http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/pakhindu.htm
Mizan Khan (103), 07/28/94
Updates
Deepa Khosla (116), 01/24/96
Michelle C. Boomgaard, 3/29/00
Amy Pate, 12/1/01
Hindus in Pakistan
Total Area of Pakistan: 803,943
sq. km
Capital:Islamabad
Country Population: 135.14 million
(U.S. Census Bureau estimate for 1998)
Group Population: 2.703 million
(2.0%)
Analytic Summary
Hindus are most concentrated in
the Sindh province of southeast Pakistan (GROUPCON = 3). Before partition,
most Hindus in present-day Pakistan were urban, highly educated and economically
advantaged. However, most middle- and upper-class Pakistani Hindus immigrated
to India after the 1947 partition of the sub-continent. Those that remained
tended to be poorer and rural. Lacking the resources to organize politically
(large numbers are bonded labor), Hindus have remained politically and
economically marginalized in Pakistan.
Hindus are a religious minority
in a Muslim country. They and their temples have periodically been subject
to violence at the hands of the country's religious majorities (COMCO98X
= 5). Their status within the country varies, in part, according to relations
between Muslims and Hindus in India. When their kindred across the border
destroyed the Babri mosque in 1992, for example, Hindus in Pakistan suffered
as Pakistani Muslims stormed temples and attacked Hindus. Hindus are also
suspected of being agents of the Indian government.
Hindus have been poorly organized
politically, with no national political party (ORGCOH = 0). Furthermore,
their identity is defined more by the dominant Muslim culture than by their
own self-assertion (COHESX9 = 1). Despite this lack of political history
and organization, Hindus have become increasingly vocal in the late 1990s
(PROT98 = 3), and have forged alliances with other religious minorities
(especially Christians) to agitate for increased rights. An organization
called the Pakistan Hindu Welfare Association and coalitions of Hindu panchayats
(local councils of elders) have led in political organizing. Hindus have
mainly organized around the issue of separate electorates, with the Pakistan
Hindu Welfare Association convening a national conference on the issue
in December 2000. (In the system of separate electorates, members of religious
minorities may vote only for members of their group which results in their
marginalization in the National Assembly.) Protection from communal violence
and economic opportunity (and the status of Hindu bonded labor) also are
important issues for the Hindu community in Pakistan. Hindus, like Christians
and Ahmadis, have also been disproportionately affected by Pakistan's anti-blasphemy
laws.
Hindus in India, and the Indian
government, frequently lambast discrimination against Hindus in Pakistan.
However, they have extended little more than rhetorical support, perhaps
sensing that more than that would endanger rather than aid Pakistani Hindus.
Additionally, international anti-slavery organizations have lobbied for
the end of bonded labor in Pakistan, but have not undertaken "redemption"
efforts for Hindu bonded labor as they have for some other groups (most
notably, black Africans in Sudan).
Risk Assessment
Given the weakness of Hindu political
organization, it is unlikely that Hindus will opt for open rebellion in
the near future. (However, reportedly, a Hindu organization did take responsibility
for at least one bombing in Islamabad in 2000.) But, they are likely to
continue the nonviolent political action begun in 1998. As the Hindu population
gains confidence in their political organizations and, if they continue
to build alliances with other minorities, their condition may improve.
Some mainstream Pakistani parties, including the Sindh Democratic Party,
and individual Muslim intellectuals have expressed support for Hindu aspirations.
Hindus still remain at risk for
intercommunal violence. The rise - and increasing militancy - of fundamentalist
Islamic parties add to this risk considerably. However, political alliances
with other communities and secularly oriented parties may alleviate this
danger. The stability of Sindh could depend on such alliances, as they
may be necessary to meet the sometimes desperate resource needs of both
the indigenous and immigrant populations.
Chronology
1990
November: Security forces moved
to protect Hindu temples in Pakistan as thousands of Muslims protested
against attacks on Muslims in India. The actions in northern India followed
attempts by Hindus to raze the centuries-old Babri Masjid (mosque).
Anti-Hindu protests were staged
outside temples in cities and towns of southern Pakistan where most of
the Pakistani Hindus live. According to the latest reports, one Hindu man
was killed and four temples were damaged by Muslim demonstrators.
1992
December: Muslims attacked temples
across Pakistan and the government of this overwhelmingly Muslim nation
closed offices and schools for one day to protest the destruction of the
Babri mosque in India. Marchers shouted slogans such as "Crush India!"
and "Death to Hinduism". In Lahore, the capital of Punjab, Muslims used
a bulldozer, hammers, and their bare hands to demolish the Jain temple
near Punjab University. Police forces did not intervene, nor did they act
when a crowd stormed the Air-India office, dragged furniture into the street,
and set the office on fire (The New York Times, 12/08/92).
Hundreds of members of India's Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party marched on the Pakistan High Commission
in New Delhi to protest attacks against Hindus in Pakistan. At least 24
people have been killed in Pakistan and at least 100 temples were attacked
by the Muslims (The Dallas Morning News, 12/15/92).
