“.. As if I am an animal. If I eat a cucumber from their plate, they throw away the entire food”: Hindu woman narrates religious discrimination she faces in Pakistan

Hindus, a minority in the Islamic country of Pakistan, are frequently targeted with hatred, kidnappings, rapes, forced marriages, and death. In one such recent incident, a Hindu girl was mentally tortured after being inducted into a company in Karachi, Pakistan. She said that she was being treated miserably for being a Hindu.

The incident was brought to light by Narain Das Bheel, the founder and chief organizer of a Hindu organization named the ‘Hindus Organization of Sindh’. He said that the victim girl was his friend and that she was being tortured in a company in Karachi for being a Hindu.

“I have a Hindu friend who got a job in a new company in Karachi. Today she told me about her pain”, Bheel said sharing the screenshot of his Whatsapp conversation with the victim girl. The girl in the conversation said that nobody in the office talked to her because she was a Hindu. “I was crying yesterday. My dishes in the office are kept separate and nobody touches them”, the girl informed during the conversation.

She also said that the Islamists in her office were treating her like animals. “..Jaise mai janwar hu. Agar mai plate me se kheera utha ke kha lu to puri plate dustbin me daal dete hai (.. As if I am an animal. If I eat a cucumber from their plate, they throw away the entire food)”, she said.

A local political worker Sarman Brohi (as per Twitter bio) also took to social media to post about the incident on October 13. He stated that the woman had joined in the company as a textile designer and was tortured for belonging to the Hindu religion. The girl further said that she would leave the job and that she was looking for a better opportunity.

Hindu people residing in Pakistan have been facing adversities and severe institutionalized discrimination in Pakistan. Hindus in the country are targeted with hatred, forceful conversion, kidnappings, rapes, and even death. Recently amid the floods that erupted in the Sindh province of Pakistan, a young girl was gang-rapedby two Pakistani Muslims in the flood-hit area on the pretext of providing grocery items and food. The two accused have been identified as Khalid who is an auto-rickshaw driver and Dilsher. The duo who belong to the Macchi caste allegedly drugged the victim woman and raped her brutally for two days.

Also, on August 31, a video from Pakistan had gone viral over social media where a man could be seen complaining of attempted rapes of their women by the Pakistani goons. Further, in September this year, a heart-wrenching incident was reported from Sindh where an 8-year-old Hindu girl was gang-raped amid the devastating floods. The suspects scratched her entire face and also gauged out her eyes.

Later a journalist was also arrested from Ghotki for covering the plight of Pakistani Hindus trapped in the floods in the Sindh province of Pakistan. He had covered the heart-wrenching story of Pakistani Hindus belonging to the Bhagri community in Mirpur Mathelo of Sindh. The journalist reported that the local administration had expelled the Bhagri community people from the flood relief camp for being Hindus.

To note, many of the Hindus living in the Sindh province of Pakistan are among the poorest sections of Pakistani society. They face human rights violations in cases regarding land grabbing, abduction, and conversion. They have fewer employment opportunities and many still live as bonded laborers under Muslim landlords. Hindus also suffer routine exploitation which they dare not report to the police.

Pakistan’s courts have continuously failed to provide justice for Hindus in Pakistan. A 2019 field investigation report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has reaffirmed an unpleasant reality that is already known for far too long—minorities in Pakistan live under constant fear of persecution as their perpetrators enjoy court sanctions, support from the influential and affluent section of the society and patronage from political leaders.

https://www.opindia.com/2022/10/hindu-woman-narrates-religious-discrimination-she-faces-in-pakistan/