Muslims put bus on fire, 15 Hindus burnt alive in Pakistan

By Gopinath Kumar (editor-in-chief)
Monday, May 02, 2011

Quetta (Pakistan): Atleast 15 people, including women and children, were burnt alive when unidentified criminals torched a passenger bus near Sibi in Pakistan's Baluchistan province in the wee hours of today, police said. Those killed include seven children, three men belonging to the minority Hindu community who were identified as Kapil, Varsheen, and Pujamal, they said."

The incident occurred in the town of Sibi, about 160 kms from Quetta, when the bus coming from Jacobabad in Sindh province and going to Quetta had stopped at a road side restaurant for a break," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sibi, Naseer Ahmed Nasir said from Sibi. Witnesses said that four armed men, riding on two motorcycles, reached there while two of them entered the bus, sprinkled petrol and then they put it on fire. Many passengers could not flee due to severe fire, police said."The driver and the conductor of the bus fled from the scene and we are seaching for them. The frontier corps and police have cordoned off the area and are searching for the suspected criminals who set the coach on fire," Nasir said.

Police said that they were not ruling out the possibility that the driver and conductor have fled because the engine might have got fire.Police also suspects that the attack may be ethnic as dozens of non-locals were on board of the bus. Baluch seperatists have been carrying out attacks on government and security installations in the province for the last few years and have in the past targetted settlers from other provinces who reside in different parts of Baluchistan.

Nasir said that those killed in the fire included five persons of one family including three children and their grandparents."Since one door was burnt immediately there was no escape route for the passengers inside the bus. Most of the male passengers had got down to say prayers or have food," the deputy commissioner said.He said it was confirmed that the dead included three Hindus who were residents of Jacobabad who were going to Quetta for apparently some business.He said the wounded passengers were rushed to the Sibi civil hospital where they were getting treatment.

Save Baloch Hindus, Now they flee Balochistan, Pakistan !

By Gopinath Kumar ( Executive Editor)
Monday, January 10, 2011

(Photo : Hindu Mandir/Temple in Capital Quetta city of Balochistan State in Pakistan)

ISLAMABAD : Over a 100 Hindu families in Pakistan's Balochistan province are making efforts to migrate to India after becoming the target of a campaign of kidnappings and extortion, according to a media report today.

The Hindus of southwestern Balochistan have been hit hardest by incidents of abduction for ransom and extortion, with the records of the province's Home Department showing that a large number of the 291 people abducted last year were Hindus, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Five Hindu families have already migrated from Balochistan's Mastung district to India and six more families are trying to seek asylum elsewhere or to shift to other parts of Pakistan, the daily quoted Hindu elders as saying.

Vijay Kumar, a 33-year-old chemist, claimed that over 100 Hindu families of Balochistan are making efforts to migrate to India because of the campaign of kidnappings and extortion.

""Our relatives are there in India, thus we Hindus prefer to settle India," he told the daily.

Suresh Kumar, 31, who runs a grocery shop in Mastung district south of Quetta, wants to migrate though his family has lived in Balochistan for almost a century.

"Most of the people are trying to migrate to India or other areas of Pakistan because of the deteriorating law and order situation," Kumar said.

"Kumar is not alone in this desire. Frightened by the rise in kidnappings in which their community is being targeted, many Hindus want to leave the country at the first opportunity," the report said.

In provincial capital Quetta alone, four of eight persons kidnapped last year belonged to the Hindu community.

The situation was worse in Naseerabad district, where half the 28 people kidnapped in 2010 were from the minority community.

"It is a common perception that most of the victims were released after paying huge sums of money as ransom to kidnappers. Relatives are reluctant to disclose how much money was paid to the kidnappers, fearing that they will be targeted again," the report said.

Balochistan's Minorities Affairs Minister Basant Lal Ghulshan said: "Recent incidents have shocked us."

Forty-one Hindus were abducted during the past three years and four more were killed when they resisted kidnapping attempts.

Mr.Juhary Lal, a well-known trader, was abducted about 16 months ago in Naal area of Khuzdar district and his whereabouts are unknown.

The recent abduction of spiritual leader Luckmi Chand Gurji has shaken the Hindus.

Your in service of Dharma,
Gopinath K. Rajput

Baloch Hindus Continue to Flee From Pakistan

By Mohammad S.Solanki (PHP Islamabad)
Monday, January 10, 2011

 (Photo : Map of Balochistan State of Pakistan)

BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN : Hindu chemist Vijay Kumar, 33, says that more than a hundred families in his area are making efforts to migrate to India. These Hindus are ethnic Baloch, suffering with the deteriorating state of local law and order.

According to the home department, 291 people were abducted for  ransom throughout Balochistan in 2010. Hindus are a main target. The recent incident of abducting a leading spiritual leader, Luckmi Chand Garji, has shaken the community. He has not yet been released.

Director of Ministry for Human Rights, Saeed Ahmed Khan said that migration of Hindu community started in 2005 and still continues to date.  "I have personally observed that many Hindu businessmen families had shifted from Quetta even during the past five years," he said.