Author:
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: January 3, 2011
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-why-hindu-families-are-trying-to-flee-pak/20110103.htm
Over 100 Hindu families in Pakistan's Balochistan
province are making efforts to migrate to India after becoming the target
of a campaign of kidnappings and extortion, according to a media report on
Monday.
The Hindus of southwestern Balochistan have
been hit hardest by incidents of abduction for ransom and extortion, with
the records of the province's home department showing that a large number
of the 291 people abducted last year were Hindus, The Express Tribune newspaper
reported.
Five Hindu families have already migrated
from Balochistan's Mastung district to India and six more families are trying
to seek asylum elsewhere or to shift to other parts of Pakistan, the daily
quoted Hindu elders as saying.
Vijay Kumar, a 33-year-old chemist, claimed
that over 100 Hindu families of Balochistan are making efforts to migrate
to India because of the campaign of kidnappings and extortion.
"Our relatives are there in India, thus
we Hindus prefer to settle in India," he told the daily.
Suresh Kumar, 31, who runs a grocery shop
in Mastung district south of Quetta, wants to migrate though his family has
lived in Balochistan for almost a century.
"Most of the people are trying to migrate
to India or other areas of Pakistan because of the deteriorating law and order
situation," Kumar said.
