The plea of minorities in pakistan

[Saint N sinnerr]

The national flag of Pakistan has been reduced to little more than a piece of cloth and a splatter of paint, over the years — just as the dreams it once represented, have lost their inspiration and verve. The white space on the flag, signifying the religious minorities in Pakistan, has diminished day-by-day where as the green, denoting Muslim majority, has continued to accrue deeper shades. Unfortunately, the flag and its changing hues are the least of our problems. The problem is not just the constriction of the political space in which the minorities are allowed to operate — our problem is the treatment with which we grace our fellow countryman and how it is, intrinsically, linked to our perception of that person, his community or fellowship — our problem is that the whites of our flag have fallen dim.

The political space, supposed to be legitimately that of religious minorities, has virtually ceased to exist. We, as a Muslim majority nation, have convinced ourselves that we are the only target of all oppression, western or otherwise — that there are conspirators behind every shadow — that everyone in the world is out to get our, proverbial, goat and that anyone who is not Muslim is a de facto ally of our perceived enemies. This is why we choose to punish our minorities for crimes that they haven’t committed.

Minorities in Pakistan, today, enjoy a whole range of ‘rights’, be it the talibanised form which gives them a ‘right’ to choose between death or conversion or the more enlightened and civilised one which allows them the ‘right’ of absolute authority over picking the colour of their own, personal and separate tableware, but little else.

These minorities are disenfranchised economically — by disallowing them access to respectable jobs or only allowing them access to menial ones. They are oppressed politically by being systemically denied any real voice on any public forum. The voices that do represent them come from throats attached to people as, socially, distanced from a poor Christian or pitiable Hindu as a capitalist is from an ordinary worker. They are broken, culturally, by having their places of worship turned into warehouses or shops of the very items that those particular religions prohibit.

It is not without merit that we are ranked high on the Amnesty International’s list of countries with endangered minorities — and how we strive, tirelessly, to safeguard this mantle of ‘honour’.

In this way a new culture emerges, a culture of the oppressed; a culture which transcends all religions, castes, creeds or identities. This culture links every member of Pakistan’s minorities with every other member of the same. This is our gift to our fellow Pakistanis; those who worked and toiled with us to define the Pakistan that we live in today; those whose ancestors gave just as many sacrifices as ours in the ‘good’ fight — our gift to those who bear the burden of our country just as much as we do, if not more.

It is from such cultures that new voices emerge – voices laced with the anguish and pain that is felt by members of those communities. Such a voice is the Human Right’s Monitor’s 2007 Report on Religious Minorities in Pakistan. It gives factual details regarding the persecution felt by religious minorities in Pakistan. It gives details of individual cases involving families or communities who have been wronged in the name of religion, sex or class.

It is high time that we, as the Muslim majority of Pakistan, come to realise the needs and aspirations of our fellow non-Muslim Pakistanis — that we come to appreciate the pain that we have caused them through our planned and malicious ill-treatment of the minorities; otherwise we will be forced to mourn the day when, there will be no need of any whites in our flag.


I dont know why do the pakistani moan abt india , when their back garden is riddles with blood of innocents from the minorities...

 

[Spring Onion]

I dont know why do the pakistani moan abt india , when their back garden is riddles with blood of innocents from the minorities...

Because in India minorities have been killed over and over in an organised manner and you can not compare the isolated incidents in Pakistan with organised genocide of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, besides your own low cast Hindus on one pretext or the other.


Above all the lives of not only minorities but also Muslims in Pakistan are in danger due to militants. So creating an impression by Indians that only minorities are victim of these militansts/taliban then its nothing but your born tactic to malign Pakistan.

Still if you want well lets compare the minorities in both the countries.

 

[Saint N sinnerr]

Because in India minorities have been killed over and over in an organised manner and you can not compare the isolated incidents in Pakistan with organised genocide of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, besides your own low cast Hindus on one pretext or the other.


Above all the lives of not only minorities but also Muslims in Pakistan are in danger due to militants. So creating an impression by Indians that only minorities are victim of these militansts/taliban then its nothing but your born tactic to malign Pakistan.

Still if you want well lets compare the minorities in both the countries.

Right , Isolated incidents????
Religious intolerance in Pakistan widespread: US - NaiTazi.com

read it Jana...
* International Religious Freedom report says discrimination against minorities prevalent
* Says promotions for minorities limited

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: While Pakistan was credited with have taken ‘some steps’ to improve the treatment of religious minorities, the International Religious Freedom Report, released at the weekend, described the general situation on this front in pretty negative terms.

The report, covering 2007, said, “The government took some steps to improve its treatment of religious minorities during the period covered by this report, but serious problems remained. Law enforcement personnel abused religious minorities in custody. Security forces and other government agencies did not adequately prevent or address societal abuse against minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different religious belief fostered religious intolerance, acts of violence, and intimidation against religious minorities.”

