Historical Step, 5% Quota for Sindh’s Religious Monitories in all Government Departments, Pakistan

By Gopinath Kumar (PHP , Based in USA) from Amar Guriro (Daily Times)

(PHOTO : Sindhi Hindu Girl in Thar desert, Sindh State, South-East of Pakistan)

KARACHI : Religious minorities in Sindh including Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, Bahá’ís and others would get a 5 percent quota in every public sector department of the provincial government, said an official notification issued by provincial chief secretary Friday.

The federal government had issued a notification in March 2009 ordering quota for religious minorities in all federal government departments.

The Sindh government’s notification has brought a new hope for minorities.

The notification (No-SORI-S&GAD-2-1/1994) issued by the chief secretary under the subject ‘Reservation of 5 percent quota for employment of minorities (non-Muslims) across the board in Sindh government services and jobs’ stated that the Sindh government has issued the notification to ensure jobs for non-Muslims as defined in Sub-Section 3b of Article 260 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.

“Besides direct recruitment, the notification would also ensure recruitment of the quotas of religious minorities in combined competitive examinations such as Central Superior Services (CSS), in addition to their participation in open merit,” said the notification.

However, the notification would not cover jobs in the provincial government’s temporary projects, recruitments through promotions or transfers, short-term vacancies for less than six months duration and the isolated posts in which vacancies were occasionally available.

Talking to Daily Times, Sindh Minority Affairs Minister Dr Mohan Lal Kohistani said it was a remarkable step by the PPP government for the religious minorities of the province.

“After assuming charge of the ministry, I tried to convince the government to make this move and at last the government has issued the notification,” said Dr Kohistani.

The religious minorities in province have welcomed the move and hoped that provincial government would ensure the implementation of the step.

“The Pakistani Sikhs, especially those in Sindh, were never given jobs and after this move, we
hope to be employed in government departments,” said Sikh Naujawan Sabha Chairman Sardar Ramesh Singh.

Pakistan Hindu Foundation Chairman DM Maharaj also welcomed the decision but said there must be a special quota for the Hindu scheduled castes (formerly called untouchables) of the province.

“The last national census clearly stated that Hindus are the biggest religious minority of Pakistan and the majority of them live in Sindh. Interestingly, the scheduled castes are almost 92 percent of the total Hindu population of Pakistan, but they are never given importance in the quotas,” said Maharaj.

Society for Development and Human Rights Secretary General Akhtar Baluch, who has conducted a detailed research on scheduled castes, said it was unlikely that lower caste Hindus would be given their share in the quota.

“There is a 2 percent quota for minorities since 1948, but they were never given their share. Despite being in majority, they have never been given reserved seats in assemblies,” he said.

The 1998’s National Population Census stated that religious groups other than Muslims represent 3.72 percent of the total population of the country and Article 27(I) of the constitution provides equal opportunity to all citizens including minorities for appointment in the services of Pakistan without any discrimination on the ground of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth.

Systematic Mistreatment of Hindus and heretics in Pakistan

By Purushottam Singh (PHP Editor from NYC)
Monday,May 31,2010

(Photo : Hindu Women in Thar District of Sindh in Pakistan)

HERETICS : Terrorists murdered dozens of people in two minority mosques in Lahore, Pakistan.  As people prepared for prayer, nine youths burst in, opened fire at the helpless civilians, and some set off bombs that took their own lives, too.  I spare you the details of the gore, but it is horrifying.

The crime of the doomed?  They belong to a sect that follows Islam except for believing that their leader is a “messenger” referred to by Muhammad.  For that, the government has declared them heretics.  it forbids them to call themselves Muslims and their temples mosques  (Waqar Gilani and Jane Perlez).

HINDUS :  In one town of Pakistan in a single week, 57 Hindus in three waves converted under pressure to Islam.  The pressure was from their employers and their neighbors.  The employers were, themselves, under pressure from customers and suppliers, boycotting them for hiring Hindus.  The Hindus converted in order to keep their jobs and ability to support their families.  Such is life in the town of Sialkot, Pakistan. 

The source: “Diligent Media Corporation, which owns DNA (Daily News & Analysis), is a joint venture between two industry majors - the Dainik Bhaskar Group and Zee Group. With a reach of more than 120 countries and access to more than 250 million viewers globally…”

CONCLUSION : The two incidents have in common intolerance by Pakistani society.  It is not just terrorism, not just government, but government, terrorists, and society as a whole.  This impression of Pakistan should inform U.S. foreign policy makers about what to expect from dealing with Pakistan.

What temerity of callow youths to impose a death penalty on people who do them no harm!

Pakistani Hindus staying illegally in Amravati in India

Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Monday,April 19,2010

INDIA : As many as 61 Pakistani Hindu nationals were staying illegally in Amravati city for the last four to five years, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was told on Friday.

