What has been happening to Sindh's large Hindu community in the fair name of Islam should make all Pakistanis hang their heads in shame. A press report highlights how girls belonging to the lower caste Hindus in Tharparkar and Umerkot districts are being subjected to enforced conversions by custodians of shrines, 'pirs' and madressah clerics. One of them in Umerkot is quoted as boasting to have converted thousands of Hindu girls and women to Islam. It is worth noting that the claim is about conversions of females only. That shows these are perhaps coercive conversions. The practice clearly has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with the worldly interests of colluding religious leaders and members of dominant classes.

Invariably, in all such cases, a Muslim man from an influential family is involved in abducting a Hindu woman, more often than not an underage girl, to marry by converting her to Islam. When the families approach the courts for justice the girls/women are too afraid to tell the truth either because of pressure from their 'husbands' or out of fear of non-acceptance upon return by their own community. Hence when summoned by courts, the abductees maintain that they had converted of their own volition and wanted to stay with their Muslim 'husbands.' An inevitable result is that the community does not feel safe in its own country. Many Hindu families have migrated to India. It is a deeply perturbing situation. Last November, the Sindh Assembly offered a ray of hope by adopting a bill against forced conversions. It recommended five-year imprisonment for perpetrators and three years for facilitators. Proposed by a Hindu member of the PML-F, the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015, also made conversion of a minor a punishable offence, and gave a 21-day period to adults to think over their decision to covert. The legislation was in perfect harmony with the teachings of Islam that "there is no compulsion in religion" and further that "your faith is for you, and my faith for me". Unfortunately, however, the provincial government soon got cold feet in the face of opposition from religious parties and others, including Jamaat-e-Islami, holding the legislation in abeyance.

The government has now announced its intention to review the bill. It needs to take courage in both hands and implement the legislation in its original form. All the other mainstream parties, including the PML-N, PTI, MQM, and PML-F, must lend their support to it to ensure the rights of minority communities are fully protected. Any attempt at watering down that legislation to appease the religious lobby would be self-defeating. Religious minorities must be enabled to lead honourable lives free from fear of coercion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017