Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders were currently in Umerkot for a party rally but their presence has brought fears of persecution for the Meghwar Hindu community.
PTI top leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Arif Alvi were there for a rally but Hindus were not present in big numbers.
Now, angered at this absence, the land of these impoverished Hindus is being eyed by local PTI workers as they did not attend the ‘jalsa’ or the rally of the party in Umerkot.
The Meghwar community is afraid that the PTI workers may get them entangled in fake cases.
The problem is that Sindh is a Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) bastion however the PTI is trying to make inroads here and Hindus form one of the biggest minority vote chunks. PPP has by and large herded the Hindus into its fold despite an abysmal record. In April, for example, Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan Hindu Council, Dr. Rakesh Vankwani had spoken against the student wing of ruling PPP which was involved in the illegal occupation of Shiva Temple in Chor Jamali district of Sujawal.
However, it is not just the case of these two parties alone. Senior Pakistani politician Marvi Menon who belongs to Nawaz Sharif’s party PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) was recently blessing conversion of 207 Pakistani Hindus.
Marvi Menon tweeted these pictures captioning it as: “Wth Shafqat and Ayaz Shirazi Sujawal at conversion function.”
Most of these Hindus are from very poor backgrounds and are often discriminated or made to take up menial jobs such as of sweepers etc.
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Professor Anjum James Paul, a senior voice of minorities in Pakistan, has demanded that Marvi Menon should be replaced for converting Hindus at Sajawal in Sindh on October 15.
Due to persecution and forced conversions, the Pakistani Hindus have taken to migrating to India in huge numbers but it seems their exodus has failed to make an impact on Pakistan.
