On an average around 20 to 25 Hindu girls are being forcibly converted to Islam every month in the southern Sindh province, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said.
Urging the authorities to take note of these forced conversions, HRCP officials told reporters on Saturday that culprits were taking advantage of loopholes in the law.
Amarnath Motumel of the HRCP said that within a month 20 forced conversions had taken place.
“Apart from minor school girls, married women with children are not spared either,” he said.
The issue of Hindu girls being forcibly converted has come to the fore after the case of 18-year-old Rinkle Kumari from Sukkur who has converted and taken the Muslim name of Faryal after marrying a Muslim boy.
The family of the girl claim she was kidnapped and forcibly converted even after she appeared in court in Sukkur and claimed she converted out of her own free will.
But Motumel pointed out that not only were affected families warned of dire consequences but whenever a Hindu girl or her family appeared in court hundreds of religious zealots gather to pressurise them or they take to the streets as pressure tactics and to create an atmosphere of fear.
The families of Rinkle Kumari were also present at the conference in which her brother Inder said that had she been allowed to meet with her family members privately and even once she would never have converted.
“Despite the President’s orders for the girl’s rescue we are still waiting for something to be done.”
HRCP official Professor Badar Soomro said there was a need to enact new laws to restore a sense of security among the Hindu community.
He also said if a girl is kidnapped and her family registers a case she should be kept in a Darul Aman at least for a month before she is produced in court to record her statement.(The Hindu)
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Taliban suicide bomber kills 15 in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber attacked a funeral attended by an anti-Taliban politician in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 15 mourners, officials said.
The politician, Khush Dil Khan, escaped unhurt in the blast on the outskirts of Peshawar, the main city in the northwest.
Islamist militants are fighting a vicious war against Pakistani security forces in and around Peshawar, which lies close to border regions with Afghanistan where extremists hold sway.
Thousands of civilians and security officials have been killed over the last few years in the militants attacks, which appeared to have been decreasing lately due to the Pakistani army's operations in the tribal regions and the elimination of several key Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in U.S. drone strikes.
Police officer Abid Rehman said the attacker managed to get inside the compound where funeral prayers were being held in Badhber village. Peshawar deputy commissioner Siraj Ahmad said the explosion killed 15 people and wounded another 37.
The two officials said several of the wounded people were in critical condition.
"We are devastated," said Zahir Khan, 32, weeping while lying in a hospital bed. His elder brother died in the attack. He said they were chatting when the bomb went off. "I never knew I was going to lose my brother forever."
Khan, the politician, comes from the secular-leaning Awami National Party that holds power in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He expressed his party's resolve to continue the struggle against militancy. "It is a fight for the country's survival," he said.
The Pakistani Taliban have targeted several of its leaders in the past. The party has supported various Pakistani military operations against the militants.
On Saturday, security forces claimed to have killed 39 militants in fighting in Bara district in Khyber tribal region, which is close to Peshawar and is the current focus of anti-Taliban operations. Four security force members were also killed, according to a brief statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
The police said it was not yet clear whether the bombing could be a reaction to the latest fighting.
A Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Afridi downplayed Saturday's operation against the militants saying that such operations "hardly matter" to the militants. He took responsibility for the Sunday suicide bombing and said the politician was targeted because he had set up a militia to battle against the Taliban.
"These militias are the front lines for the Pakistani army," he told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location.
(source)
__
Associated Press Writer Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan contributed to this report.
The politician, Khush Dil Khan, escaped unhurt in the blast on the outskirts of Peshawar, the main city in the northwest.
Islamist militants are fighting a vicious war against Pakistani security forces in and around Peshawar, which lies close to border regions with Afghanistan where extremists hold sway.
Thousands of civilians and security officials have been killed over the last few years in the militants attacks, which appeared to have been decreasing lately due to the Pakistani army's operations in the tribal regions and the elimination of several key Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in U.S. drone strikes.
Police officer Abid Rehman said the attacker managed to get inside the compound where funeral prayers were being held in Badhber village. Peshawar deputy commissioner Siraj Ahmad said the explosion killed 15 people and wounded another 37.
The two officials said several of the wounded people were in critical condition.
"We are devastated," said Zahir Khan, 32, weeping while lying in a hospital bed. His elder brother died in the attack. He said they were chatting when the bomb went off. "I never knew I was going to lose my brother forever."
Khan, the politician, comes from the secular-leaning Awami National Party that holds power in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He expressed his party's resolve to continue the struggle against militancy. "It is a fight for the country's survival," he said.
The Pakistani Taliban have targeted several of its leaders in the past. The party has supported various Pakistani military operations against the militants.
On Saturday, security forces claimed to have killed 39 militants in fighting in Bara district in Khyber tribal region, which is close to Peshawar and is the current focus of anti-Taliban operations. Four security force members were also killed, according to a brief statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
The police said it was not yet clear whether the bombing could be a reaction to the latest fighting.
A Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Afridi downplayed Saturday's operation against the militants saying that such operations "hardly matter" to the militants. He took responsibility for the Sunday suicide bombing and said the politician was targeted because he had set up a militia to battle against the Taliban.
"These militias are the front lines for the Pakistani army," he told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location.
(source)
__
Associated Press Writer Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan contributed to this report.
Who is worse? Americans who dispose Qurans or Taliban Militants
Islamic In-Fighting: Pakistan Suicide Bomber Hits Rival Militant Base, At Least 23 Killed
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber killed 23 people, many of them believed to be militants, in an attack Friday on the headquarters of a rival insurgent group in northwest Pakistan, a government official said.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber killed 23 people, many of them believed to be militants, in an attack Friday on the headquarters of a rival insurgent group in northwest Pakistan, a government official said.The blast took place in the Tirah Valley region close to the border with Afghanistan, where clashes earlier in the day between Pakistani security forces and militants killed seven troops and 20 insurgents from an unknown group, security officials said.
The suicide bomber struck the base of the Lashkar-e-Islam group in the valley, said political administration official Iqbal Khan. He didn't immediately know how many of those killed were militants and how many were civilians.
A commander of the Pakistani Taliban, which is a rival of Lashkar-e-Islam, claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to an Associated Press reporter. The commander gave his name as Mohammed.
Both groups have been fighting for control of the Tirah Valley over the last year.
Factional fighting among the insurgents is quite common in parts of the border region, where tribal loyalties hold sway and the government has little or no control. Smuggling, kidnapping and drug production can earn commanders large sums of money.
Pakistani security forces have launched offensives in many border regions over the last four years, but have had limited success. Extremists based there have carried out scores attacks on government and security targets across the country in a bid to topple the state.
The area is off-limits to reporters, making independently confirming developments there difficult.
(Source)
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