Sacrilege of Hindu COVID-19 deceased in Dadu

Sindh’s customary secular and Sufi traditions were shattered when some religious zealots in Dadu city thrashed the body of a deceased Hindu Kewal Ram who died because of Coronavirus when his relatives were performing cremation at Shamshanghat, a dedicated place to perform the last rituals of Hindus.

These Muslim zealots, living in the neighbourhood forcibly entered the walled Shamshanghat and tried to intervene during the last rituals by putting out the fire while throwing buckets of water and desecrating the body.

Dadu was once famous for religious harmony where hundreds of Hindu families still live in a peaceful environment. In recent years, religious fanaticism has increased in Dadu city as well where religious mind Muslims have become intolerant.

According to reports, a group of religious zealots intervened in the cremation of Seth Kewal Ram Rathor, a notable Hindu and trader of Dadu city by asking the relatives not to perform cremation near their homes as the deceased had died of COVID-19. They were fearing the spread of the virus in the neighbourhood.

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The relatives and Hindu notables of the area assured that cremation rituals were being done according to the government Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and there was no chance of the spread of the virus. However, the intruders were insisting to stop the rituals.

Local police were called, which forced the intruders to go out of the Shamshanghat and the final rituals were completed under the supervision of the Police.

According to the FIR, registered on behalf of the state, dozens of people had entered Shamshanghat and threatened the relatives of the deceased to stop the rituals because they were fearing the spread of the virus. Some of them were carrying buckets of water, which they threw on the fire in an attempt to put it out.

A press release, issued by Police department on Thursday stated that Dadu Police have arrested three nominated accused namely Izhar Solangi, Ghulam Hussain Solangi and Mohammad Yousuf Solangi. The FIR registered under Sections of 295A, 186, 296 and 297 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has nominated six persons whereas 20-25 others were included in the case.

Unabated Forced Conversion of Hindu Girls in Sindh

Another forced conversion case has emerged in Sindh as a Hindu girl, Ms Mehak Keswani was reportedly kidnapped from Karachi’s Defence (DHA) area and after five days her 20-second video was released on social media in which she confessed that she has been converted to Islam on the hand of Mian Javed, a Khalifa (disciple) a notorious character and a so-called religious Pir Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithoo who was once MNA of PPP and currently a leader of the ruling Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Belonging to the Ghotki district Ms Keswani’s relatives staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club on Wednesday (December 18) along with other human rights activists and civil society members, demanding to stop forced conversion in Sindh.

An uncle of the girl told reporters that when a girl is kidnapped and kept in captivity, she might have been given the statement under duress and after alleged mental or physical torture or intimidation.

A family member girl also spoke to journalists and narrated the ordeal of the family since Mehak disappeared. She appealed to the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of Pakistan and Sindh Chief Minister to stop the kidnapping and forced conversion of Hindu girls and get her sister united with the family.

She demanded that the girl be allowed to meet with relatives as in such cases of forced conversion, the converted girls are not allowed to meet their relatives. She regretted that the police were not cooperating with the family after their complaint about the kidnapping of the girl.

It has been a practice that Hindu girls are first kidnapped and when parents get the case of kidnapping registered or approach the courts, the same girls appear suddenly in courts or on social media saying they have got married on the will after conversion to Islam. Rinkle Kumari case got the attention of the media and former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry had taken suo moto of the case. However, he had accepted the conversion and marriage at-will story and since then the girl has never met with her family.

The forced conversion is solemnized by two notorious Pirs in Sindh province — Mian Mithoo in upper Sindh (Daharki in Ghotki district) and Pir Ayoub Jan Sarhendi in lower Sindh (Samaro in Umerkot district).

The Sindh Assembly passed a law against forced conversion in November 2016 after amending the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015, but after pressure from religious parties especially Jamiat Ulema Islam (Fazlur Rehman), the Sindh government had to withdraw the bill and the Governor of Sindh did not sign on it. This badly disappointed the rights activists and Hindu communities.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, at a function organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) to mark International Human Rights Day on 10th December 2019 stated that the provincial government would soon bring a new law after removing lacuna from the previous law.

Raj Kumar a human rights activist told me that Hindus are the real owners of this land and through these measures like forced conversion of their girls, they are forced to leave this land. “We are sons of soil and will not leave our motherland Sindh,” he stated in a live video on my Face Book page.