Gross Violation of Human Rights of Minorities in Pakistan (PDF)

Centre
for
Human Rights’ Studies and Awareness (CHRSA)

Gross Violation
of Human Rights
of Minorities
in Pakistan
A Study of Migrants Seeking Shelter in India
November 2012

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Gross Violation of Human Rights of Minorities in Pakistan

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Credit

Gross Violation of Human Rights of Minorities in Pakistan
A Study of Migrants Seeking Shelter in India

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Publication No.: Gen./B/Eng./ 72/2012-13 (2)
ISBN 978-81-903837-6-9
Date of Publication :
December 10,2012
World Human Rights Day
Publisher :
Chandrakant Jadhav
Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini
17, Chanchal Smruti, G. D. Ambekar Marg,
Opp. Shriram Industrial Estate, Wadala, Mumbai, India 400031.
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Foreword
Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, South Asia’s only training and research academy based in Mumbai, India
working for the comprehensive capacity building of elected representatives and voluntary social workers;
established its Human Rights Cell in the year 2002. It was named as Centre for Human Rights Studies
and Awareness (CHRSA). During the last about a decade, under the aegis of the CHRSA, we conducted
over half a dozen studies and training programmes and also took up some key issues, hitherto ignored
by the Human Rights community. On the basis of one of our report pertaining to the barbaric murderous
attack on two police constables leading to their emasculation and tragic death by miscreants and rioters
in Bhiwandi, near Thane (Maharashtra, India) in 2006, the State Human Rights Commission of
Maharashtra conducted hearing and gave a landmark. It clearly stated that the Human Rights of the
police – being the protectors of Human Rights—also need to be protected and the concerned
Commissioner of Police is the custodian of their Human Rights.
The CHRSA also has partnered with the Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD), a Netherlands based
organisation in conducting some international training programmes.
Now, on the backdrop of recent spate of migration of minotites, espcially Hindus from Pakistan, we
thought it fit to listen to these migrants and prepare a report on the gross violation of their Human Rights.
Unfortunately, all major Human Rights organisations known internationally have turned a Nelson’s eye
to the plight of Hindus in Pakistan for the last several decades. Not only Hindus but also all those
genuine crusaders for Human Rights from all over the world are understandably agitated over this.
Besides, the approaches of both, the government of Pakistan as well as India towards the hapless
conditions of these people are forced to migrate to India is that of apathy and lack of sensitivity. All this
prompted us to conduct an in-depth into this subject.
We are grateful to the participants of the study team and also to all those who extended every cooperation
to them.
We do hope that all the established Human Rights bodies and concerned governments will at least now,
take due congnisance of this issue and make efforts for the protection of the basic Human Rights of all
the minotities, especially Hindus in Pakistan.

Mumbai
December 1, 2012

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
Director General
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Acknowledgements
On behalf of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, I am extremely grateful to my team members
for their valued time, laborious efforts and unconditional support.
A special word of thanks to Nirmal Geholt, ( from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India) our host in
Jodhpur for his heart warming hospitality and for Pushpa Jangad for her round the clock
presence and for her valuable experience that she shared with the team. Also, we are
thankful to Ramkishan Sotwal for his cooperation.
We are grateful to Pradeep Shekhawat, Editorial incharge, Rajasthan Patrika, Pushpendra
Singh Bhati, senior advocate, High court of Rajasthan, India, Hindu Singh Sodha, Convener,
Seemant Lok Sangathan, Kunwar Mahendra Singh Naggar, Director General (Culture)
Mehrangarh Museum trust Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, Shankar Mangenani, Prafull Mehta,
Shankar Lalwani, Deepak Jain and Rakesh Lakhani, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, for
their valuable time, inputs and hospitality.
A personal word of thanks to Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Director General, Rambhau
Mhalgi Prabodhini, for conceiving the idea, for realizing the necessity of this work, and for
making it a reality. Also, our heartfelt gratitude to Ravindra Sathe, Executive Director, and
all members of staff of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini Mumbai, for their consistent support,
hospitality and coordination, without which this report would not have been possible.

Bhopal
December 1st, 2012.

Sangeet Verma
Leader, Study Team

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Gross Violation of
Human Rights
of Minorities
in Pakistan
A Study of Migrants
Seeking Shelter in India
Executive Summary

