In what can only be described as a heart wrenching incident, it was reported yesterday that two Hindu teenage girls in Pakistan were abducted and forcefully converted to Islam on the eve of Holi in Dharki town of Sindh’s Ghotki district. According to media reports, both the girls – Reena, 15 and Raveena, 13 – are underage and were forcibly converted to Islam after marriage. Shockingly, the local police agreed to lodge an FIR only after the minority Hindu community came out on the streets to protest. This incident reveals the kind of excesses and atrocities that the Hindu minority has to face in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Ironically, the shocking incident took place at a time when the Pakistan PM Imran Khan has been relentlessly trying to push the ‘Naya Pakistan’ narrative. The Government of India immediately sprung into action and the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, initiated action into the matter and asked Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan to send a report regarding the incident.
I have asked Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan to send a report on this. @IndiainPakistan
Two Hindu girls abducted on Holi eve in Pakistan's Sindh https://t.co/r4bTBSoy9d via @TOIWorld— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 24, 2019
It is not only Imran Khan’s hollow ‘Naya Pakistan’ narrative which stands exposed, but the ‘Aman ki Asha’ brigade within India which had been constantly trying to project Imran Khan as a statesman has also been exposed. The fact remains that Pakistan’s very identity is based on hatred towards India and Hindus and therefore its state policy of sponsoring atrocities against the Hindu minority in the terrorist country cannot change. However, it seems that the left-liberal, mainstream media is in no mood to rein in its pro-Pakistan bias. Even as the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj sought a report on the matter, AAP mouthpiece, Janta ka Reporter’s editor, Rifat Jawaid, made an attempt to exonerate Pakistan of this heinous attack and tried taking a jibe at the Indian government instead. He tweeted, “Muslim countries around the world should seek report from Indian govt every time brutality is committed against Muslims! Since there are too many countries with Muslim rulers, better option should be for UN to pass a resolution every time some bigots target Muslims in India.” Along with this tweet, he retweeted an NDTV news update stating that Sushma Swaraj had sought a report on the “alleged” kidnapping of Hindu girls in Pakistan.
https://twitter.com/RifatJawaid/status/1109750511388057600
It is not only irrelevant but also bizarre to compare India and Pakistan when it comes to the treatment of minorities. Jawaid who was clearly irked by India’s move to seek a report on the matter, doesn’t seem to understand the difference between a tolerant, secular India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. India and Pakistan are fundamentally different. While India adopted secularism as a constitutionally guaranteed state policy, Pakistan adopted the policy of Islamic fundamentalism. Hindu minorities in Pakistan need to be protected because they are living in an Islamic state dominated by the military establishment. India’s case is altogether different. All communities in India enjoy an equal status which is constitutionally guaranteed. Even if we were to overlook this aspect, statistics explain why Hindus in Pakistan need to be protected. Minorities in Pakistan face all sorts of atrocities at the hands of the majority Pakistani community. Every year thousands of Hindus flee Pakistan to avoid persecution. Every year, thousands of Hindu girls are kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, and later, they are forcibly married to Muslim men. In Pakistan, the Hindus and other minorities face discrimination in all walks of life, be it schooling, employment or sports. Hindu places of worship are targeted and destroyed. The Hindu population of Pakistan has declined sharply since 1947. In 1947, the Hindu population of Pakistan was around 20 % but now it is just 1.85%. Compare this to India, where Islam is the fastest growing religion in India as per the 2011 Census and the Muslim population also saw a remarkable rise from 18.50% to 19.26% in a small period of ten years from 2001 to 2011.
The liberal brigade and mainstream media need to understand the difference between India and Pakistan. While India is a secular democracy, Pakistan is a military dominated Islamic country. No reasonable analogy can be drawn between the two countries and the persecution that minorities face in them, Hindus face severe persecution in Pakistan. While it is India’s right as a responsible global player to ensure that the Hindu minority in Pakistan is safeguarded, the terrorist country has no such moral right to interfere in India’s internal matters. Moreover, there is no state-sponsored persecution of any of the minorities in India and as such there is no occasion for the international community to show any kind of concern towards India’s internal affairs.
