Hindu's Suffer Blow-After-Blow from Radical Pakistan

Six Year Old Hindu Girl Raped

A six year old girl from the Dalit (the untouchable caste) and a grade one student --named Wijenti Meghwar was raped in the Umerkot district of Sindh province. Umerkot is a city near the Indian border where a sizable Hindu population reside. 

The rapist belongs to a political party which has close connection with the military. She was found close to the house of former town council chairman of Pithoro. Her father, Manohar Meghwar says that his daughter was playing outside the house when she was abducted. 

When she was found, she lay helpless and unable to move in a pool of blood. She was brought to the district hospital, where there was no doctor to attend to her. 

She was then taken to the civil hospital Mirpurkhas district, 60 kilometers away from her home where she remains in critical condition. Despite the fact that the police know the identity of the rapist they have failed to arrest him.

The police are not taking any action out of fear of retaliation from Muslim fundamentalist groups; who have been known to cause chaos on the streets when angered, and who will know doubt come forward in support of the perpetrator. These groups openly operate within Hindu communities --forcible converting locals to Islam, and authorities have repeatedly refused to take control of the situation; instead appeasing the criminals due to their government ties.

The military demolishes the Hindu temple:

The Military Estate Office has recently assisted a private builder in the demolition of a Hindu temple and houses in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar. The incidents occurred on December 2nd. They insist that the Hindu community has encroached on the 'precious' land which should be used for commercial buildings. Despite debris lying over the compound, a cease notice from the President and angry protests by the Hindu community the Director of Military Lands and Cantonment Zeenat Ahmed was adamant to acknowledge that the Shri Rama Pir Mandir had not been damaged. She says that her people have told her that the deities were all in sound condition. In her attempt to humiliate the Hindu community she has arrogantly stated that "The people who had deities in their homes deliberately placed them in front of the debris of the damaged houses. This was done to wrongfully present that the temple had been destroyed." This statement was released in reference to photographs and television reports that had shown the clear destruction of the temple. She did however, confess that the military acted out this operation at the request of the builder --and that at this time the temple was already in 'bad condition'. 

The insulting statement from the director has infuriated the Hindu community and they rejected the idea that the army had the right to demolish their homes and place of worship. The land in question had actually belonged to the Evacuee Property Trust Board --a completely seperate entity from the Cantonment Board of the Military. 

The temple was constructed approximately seven years before the creation of Pakistan and at the time the property belonged to India. Along with the President's notice, the provincial High Court of Sindh had also given a Stay Order against the demolition of the temple.

The Pakistani Military's actions against the already severely marginalized Hindu community is a gross violation of UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which Pakistan  has ratified and pledged before the UN Human Rights Council. It seems as usual the Military has once again acted as though above the law.