It said, “Specific laws that discriminate against religious minorities include anti-Ahmadi and blasphemy laws. The Ahmadiyya community continued to face governmental and societal discrimination and legal bars to the practice of its religious beliefs. Members of other Islamic sects also claimed governmental discrimination.”

The report said relations between religious communities remained tense and social discrimination against minorities was widespread, accompanied by violence. Terrorist and extremist groups and individuals continued to target religious congregations. The report pointed out that freedom of speech in Pakistan was subject to ‘reasonable’ restrictions in the interests of the ‘glory of Islam’. The consequences for contravening the country’s blasphemy laws are death.

There is life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the holy Quran and 10 years in jail for insulting another’s religious feelings. “These laws are often used to settle personal scores as well as to intimidate vulnerable Muslims, sectarian opponents, and religious minorities,” said the annual review of religious freedom around the world.

The report took note of the December 2006 Women’s Protection Bill for which it credited former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, which amended the Hudood Ordinance and moved cases of rape and adultery to secular rather than Shariah courts. Musharraf also ordered the release of all women imprisoned under the Hudood Ordinance, resulting in the release of 2,500 women.

According to the annual review, most senior levels continued to call for interfaith dialogue and sectarian harmony as part of its programme to promote enlightened moderation and during the year held three interfaith conferences, one each in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi.

Promotions: Promotions for all minority groups appear limited within the civil service, particularly acute for Ahmadis, who contend that a ‘glass ceiling’ prevents them from being promoted to senior positions. The report also points out that there have been forced conversions to Islam, especially in Sindh where 15-20 Hindu families were forced to convert.

Sectarian violence is widespread. The report notes that as part of its overall public education reform programme, valued at $100 million, the US government provided substantial financial support to the government’s curriculum reform initiative, which included eliminating the teaching of religious intolerance.

also ,why do hindu and sikh families travel back to India..

At least minorities have a say in india ,The President , senior army officers / IAS , IPS officers , Chief Ministers , but what have your country done for the minority hindus/sikhs besides converting them or chopping their heads off?? I can go on and on for eternity about this...
asd malign Pakistans image?? I justr want to ask U , is there anything left to malign??? Infact the westereners hate U guys so much coz of your ideologies that they call us indians ,Pak**..
But its ok for now... this fact will grow into you.... we all live and learn

 

[All-Green]

What a phenomenal piece of nonsense!

1) In all spheres of life the minorities have equal opportunities and suffer from same problems as any Muslim Pakistani.

2) There is no segregation made by the state or the masses, the Taliban atrocities are against all Pakistanis regardless of their faith, creed or color...
So associating the Taliban with the mindset of Pakistani state or masses and with same logic trying to implicate Pakistan as an anti Minority country is pure nonsense and a disgusting effort to malign a country which is fighting against such mindset on a daily basis.

3) Be it Judges, Senior officers, civil servants, professors, NGOs, businessmen, corporate sector....all minorities are present and have to overcome the same hurdles that any Muslim shall have to encounter...now since they are in minority of course the numbers cannot be overwhelming.

4) A criminal mafia may target any community for land grabbing, gang warfare etc. and that cannot be attributed to the masses and state.

5) There has been more violence between Shia and Sunni factions than anything till the Taliban came and everything pales in comparison...never have the minorities been targeted as such till terrorism hit Pakistan and even then all the elements of society were targeted.

All in all, this is really pathetic to read and is nothing short of a deliberate aversion to ground reality and the prevalent circumstances in the country which influence all spheres of life...not just the minorities.

BTW, Who has written this?
Where is the link?

 

[deep.ocean]

Because in India minorities have been killed over and over in an organised manner and you can not compare the isolated incidents in Pakistan with organised genocide of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, besides your own low cast Hindus on one pretext or the other.


Above all the lives of not only minorities but also Muslims in Pakistan are in danger due to militants. So creating an impression by Indians that only minorities are victim of these militansts/taliban then its nothing but your born tactic to malign Pakistan.

Still if you want well lets compare the minorities in both the countries.

What a joke. You are trying to compare Apples with Oranges... First tell us what is the percentage of minority living in there... You first need to raise living minority percentage to the Indian minority level than only there would be true comparision..

 

[Lamayurugoaway]

What a joke. You are trying to compare Apples with Oranges... First tell us what is the percentage of minority living in there... You first need to raise living minority percentage to the Indian minority level than only there would be true comparision..

Very true. Pakistan does not significant numbers of minorities to speak of, so it would be impossible to "Genocide" non-existent minorities, now would it?

But still, they rack up some pretty impressive stats on the few (and dwindling) populatons that are left.

 

[Spring Onion]

nai tazi.com is the link of this BS written by some no one knows.



And you compare this with genocide of Christians and Muslims in India?


Orissa: thousands of refugees and new victims, massacre of Christians continues

by Nirmala Carvalho

At least 10,000 people are asking for help at the shelters, while just as many are seeking refuge in the forests to escape the violence of the Hindu fundamentalists. According to "reliable sources" presented by a Christian activist, there are "at least 100 dead".


Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) - One week after the beginning of the violence in Orissa, thousands of people, most of them Christian, are still hiding in the forests or have found refuge in the shelter camps set up by the government.

According to the latest figures, there are at least 6,000 people in the refugee camps, and 5,000 hiding in the forests around Kandhamal, but the number of refugees could soon reach 10,000. Today, in Bhubaneswar, a protest demonstration is planned in front of the state government headquarters in Orissa, organized by the activists of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), following the closing of Catholic schools yesterday all over India. About 25,000 institutes closed their doors, while the students and teachers marched peacefully through the streets of the country calling for an end to the violence against Christians.

Meanwhile, the number of victims of the violence continues to increase: "We have received authentic information that the death toll is 100", says Dr Sajan George, national president of the GCIC, "and more butchered bodies and burnt corpes are being found". The Christian activist is also calling for the resignation of the entire government of Orissa, which is incapable of stopping the massacres against the Christian community. He provides an example: "In Bakingia, two families of seven Christians - Daniel Naik and Michael Naik and their families - were tortured and killed, their bodies were found with their heads pulped and smashed, they were recognised by their clothes. Bakingia is about 8 kilometers from Raikia police station".

The decision to close all of the Catholic schools yesterday and call for demonstrations - although peaceful - has raised attention, with serious new accusations being issued by the Hindu side. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the leading opposition party in India, heavily influenced by the fundamentalists, has condemned yesterday's school strike and accused the Catholics of "forcing non-Christian students to participate in the protest marches". Some institutes used "coercive means" - according to the BJP - against the "non-Christians, who were obliged to march with their classmates".

Meanwhile, raids continue outside of Orissa as well. Yesterday, in Madhya Pradesh, fanatics attacked five schools and a church, in retaliation against the closing of the buildings. The attacks took place in the districts of Gwaliar (three schools and a church) and Barwani (two schools), and only the swift intervention of the police was able to prevent serious damage to the buildings, or new victims. Security forces have, on the other hand, blocked a peaceful demonstration of the students from the school of St. Francis, for unspecified reasons of "public safety", although they were informed about the demonstration beforehand.

The Indian bishop of Vasai, Thomas Dabre, a member of the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue, confirms instead the "total paralysis" in the activity of the schools of his diocese. "Thousands of young people", the prelate emphasizes, "ended their march in front of the buildings of the bishop's residence. I told them to promote interreligious dialogue, and to and trust themselves completely to the protection of the Virgin Mary".


INDIA Orissa: thousands of refugees and new victims, massacre of Christians continues - Asia News

 

[Spring Onion]

60 Christians murdered in India in two months
Friday, 17 Oct, 2008 | 07:30 PM PST |








NEW DELHI: At least 60 Christians have been killed over the past two months in eastern India in a brutal backlash to the murder of a revered Hindu holy man, a national bishops’ body said Friday.


The figure is nearly double the official toll of 35 given by government authorities in the eastern state of Orissa. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India said scores of Christians were still fleeing their homes in Orissa and called for action to stem the religious violence in the state’s troubled Kandhamal district.




‘Christians are afraid to return to their villages as threats of death have forced many of them to flee to the forest or live in dehumanising conditions,’ the organisation said. ‘The fear that has driven thousands into the forests for shelter and safety is a living reproach to those who should provide safety and security and not leave the law and order situation to mob rule,’ the organisation added.



The comments came less than a week after Pope Benedict XVI renewed his condemnation of attacks on Indian Christians. The bishops’ group also demanded a federal probe into the rape of a Catholic nun in Kandhamal, the epicentre of the violence.

According to AFP, there was no immediate reaction to the figures from Orissa state government officials. The Orissa government, administered by a political party aligned to India’s main Hindu nationalist grouping, says it has deployed enough troops to quell the violence.

Reference: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...ristians+murdered+in+india+in+two+months++awk

 

[Spring Onion]

And here is a small timeline about massacar of Christians in India


INDIA: GUJARAT AND ORISSA PREFIGURE INDIAN CRISIS

A violent anti-Christian Hindu pogrom erupted in Orissa (northeast India) on 23 August that has claimed dozens of lives, including that of a 20-year-old nun burned to death in an orphanage. Numerous others have been injured, many seriously, including another young nun who was pack raped. Casualties are mounting daily in the wake of ethnic-religious cleansing.


Compass Direct (CD) reports (1 Sept): "While many parts of Orissa remained under curfew today, over 13,000 people were reportedly living in relief centers set up by the state government in seven places in Kandhamal." Dr. Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission told reporters, "More than 50,000 Christians are living as refugees following the violence in Orissa. All the political parties are sitting as mute spectators." In Kandhamal district alone, around 1,000 Christian houses, hundreds of churches and numerous Christian institutions and businesses have been demolished by rampaging Hindus.W

hile this anti-Christian violence is shocking, it is not surprising. Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) elements acting with legal impunity and state government support have for decades been stoking the flames of hatred, cultivating an incendiary environment in Orissa. Now Orissa, like Gujarat, is primed for genocide. And hot on the heels of Gujarat and Orissa are numerous other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.

