|
|
Forced
Conversions
and
Foul Marriages
In the past, Hindu minorities
in Pakistan have been subject to kidnapping, killing, extortion and their
shrines have often been desecrated. But the forced conversions of their
daughters in recent years have badly shaken the community. Some fear that
this is a conspiracy to drive the small Hindu community, numbering 2.7
million, out of a country with a population of 140 million.
Already, Hindus in Pakistan have started sending their young children
either to India or to other countries to settle down. And many parents
themselves hope to be able to migrate in future.
Members of the Hindu community in Larkana (Sindh province) cannot forget
the tragic tale of Sundri. One day, college-going Sundri did not return
home after classes. After a long search, her family went to the police.
Two weeks later, the police informed the family that Sundri had eloped
with Kamal Khan, an employee of a local transport company, and converted
to Islam.
Sundri's parents were also informed that their daughter would soon appear
in court to declare her new faith. Escorted by the police and other
`bearded' men, Sundri appeared in court but ignored her parents. She
stated: "I, Sundri, was of Hindu parents. Now as an adult, I have
realized
that the religion I was born into is not the right one. Therefore,
completely on my own accord, and without being coerced by anyone, I have
decided to break away from both my parents and the religion, and have
converted to Islam."
The judge accepted her conversion and Sundri was whisked away to an
unknown destination. She is learnt to have later married Khan but was
divorced very soon. Subsequently, she was married off to another Muslim
from the neighborhood. This marriage too ended in a divorce and Sundri
was married for the third time. Shortly after her third marriage, Sundri
died under mysterious circumstances. Her parents believe she was murdered,
while her third husband claimed to the police that she had committed
suicide.
Sundri's is not an isolated case. In recent years, at least 30 Hindu girls
have married Muslim men after forceful or voluntary conversion to Islam.
Says a local Hindu, "If a girl from our community elopes with her Muslim
lover, we would be able to accept it. But the horrific treatment the girls
get afterwards is truly lamentable."
In another incident, Pahalaj Rai, father of Sunita Kumari, filed a police
report in Shikarpur, that Sajid Brohi had kidnapped his daughter. He too
was informed later that his daughter had voluntarily converted to Islam
and married a Muslim boy. Similarly, Gurumukhdas, a professor in a local
college in Larkana, recently reported to the police that his daughter
Baghwanti was missing. Bhaghwanti was produced in court three weeks later,
where she declared she had embraced Islam and had married her childhood
sweetheart Riaz.
In several cases, where girls were said to have eloped with their Muslim
lovers, subsequent investigations revealed that most were abducted,
forcibly married to Muslim men or sold to them. Some were even murdered.
There have been cases of Hindu girls (usually from well-off families)
falling in love with their Muslim college boyfriends. Opposition from the
family forces the girls to run away with the lover to marry him. But the
marriage generally does not last for long.
There have been instances where girls have run away with men to escape
their poverty or difficult home conditions. Shakuntala, a laborer's
daughter in Shikarpur, fled her house with her lover Imdad Kalhoro to
marry him. But after conversion, she was forced to marry someone else.
Having burnt their boats as far as the natal families are concerned, the
girls have no one and nowhere to turn to and many become victims of
marriage rackets.
Says a Hindu businessman, "In Pakistan, under the Shariat law (Muslim
law), it is illegal for a Muslim to change one's religion, but there is no
such restriction on non-Muslims, which makes conversion - even when forced
- easy."
According to Islamic law, a Muslim woman cannot remarry unless she has
obtained a proper 'khula' (divorce) from her first spouse and she has no
right to convert to any other religion. If she wishes to marry a
non-Muslim, the man has to convert to Islam.
Hindus in Pakistan contend that their insecurity is compounded manifold
because of the attitude of the administration and the judiciary towards
such cases.
Though most Hindu families are concerned about the incidents, many prefer
to remain silent. None of them were willing to be named during the
interviews conducted for this article. Says a Hindu businessman in
Kandhkot, "For more than 50 years (since the bitter Partition of India and
Pakistan in 1947), we have been addressed as 'Vaaniyo' or 'Baniya', which
in local terms means Hindu but is also pejorative and means someone who is
mean-minded. We don't want any trouble."
– Massoud Ansari
April 26, 2003
By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
Top
|
|
