On 31st October (Tuesday), Pakistani Hindu cricketer Danish Kaneria took to X to raise concerns about Hindu minorities living in a “religious war zone”, Sindh. Sharing the plight of Sindhi Hindus, he urged everyone to come out and support the Hindu Kachhi community. They had lived in the village, which has now been plundered, for over four decades but are now facing threats and have been forcibly rendered homeless.
Taking to X, Kaneria said, “Hindu minorities are living in a religious war zone in Sindh. Each day, Hindus witness a new way of persecution and are left helpless. It’s time we must stand with the Hindu Kachhi community and demand justice.”
Hindu minorities are living in a religious war zone in Sindh. Each day, Hindus witness a new way of persecution and are left helpless. It's time we must stand with the Hindu Kachhi community and demand justice. https://t.co/047XGp86hC
— Danish Kaneria (@DanishKaneria61) October 31, 2023
He made these remarks while responding to a media report highlighting that a Muslim landlord in Sindh has ravaged properties of Hindu minorities. According to the report, Islamists have even set fire to entire villages of the Hindu community rendering them homeless. The media report also included the ordeals of the local Hindu community while plundered properties can be seen in the backdrop.
Muslim landlord demolishes houses, Hindu temple, and sets fire to entire Hindu village in Sindh, Pakistan. The Hindu Kachhi community, who had lived there for 40 years, has been left homeless and threatened. https://t.co/nxoja5xqRG pic.twitter.com/OMTc1hQtHK
— South Asian Digest (@SADigestOnline) October 31, 2023
Kaneria has been raising his voice in Pakistan against the constant persecution of Hindu minorities in Pakistan.
Recently, on 25th October, former Pakistani cricketer Kaneria gave an interview to the TV news channel Aaj Tak in which he shared his ordeal as a Hindu cricketer in the Pakistani team. In this interview with journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, he accused Pakistani cricketers of religious discrimination against him and of attempts to convert him to Islam. He asserted that for him nothing is above Sanatan Dharma.
Unabated atrocities on Hindu communities in Sindh, Pakistan
In the long list of attacks on Hindu temples, two Hindu temples were attacked and desecrated in Pakistan’s Sindh province within a span of just 24 hours, in July, this year. According to media reports, on 16th July, a gang of dacoits attacked a Hindu temple with rocket launchers in Sindh’s Kashmore region.
Additionally, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had noted that around 30 Hindus including women and children, were allegedly held hostage by organised criminal gangs.
In another attack, the old Mari Mata Mandir, an over 150-year-old Hindu temple was demolished in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar on the night of 16th July using diggers and bulldozers, reported Dawn.
Terrifying reports of atrocities, discrimination, abduction, and forceful conversion of minor Hindu girls have regularly come to the fore from Pakistan, particularly from the Sindh region. However, a recent report (May 2023) revealed that in the past twelve years, around fourteen thousand cases of abduction, gang rape, and religious conversion of Hindu girls have been reported in the region with many more going unreported.
In a video message Veerji Loond, a resident of Sindh and retired doctor from Liaquat University of Medical Sciences made these revelations. In the video, he also appealed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to open the Indo-Pak border. He urged the Indian government to grant visas to Pakistani Hindus who were willing to come to India to escape persecution at the hands of Islamists in Pakistan.
Additionally, a recent Human Rights Observer 2023 fact sheet revealed that in the year 2022, as many as 124 women belonging to minority communities were forcefully converted to Islam in the Islamic country. Out of this, 81 were Hindu, 42 were Christian and one was Sikh.
Further, the fact sheet revealed that 23 per cent of girls were below 14 years of age, 36 per cent of them were between the age of 14 and 18 years, and only 12 per cent of the victims were adults, while the age of 28 per cent of the victims was not reported.
Sindh has been the most dreadful region for forced conversion of Hindus particularly girls as in 2022, 65% of cases of forced religious conversion were reported in Sindh, 33% in Punjab, and 0.8% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, respectively.