It was a brilliant strategy of the Sangh Parivar—a collection of Hindu nationalist organisations co-operating towards making India a Hindu State— to weave religion and politics strategically together in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enabling the Sangh to exploit religion for political gain. Indeed, the present persecution is not primarily about religion. India's Christians are pawns in a deadly struggle between modernity and the beneficiaries of traditional Hindu culture who are desperate to secure the political power that would guarantee their privileged status into the future by perpetuating the racist, fatalist, immoral Hindu caste system.


GUJARAT AND ORISSA PREFIGURE INDIAN CRISIS

The strategic brilliance and alarming effectiveness of the Sangh Parivar's campaign for a Hindu Rastra (Hindu State) has never been sufficiently appreciated.

Even after the 2002 anti-Muslim Hindu pogrom in Gujarat that left some 2000 Muslims dead, India and the world failed to fully appreciate what was happening. Then an anti-Christian Hindu pogrom in Orissa over Christmas 2007 left a swath of destruction and turned hundreds of thousands of Christian into traumatised IDPs (Internally Displaced Peoples). Yet again India and the world did not understand what was happening.

The ringleaders and inciters of the Gujarat 2002 and Orissa 2007 pogroms – Narendra Modi and Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati respectively – not only remained free, but were elevated and to many they became national heroes! In Gujarat, Narendra Modi was even rewarded by being re-elected as Chief Minister – twice! The "kranti" (revolution) in Gujarat, through which the majority, caste-perpetuating Hindu community terrorised the minority Muslim community into submission, is now held up by Hindutva protagonists as the model.

In January 2006 it became clear that the Modi government was planning to set the Dangs (in Gujarat) alight with an anti-Christian pogrom following the Shabri Kumbh Mela that February.

However, alarm bells rang out, opposition mounted and the Church prayed.

And God answered the prayers of many. While the Shabri Kumbh Mela may have effected mass religious-political conversions (converting tribal Congress-voting animists into BJP-voting Hindus), the Sangh's strategy to ignite another Hindu kranti – 'this time a genocidal massacre of Christians – failed.


The Christmas 2007 anti-Christian pogrom in Orissa however was not heralded. Hindutva forces kept secret their plans for a pogrom for Christmas Day 2007 under the guise of a bandh (strike) in protest of the Pana (Dalit/Scheduled Caste) Christians request for Schedule Tribe status – something they need in order to benefit from affirmative action programs in a caste driven society that denies benefits to Dalits/Scheduled Castes that convert to Christianity. (Under the rules, Scheduled Tribes who convert to Christianity continue to enjoy reservations/affirmative action, but Dalits/Scheduled Castes who convert do not.)


While police were withdrawing from the districts to take up their positions at the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) 10-year anniversary celebrations in the capital, Hindus were felling trees and blockading roads around Kandhamal district in preparation for the anti-Christian pogrom that Hindu communalists vowed would "teach them a lesson!".

Thousands of Hindus then rioted crying, "Stop Christianity. Kill Christians!" Across Kandhamal district alone, more than 700 Christian homes and around 100 churches and 95 Christian institutions were vandalised, looted, destroyed and torched. Leading the incitement was the state's principal Hindutva ideologue and proselytiser, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. After falsely claiming to have been wounded in a violent attack by a vicious Christian mob, he told his followers via a mobile phone message (in the presence of police and journalists) to burn Christian homes and churches and repeat the kranti (revolution) that brought "shanti" (peace) to Gujarat (i.e. the 2002 Hindu pogrom in which some 2000 Muslims were brutally massacred).



ORISSA: A TINDERBOX

In 1960 the RSS launched Goraksha Andolan, a Hinduisation program focused initially on banning cow slaughter. In 1965 the Hindu paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS: National Volunteer Corps) deployed a Hindutva proselytiser named Lakan to oversee the implementation of the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act in Orissa. Orissa subsequently passed a Freedom of Religion Act in 1967 which prohibited conversions to Christianity by force or fraudulent means. (This Act was subsequently strengthened in 1999.) In 1969 Lakan establish an Ashram (Hindu religious centre) in Kandhamal, changed his name to Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, and committed himself to countering the work of Christian missionaries in Orissa.

While Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati never succeeded in stopping conversions to Christianity, he did succeed in creating a tinderbox, hot with Hindutva, anti-Christian hatred, majoritarianism and communalism. Appalling crimes have been perpetrated against Christians in Orissa, with numerous forced conversions into Hinduism, assaults and killings, including the martyrdom of Graham Staines, burned alive with his two young sons Phillip and Timothy in January 1999.