Religious minorities in Pakistan are facing violation of Human rights
and injustice in other forms for several years. The migration of Hindus
from Pakistan has also been a long-standing problem. Ever since
the conception of Pakistan as a separate Islamic state, ethnic
cleansing of Hindus by persecution has been a constant phenomenon.
This persecution is responsible for reducing the population of Hindus
from almost 20% in 1947 to almost 2% today. In the course of constant
migration of Pakistani Hindus, there have been periods where the
migration has seen a sudden increase, for example, the Indo Pak
wars in 1965 and 1971 and the Ayodhya conflict in 1992.
The recent years have once again seen a sharp rise in the number of
Hindus fleeing Pakistan to India to escape persecution, and this time,
their reasons are more outrageous. Crimes against Hindu women
and children are the order of the day, and Hindus in Pakistan have
been cornered in every way, from financial harassment to kidnappings,
rapes and murder. It is for this reason that Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini
decided to send a study team to the migrant Hindu camps in Jodhpur
and Indore in order to study their grievances and document an exact
picture of their plight in Pakistan.
What the team discovered was far worse than expectation. Crimes
against Hindu women were on top of the list in all interviews, with
incidents of kidnappings and forced conversions as high as 25 to 30
every month in the province of Sindh alone. A shocking revelation by
the migrants was that even the law enforcement agencies and the
judiciary where being controlled or afflicted by the perpetrators of the
crime. They also revealed that due to constant persecution for more
than half a decade, the status of Hindus has been reduced to a
vulnerable minority, meant to be exploited and harassed for every
reason in Pakistan. The fear of persecution within the Hindu society
in Pakistan is so high that the Hindu girls are no longer send to schools,
else their kidnappings are deemed certain.
On investigating the reasons for this persecution, it was found that
the education system in Pakistan is encouraging anti Hindu and anti
India sentiments and is advocating the theory of Jehad and total
religious intolerance in young minds. This, combined with the growing
clout of fundamentalist forces in Pakistan, and a weak political
scenario has given the perpetrators a free hand for their evil acts.
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Based on the first hand interviews with the victims, the team has
made recommendations to the Pakistan government, the Indian
government, and the international community.
It is clear that the Pakistan government has so far been brushing the
issue under the carpet, the team has strongly recommended safety
of women, strict action against perpetrators, special courts, protection
to Hindu religious shrines, action against fundamentalist groups, and
most importantly, removal of fundamentalism from the educational
curriculum in Pakistan.
The team has appealed to the government of India to raise the issue
of migrating Hindus with Pakistan and on the international forums. It
has recommended granting of refugee status and citizenship to the
migrating Hindus.
The team has noticed the negligence on behalf of the international
community, specially leading human rights organizations like the
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in addressing the
problem in Pakistan. The annual reports of these organizations have
little or no reference of the problem which is surprising given the vast
coverage of the issue by the international media. The team has
appealed to these organizations to represent the cause of the Hindus
in Pakistan at all levels in order to restore their human rights.
The team has appealed to the international community to put pressure
on Pakistan to resolve the ongoing crises of Hindus and ensure their
peaceful and safe existence in their homeland.

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Gross Violation of
Human Rights
of Minorities
in Pakistan
A Study of Migrants
Seeking Shelter in India
Report

1. Details of the study

1.1

Members of the study team:
• Sangeet Verma, columnist, writer and Photographer, Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India
• Dinesh Thite, Senior Journalist, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
• Neha Tiwari, Research based writer, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh,
India
• Adv. Rajeev K. Panday, Lawyer, High Court of Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India
• Tekchand Sonawane, Journalist, New Delhi, India
• Ravi Gupta, Research Coordinator, Public Policy Research
Centre, New Delhi, India
(Brief introduction of the members of the study team is provided
at the end of this report)

1.2

Duration and area of study :
The study was conducted between September and October
2012. The camps and settlements of people migrated from
Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, India
were visited during this period.

1.3

Methodology
The study was conducted among Pakistani Hindus migrated
from Pakistan over various
• Income levels
• Social status in Pakistan
• Duration of stay in India
• Regions from which migrated
• Several migrants facing ethnic cleansing were personally
interviewed by the team members
• The situations, problems, incidents and scenarios were also
discussed in groups separately

Gross Violation of Human Rights of Minorities in Pakistan

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1.4

People interviewed
In the course of this Study, the team interacted with experienced
and senior journalists, lawyers and social workers who have
been working on the issue both individually and as an
organisation.
1.4.1 Pakistani Hindu Migrants: 46
1.4.2 Professionals, Social workers and office bearers’
organizations: 11

2. Objective of the study

3. International scenario

To accurately record the factual situation of minority Hindus
facing gross human rights violations in Pakistan, in order to
analyze the reasons behind the religious persecution of Hindus
and to draw the attention of International organizations towards
this human tragedy. This study would also try to suggest
remedial measures, which can be implemented by the world
community, India and Pakistan as well as human rights
organizations so that the minorities in general and Hindus in
particular can live with dignity in Pakistan.
Migration due to religious discrimination: The world
scenario
The world has been witnessing forced religious migrations since
medieval times. The plundering of many ancient societies in
the name of Islam created a world of refugees, seeking new
lands to escape the wrath. The rise of European colonialism,
combined with an aggressive mono atheist approach of the
church resulted in mass migrations of people in different corners
of the world. The Jews suffered very badly in the hands of
Adolf Hitler and the Arabic world, as did the Inca people in the
hands of the Spanish. The Maya civilization disappeared and
the millions of Hindus were rendered homeless during partition
of India in 1947.
Despite several international initiatives, forced migrations on
the basis of religions continue even today. The Hindus in
Pakistan and Bangladesh are worst hit, as their numbers in
their respective countries keep reducing every year. The return
of the Parsis and Kurds to their homelands is a yet a very far
off dream. Even within India, Kashmiri Pundits have faced a

Gross Violation of Human Rights of Minorities in Pakistan

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very atrocious situation and have been forced to flee their
homeland since the early 90’s. The aboriginals face extinction,
in many of the modern day world, harassed by a growing clout
of religious fanaticism and total intolerance, backed up by a
culture of terrorism in various forms.
It is clearly visible that too little has been done to address this
massive plight of humanity on the whole, as migration is only
the last step of persecution, and is in fact succeeded by years
of unbelievable torture, harassment and humiliation that are
proving to be the biggest threats to values of freedom and
equality.
In this context, it would be pertinent to go through some
selected excerpts of a report prepared by the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The report, entitled as
International Religious Freedom Report for 2011 comments
as follows:
“To think, believe, or doubt. To speak or pray; to gather or
stand apart. Such are the movements of the mind and heart,
infinitives that take us beyond the finite. Freedom of religion,
like all freedoms of thought and expression, are inherent. Our

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