In a written reply, Home Minister R R Patil said the 61 Pakistani nationals, belonging to the Sindhi community, have been found overstaying even after their passports and visas had expired.

They were trying to get their passports renewed by the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi. But, the authorities were not entertaining their request, Patil said adding this creates problems in granting them visa?extension.

The issue came to light in February this year, Patil said.

Introduction to Hindus in Pakistan (Youtube Vedio)

Source http://www.youtube.com
Monday,April 19,2010
 

ICFJournalists — March 30, 2010 — Participant Rasheed Channa, who traveled to Egypt with other journalists to participate in a cross cultural discussion, produced a video on Hindus in Paskistan.

25 Hindu girls abducted every month, claims HRCP official in Sindh , Pakistan

Source http://www.thenews.com.pk

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
By By Rabia Ali
Karachi

As many as 20 to 25 girls from the Hindu community are abducted every month and converted forcibly, said Amarnath Motumal, an advocate and council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

“There is no official record to support this statement, but according to estimates, in Karachi alone, a large number of Hindu girls are being kidnapped on a routine basis,” Motumal told The News. “The families of the victims are scared to register cases against the influential perpetrators as death threats are issued to them in case they raise their voice. So, the victims choose to remain silent to save their lives,” he said.

Motumal said the word ‘Hindu’ had become an insult and a kind of abuse for the Hindu community. “Almost 90 per cent of the Hindu community comprise poor and impoverished families whose needs and rights have been neglected by the ones at the helms of power,” he said, adding that since a majority of the people feel helpless, only a few families come to him with their cases.

A former MPA, Bherulal Balani, said that the Hindu girls, especially the ones belonging to scheduled castes, were mostly being abducted from the Lyari area. “Once the girls are converted, they are then sold to other people or are forced to do illegal and immoral activities,” Balani said. He added the perpetrators were very powerful and that was the reason that no cases were being registered against them.

The number of attacks against the Hindu community has increased in the interior Sindh during the last three months. At least nine incidents have been reported which range from forced conversion of Hindus to rape and murders.

In one incident, a 17-year-old girl ‘K’ was gang-raped in Nagarparker area. In another incident, a 15-year-old girl ‘D’ was allegedly abducted from Aaklee village, Tharparkar, and was forced to convert. About 71 families migrated from the village in protest against the girl’s abduction.

Moreover, the Hindu communities were not even spared on the occasion of their joyous festival of Holi as two girls, Anita and Kishni, were kidnapped in Kotri. Moreover, two Hindu boys, Ajay and Sagar, were abducted from another place on the same day.

One Amir Gul was murdered in the beginning of March in Tando Haider, Umerkot, allegedly by a landlord. Later in the month, a boy, Kishan Kumar, was kidnapped from Kandhkot, Jacobabad.

MPA Pitamber Sewani told The News that these acts were being done by certain elements who believe that these minority communities might support the government in the upcoming local bodies’ elections, and these elements want to harass them.

However, President Pakistan Hindu Council Ramesh Kumar criticised the minorities’ representatives for not raising their voice at relevant forums. He said that they were simply representing their respective parties and not the poor people. He added that poor economic conditions had led to an increase in kidnapping cases in the province, especially in the Kandhkot and Jacobabad areas.

Coordinator HRCP Task Force Sindh Dr Ashothama Lohano told The News the according to their one fact-finding report, the most affected persons of violence belonged to Hindu and Christian communities. He said that various reasons have been cited for this. “The recent wave of extremism is one reason, which has destroyed the harmony of the land of Sufis. Another reason is the destruction of the agriculture sector and small markets that has led to frustration and lawlessness. Yet another reason is that the elected representatives are working only for the party and not for the community,” Dr Lohano added.

He further said that minority communities were easy targets as the Hindus were generally hesitant to raise voice against the injustices. “When the Hindu communities become politically active, they are blamed for having Indian connections,” doctor Lohano said.

Sindhi Hindu writers from both sides of the border exploring the Sindhi experience of Partition and the creation of Pakistan

Source http://www.deccanherald.com
Tuesday,March30,2010

Rita Kothari has selected and translated into English narratives by first-generation Sindhi writers from both sides of the border exploring the Sindhi experience of Partition and the creation of Pakistan. 

By Monideepa Sahu 


Unlike those displaced by the Partition of Punjab and Bengal, the Sindhi Hindus did not have a place to call their own when they arrived in India, since Sindh was retained entirely by Pakistan. In Mohan Kalpana’s story, ‘In Exile’, an Indian Sahib explains the precarious condition of a refugee from Sindh. “Right now, you are neither in India nor Pakistan. You are a refugee. A refugee! You do not have a home either here or there.” Confused and pained Joharmal in Narayan Bharti’s ‘The Claim’ expresses poignantly the Sindhi experience of losing forever not just farmlands or a house, but an entire ethos, lost friends and neighbours, streets, rivers of a homeland which belongs to every Sindhi.  