The advance of Hindutvaisation over recent years has given rise to some alarming developments. Today it is not just individual Christian evangelists at risk of assault and assassination, whole Christian communities are now at risk of genocide. No longer are the murderers "loose cannon" Hindus and militants from the Bajrang Dal (the Sangh's militant Hindutva youth militia), they are simply local Hindus raping, beating, looting and killing their Christian neighbours with impunity. Reporting on the Christmas 2007 pogrom, Tehelka Magazine (an Indian magazine) noted in January 2008 that when a 1,000-strong mob of rampaging Hindus attacked Balliguda's Mt Carmel Convent, the Carmelite sisters were shocked that local Hindu beneficiaries of Mt Carmel's vocational courses were among the rioters.

According to Dr Chatterji, it is this violence with impunity along with a complete breakdown in trust that has led to the "ghettoisation" of the Christian community over recent years.
So at the behest of the Sangh Parivar and with the support and encouragement of the BJP-BJD Orissa state government, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati turned Orissa into a tinderbox of communal tension, and on 24 December 2007 he lit the fuse in Kandhamal.



23 AUGUST 2008: ORISSA BURNS AGAIN

Unlike the anti-Christian Hindu pogrom of Christmas 2007, the anti-Christian violence that exploded in Kandhamal on 23 August 2008 was not premeditated. It was however incited by VHP (World Hindu Council) activists. Immediately after Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati (85) was ambushed and shot dead in a girls' orphanage in Kandhamal district, VHP leaders were publicly charging that the Christians were responsible. VHP state general secretary Gouri Prasad Rath demanded a high-level probe and ban on churches in Kandhamal, and told the media: "Christians have killed Swamiji. We will give a befitting reply."

This charge was levelled against the entire Christian community despite evidence that it was a targeted assassination carried out by a group of some 40 well-armed Naxalite/Maoist militiamen. (Egalitarian left-wing Naxalite/Maoists are natural enemies of caste-perpetuating right-wing Hindu nationalists.) Many analysts believe the Maoists are intervening to take sides in the communal tensions in Orissa in the hope of winning Christian support.

However the VHP subsequently claimed to have received a letter from the Maoists denying any involvement but offering that some wayward cadres may have been paid by "communal Christian miscreants" to murder of the VHP leader. The alleged letter stated that Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was murdered because of his opposition to religious conversion.

According to a CD report entitled, "Maoists in India Say They Killed Hindu Leader" (1Sept): "The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, an extreme Marxist group banned by the Indian government, released a statement today saying that Sangh Parivar . . . have deliberately misled people about Saraswati's death.

"The Maoist statement warned the VHP of 'more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country' and called for a ban on groups linked to the Sangh Parivar, such as the VHP, its youth wing Bajrang Dal, right-wing Hindu political party Shiv Sena and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)."



STRATEGY OF SANGH PARAVAR

WEA RLC has stated numerous times over several years that the strategy of the Sangh Parivar is brilliantly strategic and hugely successful.

As noted in the WEA RLC News & Analysis annual Religious Liberty Trends posting of 2006-07 entitled Hindutva's Advance: "Because the Hindutva forces are active primarily in the religious sphere—Hinduising the animist tribals and creating new exploitable Hindu mythology—their activity is slipping under the radar of most political analysts. But while the Hindutva forces are focusing on the religious sphere it is all for political gain. This strategy of effecting political conversion by means of religious conversion is hugely successful."

In her sworn affidavit, Dr Angana Chatterji comments likewise on the strategy and methodology of the Sangh Parivar, noting that instead of pursuing its earlier strategy of conversions by means of forced re-conversion ceremonies, "The Sangh Parivar has instead increased its emphasis on the Hinduisation of Adivasis [indigenous tribals, traditionally animists] by making them a part of Hindu rituals and ceremonies (as during the Sammelan), which, in effect, 'converts' Adivasis into Hinduism by assuming that they are Hindu. Such 'conversion' tactics are diffused and no longer have to negotiate certain legalities, which public and stated conversion ceremonies did. On converting/'reconverting' to Hinduism, Adivasis are expected to join Hindu caste society as Sudras, a 'higher' placement than Dalits in the caste hierarchy, Sangh activists say.

"Dalit Christians are doubly discriminated against, as Dalits and as Christians. Post-Hinduisation, Adivasis are being mobilised against Christian groups. Adivasis are incited into targeting Dalit Christians, both fomenting Adivasi-Dalit divides and vitiating the historical solidarities between them. This is crucial to Hinduisation. It also acts to warn non-Christian Dalits against conversion to Christianity.

"The Hindutvaisation of the Hindu community, and Hinduisation of the secular, allows the Sangh's escalation. This process unfolded in Brahmanigaon, for example, where the growth of the business community has supported the rise of the Sangh Parivar. Hindutva conversions served to terrorise the Adivasi and Dalit community, via which the Sangh Parivar achieves its preliminary expansionist goals. While ceremonial conversions continue sporadically, a more protracted and dispersed strategy of Hinduisation through incorporation and assimilation is aggressively pursued as effective methodology."

