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.

Uber, Careem exploit their drivers

App-based cab companies Uber and Careem are allegedly exploiting their drivers who are, in fact, the manpower asset for these transportation networks operating in major cities in Pakistan.

It is pity that the drivers, who are called “Captains” by Careem, are hired on attractive terms and the companies often show them green pastures in the advertisements to attract them, but when they enter into the real business, they face a number of issues including meeting fixed targets of trips to earn commission and imposition of unnecessary fines, invisible deductions and taxes.

A video was viral on social media recently showing a Captain of Careem ransacking the Gulistan-e-Jauhar office of the company in protest against a reduction in his payments. He was using foul language (that is why it cannot be shared here) and can be seen trying to sprinkle petrol on his clothes to set him ablaze in the protest. Although there were no further details in the video as it was filmed by an armature user of a mobile phone camera, certainly he was suffering extreme mental stress due to the company’s policies. He was seen saying the company is exploiting the driver and frequently reducing their rates.

A group of drivers of both companies (Uber and Careem) staged a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club early this month and they had similar complaints. A news item published in daily Dawn on 3rd December quoted representatives of the driver saying that their management was reducing their share, exploiting their working hours and deducting a certain percentage in the name of tax.