Geneva (Switzerland): The World Sindhi Congress held a demonstration in front of the United Nations office in Geneva to raise the issue of the persecution of minorities, especially the Hindus, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The Sindhis were joined by Pashtun, Kashmiri and Baloch political activists. They also raised concerns over the enforced disappearances of Sindhi political activists and shouted slogans against the Pakistani Army.
"The Pakistani Army is supporting these fundamentalists who are kidnapping our minor Hindu girls. The persecution against the minorities has enormously increased in the past few months," said Hidayat Bhutto, a member of the World Sindhi Congress.
In recent years, several incidents of forced abduction and conversion of Hindu girls by the Muslims have shaken the minority community in Pakistan and they have demanded justice to save their religion, culture, and ethos.
The protesters called Pakistan an abuser of human rights and demanded justice for Mehak Kumari. Mehak was abducted by a middle-aged man, Ali Raza, from the Jacobabad district of Sindh province on January 15. The girl said she was forced to accept Islam, causing a widespread furore among the Islamic fanatics. Some Pakistani clerics want the minor girl dead after she retracted her previous statement in the court, where she said that she had accepted Islam of her own free will.
The clerics blamed 14-year old Mehak of murtad, or an act of Apostasy, and are demanding death punishment, accusing her of insulting Islam. Meanwhile, the court which is yet to announce the verdict has sent Mehak Kumari to a local Dar-ul-Aman in Larkana district of Sindh.
"This has happened to thousands of girls and not a single perpetrator has ever been punished. This is a systematic design to persecute Sindhis so that they leave. They want to occupy Sindh," said Lakhu Luhana, the Secretary-General of the World Sindhi Congress. Luhana urged the world community to increase pressure on Pakistan to act on the perpetrators and stop the persecution of the Sindhi community.
"We need the support of the international community. They should increase the pressure on Pakistan otherwise they would not listen and the people of Sindh would continue to suffer," he said. The abduction and forceful conversion of Hindu and Christian girls is widespread in Pakistan. Such incidents have sparked widespread criticism as many victim families are forced the migrate in foreign countries, including India.