This Hinduisation by means of "incorporation and assimilation" was described in the WEA RLC News & Analysis posting of January 2006: "One of the main strategies used by the Sangh Parivar to win the allegiance of the tribals is the campaign to convince them that they are actually Hindus who are just practising local and maybe corrupted expressions of mainstream Hindu traditions. Slowly the animist practices are redefined as Hindu, given Hindu names, and gently refined to suit Brahmin sensitivities.

"Part of this campaign is the renaming of the Adivasis (first inhabitants) as Vanvasis (forest dwellers). Upon this foundation the proponents of Hindutva then claim that the tribals and the Indo-Aryans are all one people (there is no indigenous population and no Indo-Aryan invasion) and the "Vanvasis" are really historically Hindu. They use this lie as a basis to 're-convert', absorb, communalise and exploit the Adivasis."

It must be noted that the BJP unexpectedly lost power in the May 2004 elections by only the slimmest of margins and on 22 July 2008 the Congress-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh only survived a confidence vote by the slimmest of margins, having lost the support of its left-wing allies. Meanwhile, the Sangh has been busy Hinduising the masses with a strategy so brilliant and so successful that it is quite likely that the 2009 federal elections could restore the BJP to power in the centre. And this at a time when increasing numbers of radicalised individuals – indeed whole Hindutvaised communities—are ready to kill, terrorise and ethnically-religiously cleanse Muslims and Christians on command, ostensibly in defence of the motherland.

Has the future of India been prefigured in the Hindu pogroms in Gujarat and Orissa? Let India and the world be warned: if the violent, fascist Hindutva fire that the power- and privilege-hungry Sangh Parivar is presently spreading across the nation is not successfully challenged and countered soon, then a holocaust surely awaits.

By Elizabeth Kendal



PLIGHT OF CHRISTIANS IN INDIA
Amjed Jaaved

India's north-eastern state Orissa continues to be in grip of gory anti-Christian riots. Scores of Christians, including some nuns have been burnt alive. Countless churches, houses and shops have been gutted. Even Christian orphanages have not been spared. To justify massacre of hapless Christians, Hindus spread the canard that eminent Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, had been killed by Christians on Saturday night. Kandhamal district was the epicentre of the communal riots. Most of the Christians were killed there. In the village Barakhama Hindus attacked Christian dwellings with guns and bombs. In a statement, the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik admitted there was rampage at Barakhama. But he parried questions about the identity of the deceased Christians. He simply said: "Identities are yet to be established." The police force acted as silent spectators while the Hindus ransacked the village. As an eye-wash, the chief minister announced compensation of 200,000 Rupees ($5,000) for the next-of-kin of those killed in the violence.

The riots are meant to teach a lesson to the Christians who have abandoned Hindu religion to convert to Christianity. The state's legislature has even passed an anti-Christian bill to stop Hindus to change their religions. Instead of killing Christians, the Hindus should ask themselves: 'Why are the downtrodden people in India, particularly those in Orissa, converting to Christianity?' The answer is that it is because of the ill treatment by high-caste Hindus who do no even allow them to offer prayer in Hindu temples. According to religious tables in India's Census Report, 24 million Christians constitute 2.3 percent of India's total population of 1,028 million. The Christian population includes 14 million Christian Dalits. Dalits are Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist members of "untouchable" castes who convert to Christianity. The untouchable Christians are the most neglected community in India.
India is, constitutionally, a secular country. There are iron-clad guarantees in the Constitution for religious freedom. Yet, not only the born Christians but also Hindus who become Christians complain of persecution. It is not only Orissa, but also several other Indian states that have passed anti-conversion bills forbidding Hindus to convert to other religions. Such legislation violates the UN Charter of Human Rights which gives a person right to change his or her religion.

To discourage Dalits from converting to Christianity, not only the Centre but also the Indian states have deprived 'Dalit Christians' of minority-status privileges. Any Hindu who converts to Christianity is socially boycotted and tortured in different ways. Six women at Kilipala village in Jagatsinghpur district (Orissa) had their heads tonsured by influential Hindus. Their offence was abandoning Hindu faith at their own free will. Christian missionaries are harassed, deported and even killed. Indian government ordered 'deportation of three American preachers from Church of Christ in North Carolina on the first available flight to the US.'. The preachers wanted to stay in India for three weeks. To add insult to their injury, the preachers were even attacked by Hindu fanatics. They had a narrow escape.

Courts rarely punish people who manhandle Christian preachers. Even killers of Christian preachers are awarded lenient punishments. For instance, Dara Singh, the main accused in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, were awarded life imprisonment by the Orissa High Court.


The converts are forced to reconvert to Hinduism at mass ceremonies. For instance, seventy-five people, belonging to 35 tribal families in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district were forced, under threats of social boycott and extermination, to reconvert to Hinduism at Sarat Amid shouts of "jai sri ram" (long live lord Rama), the reconvertees, belonging to five gram panchayats, Noto, Sarat, Sardiha, Kadamgarhia and Labanyadeipur, were forced to perform various purgation rites to the chanting of "slokas" by priests. The five-hour long rituals were attended by armed Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists.

