Growing sense of insecurity: President sending team to reassure Hindus in Sindh

President Asif Ali Zardari has constituted a three-member committee of parliamentarians, tasking them to visit various parts of Sindh to express solidarity with members of the Hindu community, reassuring them for providing adequate security. Senator Hari Ram, MNA Lal Chand and federal Minister Maula Bakhsh Chandio are members of the committee.
President Asif Zardari has taken serious notice of media reports which talk about the prevailing sense of insecurity among Hindu families in Sindh. He directed authorities concerned to remove Hindus' grievances, besides asking them to submit a report in this regard.
Spokesperson for the President Senator Farhatullah Babar confirmed the formation of the committee and said that it had been constituted to reassure the Hindu community about their security and well-being. Earlier, incidents of murder and kidnappings for ransom of Hindus had been reported from various parts of Sindh. Incidents of kidnappings of Hindu girls and marrying them after alleged forcible conversions were also reported.
Most incidents were reported from Jacobabad, Umar Kot, Thal, Garhi, Kandhkot, Bukhshapur and others areas. Some media reports suggested that Hindu families, fearing poor law and order situation and non-protection of their rights, had started migrating from Jacobabad and Ghotki areas about six to eight months ago. They suggested that the Hindus also feared forced conversions.
On Wednesday, it was reported that as many as 60 Hindu families had migrated to India because of growing sense of insecurity. MNA Kishan Chand Parwani of PML-Like-minded said that given adequate protection, no one would want to leave the country. Highlighting difficulties faced by the Hindu community, he said that kidnappings of young girls and their forced marriages after converting their religion was creating harassment among members of his community, forcing them to leave the country.
He said that if the government protected the Hindu community's rights, they would not migrate from the country in which they had been living for so many years. On Thursday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik termed the migration of Hindu families "a conspiracy against Pakistan". The minister had told a questioner that the government was "determined to provide complete security to the minorities". Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah also took notice of the purported migration of Hindu families from Jacobabad on account of their perception of the local law and order situation.