Royal Raghuvanshi blood in troubled waters amidst green flags.
We may not have all the choices in our lives. We have a choice in death, at least in the way our last rites are performed. The way we want them to, the way it has been going on for centuries in our cultures. Gravely, this isn’t the reality for our Hindu counterparts and other minorities in the land birthing terrorism, Pakistan.
Even if you manage to live long as a Hindu or a minority in Osama’s five-star hideout, you won’t have a choice in your death. I will get to the death part later in the article. Let’s have a glimpse of the horrors; one faces for being a minority in a country with the world’s third-largest donkey population.
Only 5% of the population in Pakistan does not follow Islam. These 5% people are termed as minorities here. They include Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Ahmadis and pigs. Earlier these people were known as Dhimmis, and they had to pay extra taxes to be a Dhimmi. Today, the oppressive country doesn’t tax the non-believers of Islam; now the kaafirs pay with their lives.
This China-owned pig of a country is making the minorities pay a considerable amount for their non-belief in their religion of pieces…argh, ‘peace’. Extremists are using all the tricks from the book of bigotry to force their religion across their borders.
Enough of metaphors and quirky lines let’s get to the facts.
In 1992, Babri Masjid was demolished in India, Hindus in Pakistan paid the price for it. Riots were tearing up the country. Oh, wait! Hindus were cut in pieces to protect Islam and dictate power. Geeta was burnt to keep the Quran warm. It didn’t stop there. Hindus were forced to look the other way when Islami extremists were demolishing temples, as they had to save themselves.
Minorities face discrimination on a regular basis. The Dhimmis are at times refused jobs, loans, housing and other necessities simply because of their choice of religious faith. Minorities voluntarily converted to Islam as it allowed them to get Watan Cards and National Identification Cards easily.
The Madrassa Baitul Islam, a Deobandi seminary in Matli, showered these converts with land and money. For example, 428 poor Hindus in Matli were converted between 2009 and 2011 as all their debts were paid off solely on the condition that they converted to Islam.
That was the story of voluntary conversions. Those who still are brave enough not to leave their roots and culture are converted by force. Forced conversions, discrimination, death threats are just the beginning of what the minorities face. Women of Hindu families are kidnapped, forcefully converted and married to Muslims.
According to the National Commission of Justice and Peace and the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC), around 1000 Christian and Hindu minority women are converted to Islam and then forcibly married off to their abductors or rapists annually. These are the official records, the real numbers, of course, are much bigger than these.
This very fact sends tremors in my hands and shakes me up in entirety. The preachers of this religion of peace don’t stop here. The extremists have been known to demolish temples across the country. According to the website of Pakistan Defence, out of 428 minorities’ places of worship in Pakistan, 408 have been converted into toy stores, restaurants, government offices and schools after 1990. That is 95% of oppression against free will and the choice to practise one’s religion.
One of the primary reason why the minorities are fleeing from Pakistan is to save themselves and their culture. The people of Porkistan are aggressive with such high volatility in the preaching of Islam. That they don’t even let the minorities perform the last rites of their dead.
According to Hindu mythology, one’s mortal soul is supposed to be burnt after death. So the soul is free to take another birth. Well, if you are in Pakistan good luck doing that.
There are very few crematoriums in the country which allow the burning of the dead. Hindus have to travel all the way down to Sindh to perform the last rites.
Those who can’t afford to do so, have to bury their loved ones. With heavy hearts they burn a coin and place it in the palm of their loved human, hoping that their soul gets redemption. You might think why not just make more crematoriums which allow Hindus to complete the last rites rightfully? Well, the bad news is you can’t. The government of Pakistan doesn’t give permissions to make such crematoriums.
The plight of the minorities in Pakistan is sad, and there is little awareness about it. There is a possibility that the religion of peace will issue a Fatwa for this atheist Indian. As in August 2012, Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl, an illiterate child with mental disabilities was accused of blasphemy for burning pages from a book containing Quranic verses. If they can indict a little kid with mental disabilities for blasphemy, I should probably watch out for myself.
I firmly believe that if one wants to flourish in life, one must be in touch with his roots and culture. The irony is Pakistani Muslims are called Kafaar/Kafir (one who doesn’t believe in Allah) if they go outside their country. The Arabs who are the real Muslims believe that all the ‘Muslims’ from Indian subcontinent only became Muslim due to rigorous conversions by invaders like Babur.
So why impose so many restrictions and inflict so much of pain on a small yet significant 5% of the population? Why not just work to improve and revive the economy?
If an atheist can stand up for the rights of the royal Raghuvanshi blood in the ‘land of peace’, you too can do your bit by being aware of what is happening in the world and maybe try to save your own culture.