Fanatic Sangh Parivar leaders have threatened Christian associations, including Council of Churches, that they would get them banned under Section 153A or 153B of the Indian Penal Code, read with Section 2(1)(p) of amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

There is no denying the fact that Christians are a peaceful community. Yet they are persecuted by Hindu zealots on flimsy grounds. Two years back, Hindus justified attacks on Christians as tit-for-tat for a book which allegedly insulted Hindu deities. Investigations revealed that the book was not written by any Christian. But, it happened to be displayed on one of the Emmanuel Mission's book-shops for sale. The Mission is a Christian organisation that runs a chain of schools in various Indian states.

Not only the Christian community, but also non-Christian minorities, political parties such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress, women's groups and the People's Union for Civil Liberties have condemned the attacks on Christians and the hounding of minorities in the state. The organizations have condemned the anti-conversion bills, including the Rajasthan Dharma Swatantrya Bill, passed by the state's assembly. The bill makes religious conversion a non-bailable offence.

While giving vent to their wrath against Christians, Hindus ignore the fact that Christian missionaries started coming to India, particularly the North-East, in the late 19th century. They promoted education and socio-economic developmental work in the region. In Rajasthan, the Emmanuel Mission, alone, runs 50 schools.

Narendra Modi's government in Indian state of Gujarat harbours a xenophobic attitude not only towards Muslims but also Christians. Yet, the missionaries have established a throbbing network of schools in that state also. Modi even conducted a secret survey of the Christians, living in districts of Ahmedabad, Sanaskantha, Jabarkantha and Kutch. The survey was completed despite protests inside and outside the state assembly. The purpose of the survey was to `pinpoint Christians and sort them out, if they become a headache like Muslims'. Even today, nameless graves are being discovered in Gujarat and Kashmir. They are believed to be Muslims burnt alive in wake of Sabarmati Express arson hoax in Gujarat, or innocent Kashmiris killed by Indian forces. Who knows that it is now the Christians' turn to face Hindus' wrath in Orissa and other Indian states. The international community should wake up to forestall Christians' carnage in Orissa, and in other Indian states. The economic blockade of 450-mile Pathankote-Jammu-Srinagar lifeline road by Hindus of Jammu brings home the message crystal clear: Hindustan is for Hindus only, no room for any minority'.

http://genocideofchristians.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=9

 

[Spring Onion]

What a joke. You are trying to compare Apples with Oranges... First tell us what is the percentage of minority living in there... You first need to raise living minority percentage to the Indian minority level than only there would be true comparision..

BTW those non-Hindus who were killed enmass recently in India were most converts from hinduism so you can not count them as minorities.

Ok just look at it through another angle.

Lets start after independence how many times minorities attacked in India and Pakistan.


Lets check how many times non-Hindus were killed in India after partition.

And hey also lets just check how many times the activists of Political parties in India and Pakistan took part in these attacks.


Are you willing to check out the history ?

And one more thing today you just tell me one thing why Indian Hindus preffer to kill non-hindus byh burning them alive???


I have read on a website run by Sikhs that there is a firm reason for this craze.

 

[Developereo]

US body places India on Watch List for failure to protect minorities | TwoCircles.net

 

[King Julien]

TOPIC-

The plea of minorities in pakistan​

And you compare this with genocide of Christians and Muslims in India?

60 Christians murdered in India in two months

INDIA: GUJARAT AND ORISSA PREFIGURE INDIAN CRISIS

 

[All-Green]

Right , Isolated incidents????
Religious intolerance in Pakistan widespread: US - NaiTazi.com

read it Jana...
* International Religious Freedom report says discrimination against minorities prevalent
* Says promotions for minorities limited

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: While Pakistan was credited with have taken ‘some steps’ to improve the treatment of religious minorities, the International Religious Freedom Report, released at the weekend, described the general situation on this front in pretty negative terms.

The report, covering 2007, said, “The government took some steps to improve its treatment of religious minorities during the period covered by this report, but serious problems remained. Law enforcement personnel abused religious minorities in custody. Security forces and other government agencies did not adequately prevent or address societal abuse against minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different religious belief fostered religious intolerance, acts of violence, and intimidation against religious minorities.”

It said, “Specific laws that discriminate against religious minorities include anti-Ahmadi and blasphemy laws. The Ahmadiyya community continued to face governmental and societal discrimination and legal bars to the practice of its religious beliefs. Members of other Islamic sects also claimed governmental discrimination.”

The report said relations between religious communities remained tense and social discrimination against minorities was widespread, accompanied by violence. Terrorist and extremist groups and individuals continued to target religious congregations. The report pointed out that freedom of speech in Pakistan was subject to ‘reasonable’ restrictions in the interests of the ‘glory of Islam’. The consequences for contravening the country’s blasphemy laws are death.

