Tag: minority rights

  • Nine people arrested after mob sets ablaze Hindu temple in Karak

    Nine people arrested after mob sets ablaze Hindu temple in Karak

    After a mob provoked by local clerics destroyed a Hindu temple in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Wednesday, police have detained nine suspects in the case.

    Videos making rounds on social media showed thick smoke billowing from the site as men used hammers to damage the walls of the building. They also set it on fire.

    Local clerics had told authorities that they would be organising a peaceful protest against the alleged expansion of the 100-year-old temple, Rahmatullah Wazir, a police officer told news agency, Reuters. But the clerics started giving “provocative speeches,” prompting the mob to set the temple ablaze.

    Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari condemned the attack and urged the provincial government to “ensure culprits [are] brought to justice.”

    District police chief Irfanullah Khan told Reuters nine suspects had been arrested following the attack.

    The temple, first built in the early 1900s as a shrine, was vandalised in 1997. In 2015, the Supreme Court ordered it be reconstructed. 

    “We will stage a protest in front of the Supreme Court against the attack on our temple which is one of the four largest holy sites of the Hindu community in Pakistan,” Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, head of the Pakistan Hindu Council and a ruling party lawmaker, told Germany’s dpa news agency.

    “This is not the first incident of its kind, unfortunately intolerance towards religious minorities has been growing in Pakistan for the last five years, with more frequent attacks on places of worship,” said Hindu rights activist Kapil Dev.

    In July, a mob attacked the construction site of the first Hindu temple in the capital, Islamabad.

  • We are celebrating Christmas

    We are celebrating Christmas

    In his first presidential address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said, “Now if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor […] if you change your past and work together in a spirit that every one of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.”

    The Quaid made a case for equality of all citizens of Pakistan regardless of their colour, caste, or creed.

    In the same speech, he said, “I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”

    Christmas is just around the corner. We must remember Jinnah’s words. We must keep this in mind if we want Pakistan to progress. Recently we saw the case of a minor Christian girl Arzoo Raja’s forced conversion and underage marriage. Both the Sindh government and the federal government played their part in ensuring that justice was served. Every year, we see hundreds of cases of forced conversions in the country, most of them young Hindu and Christian girls. This is a worrying trend.

    Christians, Hindus and people belonging to other minority faiths have equal rights as citizens of Pakistan according to our Constitution. Unfortunately, we see discrimination against minorities around us all the time. From giving separate utensils to minority workers at our homes, workplaces to using derogatory terms for them, we show our bigotry and racism without even acknowledging it. We casually remark on people’s colour or caste or religion without realising how wrong it is.

    On this Christmas Day, and every other religious celebration of minorities, we should ensure that we don’t discriminate. Due to COVID-19, this year’s celebrations may not be as festive as in the past but through kindness and interfaith harmony, we can spread a message of love and cheer.

  • Child marriage: Rape charges added in Arzoo Raja case

    Child marriage: Rape charges added in Arzoo Raja case

    Sindh police have added rape charges in the FIR [first information report] against the purported husband of teenage Christian girl Arzoo Raja who married the minor after forced proselytisation.

    Along with Syed Ali Azhar, six other people, including two lawyers and justice of peace, were also booked in the case. They have been charged under Section 3 (punishment for male contracting party), Section 4 (punishment for solemnising a child marriage) and Section 5 (punishment for parent or guardian concerned in a child marriage) of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act.

    Azhar has also been charged with Section 375 (v) (sexual intercourse with a minor) of the Pakistan Penal Code. 

    The brothers and a friend of the prime suspect were absolved of all charges for lack of evidence, whereas the kidnapping charge was also struck down following Arzoo’s denial, who has been sent to a shelter home by the court.

    Meanwhile, a report in Geo News claimed that Arzoo Raja has tested positive for coronavirus and is in isolation at Panah Shelter Home.

    CASE:

    Prime suspect Ali Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo from Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day. On Oct 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam to marry Azhar.

    Subsequently, a plea was filed in the Sindh High Court and the court allowed Arzoo Raja to stay with her alleged husband. However, following an uproar, a review plea was filed and the court ordered the formation of a medical board to determine the age of the girl.

    The medical board report found out that the girl was a teenager, strengthening the family’s claims that their girl was abducted was forced to convert for marriage.

  • Medical board to ascertain age of teenage Christian bride

    Medical board to ascertain age of teenage Christian bride

    The Sindh High Court has ordered the formation of a medical board to determine the age of Arzoo Raja — a teenage Christian girl who was kidnapped, forced to marry a 44-year-old man in Karachi after conversion to Islam.

