Report on alleged persecution of Hindus in Pakistan presented in Britain — NDTV
In the United Kingdom, the organization INSIGHT UK presented the report “Religious Persecution of Hindus in Pakistan” to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for British Hindus. The document compiles historical materials and contemporary testimony on discrimination, restrictions on religious freedom and security threats faced by members of Hindu communities in Pakistan, NDTV World reports.
Community size
According to the report, India’s 1941 census recorded that Hindus accounted for 14.6% of the population of the territory that later became part of West Pakistan. Today, their share of Pakistan’s population, according to the document’s authors, is less than 2%.
The report’s authors link this decline to waves of violence following the unrest of 1947, as well as to the loss of land and farms by families that left their homes or were displaced. The document also refers to enemy property laws, which, according to its data, caused thousands of families to lose inherited land.
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The report states that Articles 41 and 91 of Pakistan’s Constitution provide that only Muslims may hold the offices of president and prime minister. The authors also noted that there is no functioning Hindu temple in Islamabad, while construction of the first such temple was halted in 2020 after protests by Islamist groups.
Claims of forced conversions
INSIGHT UK estimates that more than a thousand women and girls from Hindu and Christian communities are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and forcibly married to their abductors in Pakistan every year. The document states that most victims are minors from low-income families who find it difficult to access justice.
The organization called on the UK government to make the protection of religious minorities a mandatory topic in dialogue with Pakistan, link British aid to progress in human rights, and create safe mechanisms for granting asylum to victims of forced conversions and religious persecution. Other proposals include allocating two positions at the British High Commission in Islamabad to minority representatives and publishing reports every six months on the socio-economic situation of Pakistan’s religious minorities.