There is life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the holy Quran and 10 years in jail for insulting another’s religious feelings. “These laws are often used to settle personal scores as well as to intimidate vulnerable Muslims, sectarian opponents, and religious minorities,” said the annual review of religious freedom around the world.

The report took note of the December 2006 Women’s Protection Bill for which it credited former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, which amended the Hudood Ordinance and moved cases of rape and adultery to secular rather than Shariah courts. Musharraf also ordered the release of all women imprisoned under the Hudood Ordinance, resulting in the release of 2,500 women.

According to the annual review, most senior levels continued to call for interfaith dialogue and sectarian harmony as part of its programme to promote enlightened moderation and during the year held three interfaith conferences, one each in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi.

Promotions: Promotions for all minority groups appear limited within the civil service, particularly acute for Ahmadis, who contend that a ‘glass ceiling’ prevents them from being promoted to senior positions. The report also points out that there have been forced conversions to Islam, especially in Sindh where 15-20 Hindu families were forced to convert.

Sectarian violence is widespread. The report notes that as part of its overall public education reform programme, valued at $100 million, the US government provided substantial financial support to the government’s curriculum reform initiative, which included eliminating the teaching of religious intolerance.

also ,why do hindu and sikh families travel back to India..

At least minorities have a say in india ,The President , senior army officers / IAS , IPS officers , Chief Ministers , but what have your country done for the minority hindus/sikhs besides converting them or chopping their heads off?? I can go on and on for eternity about this...
asd malign Pakistans image?? I justr want to ask U , is there anything left to malign??? Infact the westereners hate U guys so much coz of your ideologies that they call us indians ,Pak**..
But its ok for now... this fact will grow into you.... we all live and learn

Once again you display your ignorance and boast about it...

The Ahmeddiya community has the best jobs, social status etc.
I know many Ahmedis and some were friends as well and there is no discrimination against them, they are colleagues, were classmates in the best university of Pakistan etc. etc.... so you need to get your facts straight.
The only issue they have was about them being called non Muslims; quite frankly from even a very basic position..they cannot be branded Muslims because they do not share the same Kalma which all Muslims are supposed to say and which is the foundation of Islam...

Regarding the police issues and other social problems...there are problems for all people...not just minorities...you think the police are nice to Muslims?
You have no clue.

There are issues in developing countries but to paint it like a deliberate attack on minorities is absolutely inaccurate...
You seem to think Pakistan is in such a bad state but i have not seen these things in Pakistan except maybe on individual level and such people are everywhere

So there is no social injustice in India?
No cases of police highhandedness?
No parties of hindutva morons which propagate hate against other citizens based on their caste or creed?

Remember Gujrat?
Remember Babri Masjid?

It was a classic case of hate brewing by hindutva fanatics and resulting violence and the failure of state to control the situation was there for all of the world to to see...

So come down from your high horse and stop trying to paint Pakistan as an anti minority nation...it is not anywhere close to the reality.

I guess you being called a Pakistani by the westerners is a really bad thing...i am sorry to see it happen too...believe me.

 

[Spring Onion]

TOPIC-

The plea of minorities in pakistan​

Not Off Topic because your poster who has started this thread have compared it with India.

So better lets compare it.

 

[Elmo]

@ saint N sinner: you haven't provided the link of the article you posted here... please do the same.


When you talk about the plea of minorities, there are a couple of issues at hand, most important of which is state-sponsored/backed discrimination. Yes, it is there with especially with article 260 (clause 3) of the Consitution which states: Declare those persons as non-Muslims who do not believe in the absolute and unqualified finality of Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon Him) or claims to be a Prophet in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever, after Muhammad (PBUH) or recognizes such a claimant as a Prophet or a Religious Reformer. The Qadianis of the two groups are interalia covered by this definition and they were thus declared non-Muslims. And then you have article which states that no non-Muslim cannot be the head of state. You also have the blasphemy laws that are used whimsically. The list, however, isn't as extensive as it is made out to be. Plus things are fast changing: they are allowed to take the CSS exams, they are allowed to gain admission in college on open merit rather thna have a quota fixed, they are allowed to enter the armed forces .... so thence you have a Hindu doc in the army, a Hindu diplomat and a Sikh soldier. The government is slowly opening up to the minorities... let's not forget the Zia era which set us back by 20 years.

The major fault is that all the discriminations in the Consitution come when the state considers itself the custodian of a religious identity. Who is the state to judge who is a Muslim and who isn't? whose kalma is right and whose isn't? The state should not meddle in any person's right to believe what they want to believe in. What needs to be done is that the "islamic" needs to be dropped from Pakistan and secularism promoted... but that is not everyone's cup of tea.


Interestingly, you speak to minority members and most of them will say that the real divide is what the Muslim majority feel it is: the rich-poor divide. You have money and are a minority, the world's your oyster. You don't have money and are a majority, you are nowhere. How often have you seen rich members of a minority community trying to better the conditions of their fellow minority members. The instances are few and far in between. Sad but that's how life is in a Third World country.