    The matter was brought to the court attention after her parents approached the high court, seeking custody of their daughter. They had said that the girl was underage and didn’t convert out of her own free will.

    The high court, however, had rejected the plea, allowing the girl to stay with her alleged husband, Ali Azhar. This prompted a strong response from the civil society and the government that filed another plea in the case.

    Subsequently, the court ordered police to recover the girl and sent her to a shelter home. The purported husband was also detained and sent on judicial remand.

    As a two-member bench comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito took up the case today (Thursday), the counsel representing Azhar and Arzoo urged the court to quash the forced marriage case against him.

    The court, however, observed that the matter now was about the girl’s age. To this, the counsel said a separate law would be applied in that case. Arzoo also told the bench that she wanted to stay with her alleged husband, whom she married out of her own choice.

    When Arzoo informed the court that she was 18 years of age, the bench pointed out that the NADRA documents showed her a teenager.

    The counsel representing the state in the case asked the bench not to record the statement of Arzoo at this point.

    Observing that the case can only proceed once the girl’s age is determined, the bench directed authorities to submit a final report on her age in the next hearing on November 9.

    The CASE:

    On Oct 27, a two-member bench of SHC had admitted a petition that claimed that she was 18 years old and had married Ali Azhar and converted to Islam with her free will. The petition also sought protection against alleged harassment of the girl’s family.

    Underage girls in such cases in Pakistan come under intense pressure, including threats to them and their families, to give false statements in court.

    Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo in Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct. 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day.

    On Oct. 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam after marrying Azhar.

  • Teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja recovered, alleged husband detained

    Teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja recovered, alleged husband detained

    The Karachi police have recovered 13-year-old Christian girl Arzoo Raja and arrested the main accused Ali Azhar, who had allegedly abducted and married her after converting her to Islam.

    Newsday Pakistan reported that the teenager will be sent to a Darul Aman (women’s shelter) as per the order of the Sindh High Court, which had directed police to recover Arzoo and present her in court on Nov 5.

    On Monday, the Sindh High Court had asked the police to recover and produce Arzoo Raja in the court on Nov 5.

    The CASE:

    On Oct 27, a two-member bench of SHC had admitted a petition filed on behalf of Arzoo Raja that claimed that she was 18 years old and had married Ali Azhar and converted to Islam with her free will.

    The petition also sought protection against alleged harassment of the girl’s family. Underage girls in such cases in Pakistan come under intense pressure, including threats to them and their families, to give false statements in court.

    Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo in Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct. 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day. On Oct. 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam after marrying Azhar.

  • PTI leader seeks blasphemy case against Khawaja Asif for stressing equal rights for minorities

    PTI leader seeks blasphemy case against Khawaja Asif for stressing equal rights for minorities

    A local leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Narowal has filed a complaint seeking registration of a blasphemy case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Khawaja Asif, who has been accused of “speaking against Islam” on the floor of the National Assembly (NA).

    Asif, while speaking on a point of order last week, had said that a “planned campaign against minorities” was being run on social media in retaliation to the Indian atrocities against Muslims in occupied Kashmir. “If minorities don’t feel safe in Pakistan then it is a matter of shame for us. It is our responsibility to protect their places of worship,” he had said while claiming that some objectionable caricatures had been made on social media targeting the minorities.

    He had also discussed the construction of Islamabad’s first Hindu temple, which has for now been halted, leading to a debate in the Lower House.

    “His words are against the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, and are tantamount to blasphemy against Islam,” Advocate Qamar Riaz stated in his complaint to Zafarwal police against Asif, whom the complainant claims said that no religion was superior to the other.

    “This is a grave crime according to the Shariah, in which he [Asif] has declared Muslims and infidels equal,” Riaz stated.

    The PTI leader quoted a few verses from the Holy Quran in his application too. “Asif committed blasphemy in the light of those verses and hurt the sentiments of all Muslims,” he said, requesting the police to register a case against the PML-N lawmaker.

    According to reports, the police have not yet registered a case and orders from Narowal DPO Zulfiqar Ahmed are awaited.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry has supported the stance of Khawaja Asif regarding construction of temple in Islamabad, saying that Pakistan’s constitution guarantees equal freedom to all religions.

    “Those who are issuing Fatwas on Khawaja Asif’s statement are projecting the thinking of Indian extremists and [Indian Prime Minister] Modi, which needs to be rejected outright,” he said.