Members of the minority Hindu community in Pakistan's Sindh province are combating not just the coronavirus pandemic but also the deep state forces.
Health Minister for Sindh Azra Pechuho has admitted that the coronavirus situation in the province, which has the highest number of cases in the country, is now completely out of control.
Bearing the brunt majorly are Sindhi Hindu families who have already been living in fear for decades.
Enough has been reported about the discrimination they have faced in getting food supplies and even medical treatment from the authorities during the lockdown.
Much has also been written about how Pakistan is using Covid-19 as an opportunity to suppress human rights in the Hindu majority areas of Sindh, the province which accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the total Hindu population in the country.
<img class="wp-image-2857 size-full" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/3f2bf707273ff8aef0575288fb5d08e2.jpg" alt="" width="1360" height="681" /> Social media had erupted in anger and disgust over anti-Hindu riots in Ghotki town of Sindh province last year. People demanded immediate arrest of Mian Mitthu, infamous for his role in abduction of girls belonging to Hindu and other minority communities and converting them to Islam in Pakistan. (IANS)The number of violent crimes against the minority community has witnessed a huge surge. Earlier this week, a Hindu family was attacked in Shah Latif Colony of the province. The family was beaten badly and a girl named Priyanka Kumari allegedly abducted by a man named Kaleem Allah.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Unmatched consistency of abductions,rape,conversions of minorities girls in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a>!</p>
Another Hindu family attacked, beaten&girl Priyanka Kumari abducted by Kaleem Allah for Sexual exploitation in Nayon kot, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sindh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sindh</a> on 4June2020.<a href="https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UNHumanRights</a> sleeping?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a><a href="https://twitter.com/TahirGora?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TahirGora</a> <a href="https://t.co/5G1IAffsVE">pic.twitter.com/5G1IAffsVE</a>
— Azeema (@azeema_1) <a href="https://twitter.com/azeema_1/status/1268556697171300359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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A few days ago, a similar case was reported from the province when a video surfaced showing a Hindu girl Shivani being forcibly converted to Islam and getting married to one Muhammad Khan in Sindh.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VIDEO?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VIDEO</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hindu?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hindu</a> girl <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Shivani?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Shivani</a> was forcibly converted to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Islam?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Islam</a> & married to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MuhammadKhan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MuhammadKhan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sindh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sindh</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a>. Many cases of abduction of women& girls, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/forcedconversions?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#forcedconversions</a>, forced 'marriage'&misbehavior by their abductors, neglected by the police& the justice system in Pakistan. <a href="https://t.co/7ZcH7VeTYC">pic.twitter.com/7ZcH7VeTYC</a></p>
— Kashmir News (@KashmirNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/KashmirNews/status/1268856826667454465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Another video still doing the rounds of social media shows 13-year-old Kavita, who was abducted from Ghotki area of Sindh province in May and taken to notorious Islamic cleric Mian Mitthu, who then forced the Hindu minor to embrace Islam.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Kavita Kumari, a 13 Years old, Hindu girl abducted, raped, converted. Tell me if you are a human. if you have a sister or daughter of this poor girl's age & someone forcefully take her like this? If you were helpless like her family is. Will you still be silent or justify this? <a href="https://t.co/RiLqsgmAtA">https://t.co/RiLqsgmAtA</a> <a href="https://t.co/2I3PNqLblY">pic.twitter.com/2I3PNqLblY</a></p>
— Rahat Austin (@johnaustin47) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnaustin47/status/1260149230527631360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Their houses burnt, their men attacked, their women abducted and converted, Pakistan has turned the lives of hundreds from the Hindu Bheel community nightmarish.
There have also been reports of their access to clean drinking water being forbidden in some villages.
Only last week, dead bodies of two brothers from the same community were found hanging in a compound of Jhimpir village of Thatta district of the province. While the local police dismissed it as a case of suicide, relatives of the dead said that they were killed for resisting conversion.
Last month, Hindus in Sindh province had held a protest alleging that the fundamentalist Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat is torturing them, demolishing their houses and has also abducted a Hindu boy for refusing to convert to Islam.
A video from Sindh, shared widely on social media, showed Bheel Hindus protesting against the forced conversions.
"We will prefer to die but will never ever convert to Islam," women, children holding hand-written posters against the Tablighi Jamaat were seen protesting in Nasur Pur, Matiar.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">CASE UPDATE: about 2 hours ago FIR of abduction of a Hindu girl Bhagwanti Kohli registred & now certificate of conversion to islam is presented in police station. She is already married. After this paper if she try to return to family her punishment is death acourding to islam. <a href="https://t.co/oGcrCmibDZ">https://t.co/oGcrCmibDZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ldhu7Oe7By">pic.twitter.com/Ldhu7Oe7By</a></p>
— Rahat Austin (@johnaustin47) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnaustin47/status/1267427246530113536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Be it Sindh, Punjab or the Pak-occupied Kashmir; Shanti, Sarmi, Priyanka, Kavita, Shivani, Mehak (all victims of forced conversions this year) or any other name; Hindu or Christian, the fate of the minorities in Pakistan remains the same.
"HRCP is gravely concerned at reports that houses belonging to the Hindu and Christian communities of Yazman in Bahawalpur have been demolished, allegedly by local authorities with political influence. Evictions, the demolition of people's houses, and land grabbing, especially when such communities are doubly vulnerable, are highly condemnable. HRCP will conduct an independent fact-finding exercise to investigate," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had said in a statement, last week.
Would the “exercise” be of any consequence?.
