PAKISTAN: A lawyer from Hindu community is missing and police refuse to register the case claiming that the abduction of Hindus is of no consequence

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding that a lawyer belonging to the Dalit caste of Hindu minority community has been missing since December 23 when he was going to attend the Sindh High Court. His car was found abandoned at a Taxi stand with all court files in it. The high police officials of the district Hyderabad, Sindh province have refused to register the case. The police are also fighting on the jurisdiction of the concerned police stations to avoid filing the case. The abductors have asked for ransom of Rs. 10 million but still the police refuse to register the case and are also not investigating it as the abductions of Hindus are not a new thing and the routine business of Muslim fundamentalist groups.

It is feared by his family that he would be killed if he does not embrace Islam or pay the ransom.

The Hindu community remains under threats of abduction, forced conversion to Islam and persecution in the name of blasphemy since many years by the fundamentalist religious organizations that operate through their seminaries (Madressas). Most of the Madressas are not registered by the government but are free to operate with the patronage of the police.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Mr. Mohan Lal Menghwar, advocate, son of Karo Mal, resident of village Bhadisindhu, Chachro, district Tharparkar, Sindh province, was on the way to Sindh high court, Hyderabad bench, Hyderabad district, 56 kilometers away from his residence to attend the court proceedings. He proceeded in early morning at 5. 30 AM but when he did not reach the court it created a panic among the lawyers, clients and family members. In the evening at 7 PM local police informed the family that a car was found abandoned at Tando Jam taxi stand. When family members reached there they found the car of Mohan Lal and everything including the court files were there.

Police of three stations, Tando Adam, Tando Jam and Hyderabad, stopped the family members of the victim to file a First Information Report (FIR) and waited for the abductors’ demand for ransom. After two days of his disappearance the police of Hyderabad district flatly refused to register the case. The district police officer says they would not file the case as one cannot say from which jurisdiction of which police station he was abducted. He told the family members that he was abducted from some other place and his car was put in the Tando Jam taxi stand therefore it is difficult to file the case.

Mr. Ladha Ram Sharma, the senior lawyer of the victim, has received a call from abductors for the ransom of Rs. 10 Million for his release. This was duly informed to the police who again refused to file the case. Police were taking the call of ransom very lightly and have yet to start its legal responsibility to act according the law. The police attitude is to accommodate the call of ransom.

It is alleged that provincial police know that he has been abducted by the Muslim religious groups who are operating freely in the areas of the Hindu population in the rural parts of the province through the seminaries. Forced conversion to Islam by the abduction of girls and their forcibly marriage to Muslims is common. The situation of abduction, rape and forced conversion has reached such a position that many Hindu families migrated to India among them are also Hindu legislators.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Murders, kidnappings, looting of Hindu families are on high all around the Pakistan. They are selling their properties at cheap rates and wrapping up their businesses at the cost of big losses. In the recent months 37 Hindus have left Pakistan for India due to security reasons. Hundreds of Hindu families leave Pakistan for India or other countries every year to find safe places for them. Fear has spread among the Sikhs and Hindus of Pakistan after the atrocious beheading incident involving a young Sikh man because of his refusal to convert. Furthermore, the Pakistani State has failed to protect the rights of the religious minorities which has left them feeling helpless while living with daily fear. Since the Taliban fanatics identify Pakistani Hindus as people of India, it has left Pakistani Hindus feeling helpless and with a sense of homelessness because they feel that they are being pushed out of Pakistan and at the same time not readily being accepted into their original home country.

A Hindu is being beaten by the Muslim clergy to convert to Islam. Photo by Chakra website.

The Asian Human Rights Commission has estimated that every year more Christians and Hindus are forcibly converted to Islam. An activist and council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Amarnath Motumal, stated that Hindus are targeted due to many local Muslims seeing them as kafirs (non-Muslims) and therefore of lower class as well as evil. Threats are commonly given by the dangerous kidnappers that if they are reported, the families will hear of their daughter’s death. Motumal said that the word “Hindu” has become an insult and almost a shame for all Hindus in the Islamic state of Pakistan because of impoverished state 90% of Hindu families live in. He addressed that the government and others in power are to blame for the lack of rights available to the Hindu community.

It is feared by his family that he would be killed if he does not embrace the Islam or pay the ransom of rupees ten million.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the given authorities calling them to ensure the safe recovery of Mohan Lal advocate and prosecute the police officers of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar districts for their negligence to register the case and no investigation to apprehend the abductors. Also urge the authorities to initiate the inquiry in to the matter of continuous abduction and forced conversion to Islam in Sindh province and negligence of law enforcement agencies to stop the practice.

The AHRC writes a separate letter to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance requesting them to intervention into this matter.

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