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Letter to Prime Minister of Pakistan
Subject: Persecution of non-Muslim
Minorities in
Pakistan.
Ref:
- Continued
Demolition of Hindu Temples and persecution of Hindus in
Pakistan threatens peace in the sub continent.
Hon'ble
Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani,
Prime Minster of
Pakistan,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Hon'ble
Prime Minister Gillani,
Freedom loving people all around the world and those believing in
equality and freedom of all religions (billions in numbers) particularly Hindus,
Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and others are appalled at the
continued persecution of the minority Hindus in
Pakistan and the colossal
failure of the Govt. to stop this genocidal and highly provocative movement.
The latest examples of this ongoing saga of unlawful and inhuman activities in
Pakistan is contained in the below given attachments A, B & C. These are just a
few instances that we reproduce as evidence though such acts of
communal hatred and ethnic cleansing against
the minorities, more importantly against Hindus and Sikhs, take
place in the Islamic state on a regular basis.
This anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh
crusade is not restricted to depriving them of their properties and places of
worship but the abduction of Hindu women, forcible conversion to Islam and
subsequent marriages with Muslim persons seems to have become a common place.
How ironic yet hypocritical it is on the part of Pakistan to demand equal and
special status for Muslims in other countries but refuse to provide the same
treatment to its own non-Muslim minorities?
Mr. Prime Minister, how sad and regrettable it is that on the one
hand your Govt. claims to be a representative Govt. yet it has elected to throw
into the dust bin the numerous representations made by the victimized Hindu
community of Pakistan against the oft repeated waves of criminal behavior
towards them. As a member of the United Nations and its acceptance of the UN
Charter, Pakistan is
committed to maintaining freedom and equality of all religions. Unfortunately
that commitment has fully and completely been trampled upon in the case of its
non-Muslim minorities. The naked
aggression by one religion with a view to deprive the other religions of their
assets and sources of sustenance and the forcible conversions must be considered
criminal and therefore, severely punishable under the law.
Pakistan has
failed in this test as well.
For safeguarding minority
Hindu temples and institutions, it is absolutely important that the Govt.
constitute a Waqf like autonomous Hindu Board. The role of the community in
temple management and setting up Hindu Advisory Councils must be an integral
part of the new policy. Such councils could play a meaningful
role in oversight and decision making process utilized by the officials dealing
with temples and their Trusts. Such Councils, elected or nominated by the
Community, state and national religious leaders, could shoulder a significant
amount of decision making and management responsibilities. They could also
contribute in stopping the ongoing desecration and decimation of the religious
infrastructures by recommending the necessary remedial measures for quick
enforcement by the authorities.
We believe that the current high level talks between governments of
India and Pakistan
for "building trust" between the two nations would be futile if there is no
proven and verifiable trust between Hindus and Muslims due to the former being
continuously persecuted. As you might remember Mr. Prime Minister, the lack of
trust between these communities was the very basis of Partition of India in
1947. We sincerely believe that at this point in time Pakistan has an invaluable
opportunity in wiping out terrorism against Hindus and other non-Muslim
minorities and prove to the world at large that she was not interested in
aiding, encouraging and abating terrorists and militants and that the Indo-Pak
talks were not just a political deception or gimmickry created by the Western
world and Islamabad.
According to the information available to us Muslims in
India do not only enjoy
“equality” in their citizenship status but they were also showered upon special
privileges and voluminous reservations in every walk of life. Consequently since
the partition their population has increased four fold from 35 million (1951
census) to 140 million. However, according to reports, in Pakistan during the
same period the numbers of Hindu and Sikh population have shrunk from 25-30% to
less than 1%. Obviously such massive disappearance of the minority population in
a short span of time speaks volumes about Pakistan’s policy towards her
minorities.
The continuation of the policy of “hate
crimes” against the non-Muslims by
Islamabad at some point
could likely have an adverse impact upon India’s liberal and special policy
towards her Muslim population. Accordingly the question we might ask is it
Pakistan’s goal to hurt the Indian Muslims by calling in to question India’s
liberal policy towards her Muslim citizens? If not, in that case there has to
be a radical transformation in
Islamabad’s
policy towards the non-Muslim citizens of
Pakistan.
Least your Govt. could do is to adopt a
policy of reciprocity.
We do not need to remind you Sir, that there is already a huge
amount of backlash and resentment against Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and
militancy in the West --
Europe and America
included. Your country has been
described as the epicenter of these disturbing developments while the continuing
persecution of minorities in
Pakistan only enhances such
a view. In
America a vast majority of people are strongly questioning in fact publicly
opposing the plan for building a grand Islamic Mosque in
New York
close to the site of the former World Trade Towers. And in France, the
authorities are seriously considering a proposal to ban wearing of "burqas" in
public by Muslim women! Additional half a dozen European states are said to be
ready to follow that path.
Considering all these
developments, a formal declaration by the Govt. of Pakistan, humanizing,
liberalizing and bringing at par with modern states its policy towards
non-Muslim minorities based on the above stated suggestions, could mark a
turning point and provide a sound reason to the international community for
taking a second look at the Islamic Republic and her attempts for updating her
state craft. Turning the trend around
by modernizing its approach towards her minorities would be in the best interest
of
Pakistan itself.
We would like to thank you in advance for your time and
consideration. We are also hoping for receiving an early response, strongly
upholding equality and freedom of all faiths as dictated by United Nations
Charter and the universal principles of equality and reciprocity.
Dr.
