PAKISTANI  HINDUS   

Overview

The status of the 2.8 million people of Hindu faith residing in contemporary Pakistan must be viewed within the context of the massive atrocities committed by rival groups of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims during the Partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947. A history of serious communal conflict, erupting sporadically into episodes of violence, exploded into a wholesale slaughter centered on the divided provinces of Punjab and Bengal. Within the course of a few months, August to November 1947, over 10 million persons were dislocated and as many as one million killed in a massive and hysterical exchange of populations between the newly created states of Pakistan and India.

Almost all of the present number of Hindu-Pakistanis live in the province of Sindh in the southeast and some in the Punjab, NWFP and Baluchistan. Sindh did not experience the degree of violence which engulfed the northern border areas in 1947. Since the Partition, the Hindus of Sindh have maintained a low-profile in Pakistan politics, especially refusing to become involved in the inter-state rivalry between India and Pakistan. The specific circumstances of this small minority have been overshadowed by the larger ethnic and religious conflicts that have plagued Pakistan since independence. These include regional conflicts involving the Baluchis, Pushtuns, and Sindhis and the intra-religious dispute between the majority Sunnis and the minority Ahmadi sect. Hindus share the general political status (and consequent discrimination) of the other "non-Muslims" in the Islamic state of Pakistan.

Although no references to specific victimizations of Hindus in the 1980s have been found, the Hindus of Sindh are still limited to voting for a small number of legislative positions in government (ensuring they remain only a minority in government) and are restricted from higher positions or the presidency. In education and several professions, there are quotas on how many Hindus are admitted, thereby limiting opportunities for members of this non-Muslim minority.

Before the partition of India and Pakistan, Hindus were an advantaged, wealthy minority group in the region of Sindh, and are described as still occupying a relatively advantaged status in the area. The threat to this minority group seems to stem from the long-term potential for losing its advantages as more of its members are denied equal opportunities through educational, professional, and political restrictions.

The Hindus of Sindh have not actively resisted the Pakistani government, but are described as having occasionally supported Sindhi nationalists in their struggles with the government. Whether this support has been strong and sincere, or merely a matter of local pragmatism, is not specified.

Chronology

1990
November: Security forces moved to protect Hindu temples in Pakistan as thousands of Muslims protested against attacks on Muslims in India. The actions in northern India followed attempts by Hindus to raze the centuries-old Babri Masjid (mosque).

Anti-Hindu protests were staged outside temples in cities and towns of southern Pakistan where most of the Pakistani Hindus live. According to the latest reports, one Hindu man was killed and four temples were damaged by Muslim demonstrators.

1992
December: Muslims attacked temples across Pakistan and the government of this overwhelmingly Muslim nation closed offices and schools for one day to protest the destruction of the Babri mosque in India. Marchers shouted slogans such as "Crush India!" and "Death to Hinduism". In Lahore, the capital of Punjab, Muslims used a bulldozer, hammers, and their bare hands to demolish the Jain temple near Punjab University. Police forces did not intervene, nor did they act when a crowd stormed the Air-India office, dragged furniture into the street, and set the office on fire (The New York Times, 12/08/92).

Hundreds of members of India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party marched on the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to protest attacks against Hindus in Pakistan. At least 24 people have been killed in Pakistan and at least 100 temples were attacked by the Muslims (The Dallas Morning News, 12/15/92).

Hindus in Pakistan assert that they are regularly accused of being "Indian agents". The intolerance of Pakistani fundamentalists has reportedly grown so strong that some members of religious minorities have begun to adopt Muslim names (The Toronto Star, 12/04/92).

1993
January: A comparison between the human rights records of India and Pakistan in 1992, which was released by the US State Department, reveals that if human rights were considered to be abused in India, then the situation in Pakistan could only be described as "appalling", with human rights "brutalized" on a systematic basis.

The State Department accused Pakistan of persecuting minority Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis. Hindus asserted that they are subject to kidnappings, the forced conversions of young women, and the desecration of Hindu shrines. They also state that they are not permitted to freely practice their religion (The Ethnic Newswatch, 01/29/93).

September: The cabinet of caretaker Prime Minister M. Qureshi has established a Commission on Minorities to look into the grievances of the country's minority communities and to ensure that their shrines, temples and other places of worship are preserved and well-kept. The Commission will consist of official and non-official members. Offical members include the Minister in-charge of Minority Affairs and the secretaries of the Ministries of Interior, Education, Law and Parliamentary Affairs.

1994
May: The number of religious minorities charged under Pakistan's restrictive blasphemy law continues to mount. Since 1986, when the law was established, 107 Ahmadis have been charged with blasphemy. The blasphemy law allows a person to register a case against anyone for blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad by word or deed. In 1992, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made the death penalty mandatory for blasphemy; in 1993 the law was extended to include the names of the Prophet's family. After months of criticism from local and international human rights groups, Benazir Bhutto has promised to introduce two amendments to the law. The first amendment would ensure that the police register a case only after they are directed to do so by a court of law. The second amendment stipulates a ten year jail term for giving false information. These amendments are supposed to stop the flagrant use of the blasphemy law in order to fulfill personal vendettas. (Far Eastern Economic Review, 05/26/94).

1995
February: Although Benazir Bhutto's government had promised last year to introduce amendments to the country's blasphemy law, these amendments have still not gone into effect.

Risk Assessment
Most Hindus who lived on the Pakistani side of the border migrated to India when British India was partitioned during the independence struggle in 1947. The massive exodus left the remaining Hindus in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a state that was created specifically for Muslims. The result was that the Hindus became and still largely are virtual non-entities, both in the political and economic arenas. Their lives are further complicated as ethno-religious issues are so sensitive that developments in one country have immediate ripple effects on other states of the sub-continent.

Successive Pakistani leaders, in order to maintain power, have become increasingly dependent upon Islamic fundamentalists. Minorities including the Hindus have already been forced out of Pakistan's political mainstream. In 1985, the military government of General Zia instituted a system of separate electorates for religious minorities in which four seats are reserved for Hindus in the National Assembly. Thus, they have lost the right to vote for national candidates. This is viewed by some as "religious apartheid." The exclusion of minorities was expanded in the early 1990s under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif through measures such as the listing of each citizen's religion on his/her identity card.

The Human Rights Watch World Report 1994 also records the undermining of fundamental rights of freedom of religion in Pakistan. Although Ms. Bhutto is more of a secularist at the personal level, her ascension to the Prime Ministership has not led to a repeal of restrictive laws aimed at minorities. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Hindus in Pakistan will soon see an improvement in their living conditions.

References

1. Amin, Tahir, "Pakistan in 1993," Asian Survey, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, February 1994.
2. Europa Publications, Far East and Australasia 1994.
3. Keesings Record of World Events, 1990-94.
4. Far Eastern Economic Review, 1994.
5. Nexis Library Information, 1990-95.
6. Norton, James K., Global Studies: India and South Asia, (Guilford, CT: The Dushkin Publishing Group, 1993.
7. Phase I, Minorities at Risk, overview compiled by Monty G. Marshall, 07/89.