Hindus in Pakistan assert that they
are regularly accused of being "Indian agents". The intolerance of Pakistani
fundamentalists has reportedly grown so strong that some members of religious
minorities have begun to adopt Muslim names (The Toronto Star, 12/04/92).
1993
January: A comparison between the
human rights records of India and Pakistan in 1992, which was released
by the US State Department, reveals that if human rights were considered
to be abused in India, then the situation in Pakistan could only be described
as "appalling", with human rights "brutalized" on a systematic basis.
The State Department accused Pakistan
of persecuting minority Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis. Hindus asserted
that they are subject to kidnappings, the forced conversions of young women,
and the desecration of Hindu shrines. They also state that they are not
permitted to freely practice their religion (The Ethnic Newswatch, 01/29/93).
September: The cabinet of caretaker
Prime Minister M. Qureshi has established a Commission on Minorities to
look into the grievances of the country's minority communities and to ensure
that their shrines, temples and other places of worship are preserved and
well-kept. The Commission will consist of official and non-official members.
Offical members include the Minister in-charge of Minority Affairs and
the secretaries of the Ministries of Interior, Education, Law and Parliamentary
Affairs.
Update 01/24/96
1994
May: The number of religious minorities
charged under Pakistan's restrictive blasphemy law continues to mount.
Since 1986, when the law was established, 107 Ahmadis have been charged
with blasphemy. The blasphemy law allows a person to register a case against
anyone for blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad by word or deed. In 1992, the
government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made the death penalty mandatory
for blasphemy; in 1993 the law was extended to include the names of the
Prophet's family. After months of criticism from local and international
human rights groups, Benazir Bhutto has promised to introduce two amendments
to the law. The first amendment would ensure that the police register a
case only after they are directed to do so by a court of law. The second
amendment stipulates a ten year jail term for giving false information.
These amendments are supposed to stop the flagrant use of the blasphemy
law in order to fulfill personal vendettas. (Far Eastern Economic Review,
05/26/94).
1995
February: Although Benazir Bhutto's
government had promised last year to introduce amendments to the country's
blasphemy law, these amendments have still not gone into effect.
In a wave of persecution of non-Muslims,
all cremation grounds outside of Sind were closed, preventing Hindus from
making funerary arrangements. (London Independent 2/19/95)
Update: 3/27/00
March 1995: Alleged Hindu infiltrators
shot and killed two American diplomats in Karachi. (Japan Economic Newswire
3/8/ 95)
February 1996: Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto approved a parliamentary motion which would allow minorities to
have Atwo votes@ - one for the reserved minority seat which they have always
had and one for the general parliamentary seat. (Agence France Presse 2/27/96)
September 1997: Hundreds of mostly
Hindu peasants, waving placards and banners and calling for the release
of jailed friends and relatives, protested in Karachi against forced labor
in southern Pakistan's Sindh province. Human rights activist Shakeel Pathan
said about 4,300 poverty-stricken peasants were languishing in the jails
run by influential Sindhi landlords. (Agence France Presse 9/8/97)
March 1998: One person was killed
and another injured when a paramilitary soldier opened fire on a group
of Hindus protesting the national census, in the locality of Jumma Goth
in Karachi=s eastern Landi district. Trouble erupted when enumerators carrying
out a national census demanded money from the mostly illiterate community
for filling in census forms. The officials had earlier rejected forms completed
with the help of others. (Agence France Presse 3/7/98)
August 1998: Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif proposed a constitutional amendment to make the Koran the supreme
law of Pakistan. Deputies from minority communities including Hindus declined
to support the measure. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 9/ 4/98)
June 1999: Pakistan's Minister of
Islamic Affairs, Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, announced plans to bring websites
that are insulting to Islam to the attention of the United Nations and
the Organization of Islamic Conference. He noted the existence of at least
125 such websites and mentioned that Hindu parties were connected with
them. (Malaysian National News Agency 6/ 22/99)
August 1999: Hundreds of Pakistani
Christians as well as Hindus, Parsis and Sikhs staged a rally in Lahore
to demand the repeal of laws they said discriminate against non-Moslem
minorities in the country. (Agence France Presse 8/11/99)
October 1999: The Pakistani Army
staged a bloodless coup, removing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and placing
Gen. Pervez Musharraf in charge of the country.
References
1. Amin, Tahir, "Pakistan in 1993,"
Asian Survey, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, February 1994.
2. Europa Publications, Far East
and Australasia 1994.
3. Keesings Record of World Events,
1990-94.
4. Far Eastern Economic Review,
1994.
5. Nexis Library Information, 1990-2000.
6. Norton, James K., Global Studies:
India and South Asia, (Guilford, CT: The Dushkin Publishing Group, 1993.
7. Phase I, Minorities at Risk,
overview compiled by Monty G. Marshall, 07/89.
