Pakistani Hindus displeased over forced conversion to Islam

The Hindu community in Pakistan is reportedly angered by the rise in forced conversions to Islam.

At a recently concluded seminar titled 'Hindus in Pakistan-issues and solutions,' held at the Karachi Press Club, people belonging to the Hindu community aired their grievances with the increased level of forced conversions to Islam.

Uncle of a girl Rinkle Kumari, Raj Kumar revealed that a six-year-old girl, Jumna, along with her 10-year-old sister, Pooja were also being forced to change religion had the media not raised their case, Dawn News reports.

Jumna's mother Soma revealed that one day her girls didn't return from their daily door-to-door selling of clay toys and after several reports in the media about them, they were found to be staying with a man named Rajab Pathan.

She further revealed that the police of Akhtar Colony in Mirpurkhas area later produced the girls in court as Muslim children.

Chairman of the All Hindu Rights Organisation, Kishan Chand Parwani, said that it was sad to see the problems of minorities in Pakistan multiplying instead of decreasing.

He said that in his five terms of serving as an MNA in Pakistan, he knew that the rights of Hindus have never remained a priority, adding that the Marriage Act for Hindus was never passed by the assembly as the government finished its term and now underage Hindu girls were being forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men.

Parwani further said that Hindu community in Pakistan was facing harassment at every level.

Meanwhile, politician Dr Riaz Chandio said that they would have had no problems with their daughters converting to Islam if they did so of their own free will.

Former senator Safdar Abbasi said that it was a sad reality that not just Hindu temples but also mosques, Imambargahs and churches were not safe in Pakistan these days, the report added.