Jagan Kaul
Krishan Bhatnagar
Hindu Jagran Forum (USA)
July 30, 2010
Attachment A
Jul
21, 2010
Pak to demolish 87-yr-old temple
Amir Mir / DNA
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 0:55
http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1412526
Despite strong protest by Pakistan’s Hindu community, an 87-year-old
pre-partition Hindu temple in Pakistan’s garrison town of Rawalpindi is facing
demolition.
According to Jagmohan Kumar, the head of the Hindu community in Rawalpindi, the
temple was being used by Hindus and Sikhs to perform last rituals of their dear
ones.
According to the plaque fixed on the building, Lala Tansukh Rai, the
Raees-e-Azam
Rawalpindi, had
constructed the temple in memory of his wife. “The ‘Shamshan Ghat’ is not only
used by the locals but by the foreign missions of China and the Buddhist
community as well”, Kumar said.
“The land for ‘Shamshan Ghat’ was allocated to the Hindus during the first
tenure of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto when Kishan Chand Parwani was the
federal minister for minorities in her cabinet. The temple is now being
demolished while the open area is being maintained for the community”, he added.
According to Kumar, the original area of the ‘Shamshan Ghat’ land was 277 kanals
and there were several temples along the Tipu Road and Nullah Leh. “Some of
these temples were demolished before the partition while many were razed to
ground after the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 in India. There were
several temples in the adjacent localities of Raja Bazaar in Rawalpindi where
there are now residential apartments”.
Jagmohan
asked how the Muslims would feel if there mosques were demolished for
residential purpose.
http://news.hinduworld.com/click_frameset.php?ref_url=%2Findex.php%3F&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvivekajyoti.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fpak-to-demolish-87-yr-old-temple.html
Attachment B
Hindu-Sikh
body condemns temple demolition
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=252016
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Hindu Sikh Social Welfare Council in its meeting strongly
denounced a so-called media group for trying to forcibly occupy a temple
situated at Tippu Road, Javed Colony, here.
President of Pakistan Hindu Sikh Social Welfare Council Jag Mohan Kumar Arora
vehemently criticised the Auqaf Department for its negligence. “The Auqaf
Department is creating a rift between minorities and the government.”
He urged the government to take notice of the situation and ensure protection of
minorities’ rights.Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz
Bhatti has condemned the demolition of an old temple at Tippu Road for
commercial purposes.
Talking to APP here on Tuesday, he said that it was not good omen to damage the
temple, which was built in 1923 in the memory of Tunkukh Rai.He said, “According
to the Constitution of Pakistan, minorities have an equal right to live
according to their religion”.
He took a serious notice of the incident and asked the Punjab government to
conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit a report immediately. He also
committed to safeguard temples, Gurdwaras, churches and other worship places of
the minorities, adding, “It is a very shameful incident and no one is allowed to
harm, demolish, disgrace or confiscate them.”
Meanwhile, rejecting the news item regarding the demolition of a temple at Tippu
Road, Rawalpindi, the Evacuee Trust Board (ETB) clarified that the building was
neither a temple nor had it any link to it.
Chairman Evacuee Trust Board Syed Asif Hashmi has formed a committee comprising
leaders of Hindu Community to expose the conspiracy of spreading rumours by
declaring the building as temple.
The committee would send its report to the board at the earliest. The Evacuee
Trust Board had demolished an old building some days ago and some elements had
declared the building as a temple. According to the spokesman of the ETB, the
building was located near the Shamshan Ghatt and a temple was located on the
distance of 500 yards from that building, which was demolished in 1992 after
Babari Masjid Tragedy in a protest demonstration. The spokesman termed the
protest triggered after demolishing the building a planned conspiracy
Attachment C
Posted
by jagoindia on July 18, 2008
Pak
digs up 300-yr-old
Krishna temple for
‘relics’
Amir Mir,
July 07, 2008, dnaindia.com
Authorities excavate temple courtyard without permission
ISLAMABAD: The desecration of Hindu temples goes on unchecked in Pakistan
without any reprimand from the government.
On
July 2, the courtyard of a 300-year-old ancient Krishna temple situated in the
Shorkot town in Punjab was excavated on the orders of a senior government
official, who wanted to dig out precious relics. They carried out the excavation
without taking permission from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), which
looks after Hindu places of worship in Pakistan.
Case
details reveal that Zubair Khurshid Bhatti the district coordination officer (DCO),
Jhang district, forcibly entered the temple, broke all the ETPB seals and began
digging the temple’s courtyard, which they claimed would unearth relics and
statues of ancient gods and some holy books.
While
Bhatti claims that locals asked him to excavate the temple’s courtyard, no local
confirmed this. On the contrary, when Aman Das, a Hindu from the same vicinity’s
main bazaar area was asked about the episode, he expressed feelings of deep hurt
and mistrust. “We do not have much say even about issues related to the sanctity
of our religion and places of worship,” he said.
“But
when the authorities would not think of producing a relic by evacuating any
ancient Muslim mosque in Pakistan, then why us?” asked Aman.
According to sources, the assistant administrator of the ETPB requested Bhatti
time and again to stop the digging at the temple’s courtyard, but Bhatti snubbed
him. Bhatti finally gave up after he could not find any relic. He then
instructed his staff to fill up the 10-feet pit in the courtyard.
“This is sheer goonism. The senior government official misused his authority to
dig out the temple courtyard. He did not pay heed to the Hindu locals who stood
helpless in front of his authority,” expressed Shanti Das, Aman’s wife.
“Being
a Hindu in a Muslim dominated society does not expel our right to go to temples
or to protect them against demolition,” she added.
Prior
to this incident, some statues of the Hindu gods were stolen from the Katas Raj
temple, an incident which deeply hurt the sentiments of the Hindu minority in
Pakistan.
amir.mir1969@gmail.com
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