Human rights of religious minorities, mainly Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, are being grossly violated in Pakistan. Forced conversions, abductions and picking up minor Hindu girls and marrying them to their abductors are getting reported with a regular monotony. Thousands of minor Hindu girls have been abducted in the countryside of Sindh during the past many years.
Over the past few years, however, an extraordinary tale of trampling upon the human rights of minorities has come to light.
It is systematic abduction and then export of Hindu and Christian women as concubines and forced brides to China. This trafficking of Hindu and Christian girls to China was mentioned a couple of days ago by US Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Samuel Brownwick. He made this disclosure after a webinar in which the phenomenon of “forced brides into China” was discussed. One of the largest source of this organised trafficking is “Pakistan religious minorities”, he said.
“There is discrimination against the religious minorities that makes them more vulnerable,” Brownwick said, adding there’s “no effective support” from any quarters. He mentioned this as one of the main reasons why Pakistan has been designated as a country of particular concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had designated Pakistan and China, along with eight other nations, as countries that are of particular concern for engaging in “systematic, ongoing violations of religious freedom”. Brownwick said the extent of persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan can perhaps be gauged from the fact that half the people locked up for apostasy or blasphemy are in Pakistani jails.