Apart from the recurring Partition fiction trope of a difficult and sorrowful journey of millions of people leaving their homeland, these stories also explore how those who stayed behind in the new Pakistan had to come to terms with a suddenly unrecognisable nation. According to Acharya Kripalani, Sindhis of all faiths were “powerfully influenced by Sufi and Vedantic thoughts. This made for tolerance.”
 
The threat to Sindhi Hindus after the formation of Pakistan became strong after Muslim immigrants driven out from the rest of India entered Sindh. These stories explore how hatred was spread amongst a peaceful and prosperous community. Khanu the barber in Sheikh Ayaz’s ‘The Neighbour’ “began to wonder how he would be able to slit the throats of those he had spent hours with, eating and drinking and making merry in their company.” Vishnu Bhatia in ‘The Uprooted’ portrays the spread of communal hatred and the seemingly foolish yet touching refusal of an old refugee to accept this. “How long could anyone have lasted shrouded in fear? People who had never thought of themselves as Hindus or Muslims now knew that Hindus were infidels, and Muslims, scoundrels. So much for brotherhood! Hindus have no right to live on this land. A political decision managed to do what pandits and moulvis could not. Hatred had spread like poison and an entire community was uprooted from its land and thrown into the waters of the Arabian Sea.”   

Today, Kothari points out, the Sindhi community has spread out all over the world, successfully establishing themselves in business and various professions. Yet even those living in India cannot visit Sindh or even afford to talk about it, since Sindh now lies in what the rest of India considers a hostile foreign country. Sindh is now an idea without physical dimensions, a place which Sindhis cannot even visit in reality or memory. This perhaps explains why Sindhis have maintained silence about their past and rarely shared their wounds and stories.  

As a sociological and historical document, this collection is invaluable. Capturing the finer nuances of Indian languages in English translations is always a huge challenge. While the translation is capable, these stories do by and large read like writing by a single author, and not by the several writers whose styles and viewpoints comprise this collection.

How Hindus prepare for Navratri Pooja in Pakistan

Source http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
Monday,March08,2010

By Amar Guriro

KARACHI: The Hindus of the city have launched preparations to celebrate the religious festival of Navratri, the first of a series of festivals ahead of Diwali, which will be celebrated on October 28. Navratri (nine nights) will begin on September 28, in which two goddesses revered in the Hindu religion, Saraswati and Durga, will be worshipped, while a third goddess, Lakshmi, will be worshipped on Diwali.

Most Hindus across the globe celebrate in their own way and in Sindh, most Hindus will begin celebrating Navratri 30 days before Diwali. This means they will celebrate the nine nights of Navratri Pooja (worship), followed by Dasairo (the tenth day), and Diwali follows twenty days after Dasairo.

“These nine nights of Navratri are the most sacred nights. A large number of people restrict themselves to a room and begin special worship ceremonies to make Shakti Devi (the goddess of power) happy,” said young Shakantala. She had come to purchase some brass lamps and other Pooja items for the festivals at a small temple in Gulshan-e-Iqbal town.

In some temples, small makeshift stalls have been installed where shopkeepers are selling Pooja item including brass lamps, Charnamantra pots, and agarbatti (incense sticks) stands. As the celebrations draw closer, these shops will also start selling betel leaves, betel nuts, coconuts, roses, jasmine, lotus and other flowers held as an important part of the Pooja.

“In Hinduism, the brass metal is taken to be the most pure metal and saffron the most sacred color. Hindus believe that these touch intellectuality, so we mostly use Pooja items made of brass and cover ourselves, whether completely or just our heads, with a saffron-colored cloth,” explained Chandar Parkash, a pundit at a small temple on main University Road.

Many Hindus get their houses cleaned before the festival, usually on Umavas (a moonless night), a night before Navratri.

Some Hindu communities in Sindh celebrate Sarhad 16 days before Navratri, in which male family members perform Tarpan, offering food to birds, especially crows, and later, they offer food items and small gift to the young children, particularly girls, in the neighborhood. Other communities celebrate Sarhad during the nine-day long Navratri. “Some festivals are celebrated by all Hindus in Pakistan and India, but depending on cultural background, how they celebrate can vary,” said Lakhraj Gul, a social worker.

He said that some of the Hindu festivals celebrated in Sindh are not even known in India and several festivals celebrated in India are not celebrated in Sindh. “Most of the festivals are culturally based,” he explained.