practices and policies, which are discriminatory and would provide recommendations. The meeting also decided that the group will conduct capacity building programmes of the members of vulnerable communities and a mechanism of early warning signs to determine the tension involving minorities and would recommend appropriate actions.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the agenda of the newly formed group including the status of commission of minorities, countering advocacy of hatred based religious beliefs, discrimination being faced by the communities in services, education, family and property laws, constant threats and fear, blasphemy laws and property related issues. During the meeting the participants decided that the newly formed group would meet once in six months.

Addressing the meeting HRCP Director I A Rehman said that the group would address all the issues being faced by the communities and deal with the rights of these communities.

“Since the last several years, the living conditions of minorities has worsened and the communities have become extremely vulnerable as extremists and militants are inciting hatred,” he said, Amar Guriro

June 10, 2010 : Interfaith Seminar was organized by HRF & PHP in Pakistan

By Mohammad S.Solanki (PHP Managing Editor)
Wednessday, June 16, 2010

NAMASTE,

To PHP Friends, 

       Please find below pictures of Seminar, The Role of Saints in Promotion of Peace and Interfaith Harmony, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation (HRF) and Pakistan Hindu Post, Which was conducted on 10th June,2010 in Rahim Yar Khan City. Rahim Yar Khan (Urdu: رحیم یار خان) is a famous city in the south of Punjab Province of Pakistan. Rahim Yar Khan is one of the few cities in the world that are still at their pioneering places since the formation. City is a commercial and industrial centre, it is connected with the rest of the country through rail and air including the other industrial hubs such as Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Faisalabad.

       The world is under social, religious and civilization’s wars that ultimately take world away from human values and weakening the social bindings among the all human beings. It has become a huge threat for all human beings lest, these racism, religious; civilizations’ wars devastate the world. Therefore, it is a big need to bridge the social, religious and civil gaps among the human beings so that they come closer to each other and understand the other creeds and religions.

      We are thankful to Mr.Molana Abdul Rauf Rubani (Chairman of District Peace Committee), Mr.Ramesh Jaipal (Director of Hare Rama Foundation), Mr.Syed Khlil Bukhari (social activist), Mr.Bhayya Ram (Hindu Leader), Mr.Baber Sarfaraz Alpa (District Police Officer), Mr.Aslam Choudry (DOC-Rahim Yar Khan), Mr.Guru Sukh Dev (President of Guru Gorkh Nath Sewa Mandal) and Mr.Emawail Ammi (Christan leader). We recognize there complementarity of different initiatives aimed at creating understanding, harmony among various faiths and cultures in Pakistan.


With Regards
By Mukash Kumar (PHP, Pakistan)

(Photo : Pakistan, June 10, 2010  Seminar for Interfaith and Peace, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation, gathering of Hindus, Muslims and Christan's in Rahimyar Khan District)

 (Photo : Pakistan, June 10, 2010  Seminar for Interfaith and Peace, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation, Molana Abdul Rauf Rubani speaking,He is also Chairman of District Peace Committee Rahimyar Khan)

 (Photo : Pakistan, June 10, 2010  Seminar for Interfaith and Peace, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation, Mr.Ajmal Dass speaking (Young College Student) in Rahimyar Khan District)

 (Photo : Pakistan, June 10, 2010  Seminar for Interfaith and Peace, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation, Opening Poster that  We Are 1 Family in event)

 (Photo : Pakistan, June 10, 2010  Seminar for Interfaith and Peace, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation, Setting on the stage Right to left Mr.Ramesh Jaipal (Director of Hare Rama Foundation) and other guests)

(Photo : Pakistan, June 13, 2010  Seminar for Interfaith and Peace, Organized by Hare Rama Foundation, Miss.Berkha Komal (Cristain member) speaking in event)

Pictures of Satsang Program in Khanpur City of Punjab, Pakistan

By Dr.Radhe Shyam Kumar (PHP Manaing Editorial)
Sunday, June 13, 2010

NAMASTE

To *PHP Friends,

      Please see below Pictures of Satsang Program in Khanpur City and supported by Pakistan Hindu Post. Khanpur (Urdu: خانپور) is a city and Tehsil of the Rahim Yar Khan District of Bahawalpur Division, in the Punjab Province of  Pakistan. The city is agriculturally an economic influx as a centre for sugarcane and cotton crops.The famous Cholistan Desert is mainly located in the Khanpur area. There are many Places in Pakistan, named as Khanpur, But only two of them have the status of Tehsil, and the other One is in NWFP.

     We are thankful to Honorable Mr.Rajesh Kumar (Panditji) for his participation and devotional speech in the Satsang. Definition of Satsang (Sanskrit sat = true, sanga = company) is in Hindu philosophy (1) the company of the "highest truth," (2) the company of a guru, or (3) company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth.Santsang typically involves listening to or reading scriptures, reflecting on, discussing and assimilating their meaning, meditating on the source of these words, and bringing their meaning into one’s daily life.

By Mukesh Kumar
(PHP, Pakistan)

(June 12,2010 : Sat Sang Program, During Kirtan with Back ground Baner of PHP, Pakistan)

(June 12,2010 : Sat Sang Program, Lead by Devotional Kirtan and Bhajans, Pakistan)

(June 12,2010 : Sat Sang Program, Local Hindu leader speaking, Pakistan)

(June 12,2010 : Sat Sang Program , Punjabi Local Famous Hindu Singer, Pakistan)

(June 12,2010 : Sat Sang Program, Rahimyar District Local Hindu Villagers, Pakistan)

(June 12,2010 : Mr.Rajesh Kumar ( Panditji ) Speaking during Sat Sang Program, Pakistan)