Islamabad: Forced marriages of their women and security issues have emerged as major concerns for Pakistani Hindus, according to a body formed by Asif Ali Zardari. Its head Maula Bux Chandio, however, said the issue was not as serious as was being portrayed in the media. But he acknowledged that Hindus suffered from a sense of deprivation, Geo News reported. In 2011, a total of 7,000 Pakistanis visited India. Between...
10:40 PM, Aug 13, 2012
Islamabad: With no let up in crimes against Hindus in Mirpurkhas area of Pakistan's Sindh province from where nearly 20 families have left the country, the minority community leaders from the region have approached the Indian and US missions for help. The Hindu community in Mirpurkhas and its surrounding areas is being targeted by criminals day in and day out and police were paying no heed to their plight, Hindu...
03:20 PM, Aug 12, 2012
Islamabad: A 14-year-old Pakistani Hindu girl, whose abduction triggered reports of a planned exodus is now said to have been converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man. Her family, however, says she has been forced to do so. "Abductors have forced her to convert and marry. She can't give up on her religion and is coerced into doing it. If we don't get her back, we will leave...
10:50 PM, Aug 11, 2012
Islamabad: Taking serious note of reports of a "sense of insecurity" among Hindus in Sindh, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has set up a three-member committee of parliamentarians to visit different parts of the province to reassure the minority community about their security. The president constituted a three-member committee of parliamentarians to visit different parts of Sindh to express solidarity with Hindus on behalf of himself and the government and...
07:14 PM, Aug 11, 2012
Islamabad: A 14-year-old Hindu girl in Pakistan, who was kidnapped two days ago, has converted to Islam and married a Muslim, a media report said on Saturday. Her distraught father, however, says that she "can never give up on her religion, she has been coerced into doing it". Manisha Kumari, 14, is now Mahvish and herself called up her parents from an unknown location and broke the news of her...
01:41 PM, Aug 11, 2012
Islamabad: Following a special directive from Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, a three-member team met Hindu community leaders in Sindh province after reports of a mass exodus of people from their community to India. Meanwhile, the country's Human Rights Commission is also outraged at the continued exodus of minorities from Sindh and Balochistan provinces. While the Indian High Commission and Pakistan's Interior Ministry have denied reports of around 250 Hindus...
01:30 PM, Aug 11, 2012
New Delhi: From sleeping on the pavements to makeshift relief camps to finally having a roof over their head, the journey for a few Hindu families from Pakistan to India has not been easy. Those who have managed to escape to India say they are too scared to return and want to stay here for good. For 80-year-old Bakhtavari, it's a new found sense of freedom forever since she came...
08:19 AM, Aug 11, 2012
Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday took serious note of reports of a "sense of insecurity" among Hindu families in Pakistan's Sindh province and directed authorities to allay the minority community's grievances. The president asked the authorities in Sindh to assess the situation and to submit a report to him, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. The president also constituted a three-member committee of parliamentarians to visit different parts of...
09:29 PM, Aug 10, 2012
New Delhi: Pakistan stopped a group of 250 Pakistani Hindus from crossing over to India at Wagah even though they had valid visas. They were told they required security clearances. Later they were allowed after Interior Minister Rehman Malik warned of conspiracies to defame Pakistan and called for an investigation into reports that a flood of Pakistani Hindus were fleeing to India to escape persecution. Human rights lawyers say there...
08:50 PM, Aug 10, 2012
New Delhi: The Indian High Commission in Islamabad and Pakistan's Interior Ministry has denied media reports that 250 Hindus were planning to flee the country. However, some Pakistan Hindus who have come to India as pilgrims say they do not want to return to Pakistan. "I will ask the Indian government to allow me to stay here," one of the pilgrims said. "I will ask the Indian govt to grant...
01:20 PM, Aug 10, 2012
Islamabad: A 14-year-old Hindu girl has been kidnapped in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, causing widespread concern in the minority community amidst reports of their apparent exodus. The teenage girl, Manisha Kumari, was kidnapped from Jacobabad, which has a sizeable Hindu community, on August 7, said Pakistan Hindu Council president Jethanand Doonger Mal Kohistani. "Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has taken notice of the matter and asked provincial Minority Affairs...
11:10 PM, Aug 09, 2012
Mumbai: Marriage, relationship and love are knotty issues, often made more tangled by actions of individuals. The Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate's court last week issued summons to a Dharavi resident for having an affair with his stepbrother's wife. The woman, Rita, got married to her brother-in-law while her divorce case from her first husband remains pending in the Bandra Family Court. In June, she bore the brother-in-law a son, whose birth...
02:56 PM, Aug 09, 2012
Mangalore: Was the recent homestay attack a result of the turf war between self-proclaimed protectors of Hindu culture in Mangalore? Investigating officers think so after learning from reliable sources that Sharan Pumpwell of Bajarang Dal and Subash Padeel of Hindu Jagaran Vedike had developed hostility towards each other after an argument. Sources close to Padeel confirmed that Pumpwell had objected to Subash Padeel setting up a unit in Pumpwell and...
01:47 PM, Aug 09, 2012
London: A group claiming to be a "politically neutral pressure group" has organised a march in London in support of Indian yoga expert Baba Ramdev's campaign against corruption on Saturday. The group, called 'Action Against Corruption', is described as a UK-based not-for-profit organisation. A press release about the march was issued by Hindu Council UK, which was set up in 1994 to represent the Hindu community in the UK. As...
05:54 PM, Aug 08, 2012
Islamabad: A Muslim man in Pakistan has been arrested after a Hindu girl rejected his claim that she had converted to Islam and married him, Dawn reported. She accused Sarwar Solangi of abducting her and subjecting her to rape for months. The Hyderabad circuit of the Sindh High Court on Monday remanded him in police custody. Justice Munib Akhtar passed the order after hearing an application filed by Solangi. Solangi...
04:15 AM, Aug 08, 2012
Madurai: Coming to the aid of a Muslim girl who alleged threats from her family members after she married a Hindu, the Madras High Court bench in Madurai directed them not to interfere in her life as she was a major. Disposing of a petition by 21-year-old K Fathima seeking police protection, Justice K Venkataraman said the parents should not interfere and precipitate as the girl was a major. The...
07:30 PM, Jul 30, 2012
Mangalore: Colleges in the city on Monday remained closed in response to a bandh call given by students to protest against the attack on girls and boys at a homestay in Mangalore on July 28, allegedly by activists of a Hindu outfit. Students of St Aloysius college staged a demonstration in front of their institution, demanding action against the culprits responsible for the attack. Police said no untoward incident was...
03:33 PM, Jul 30, 2012
Islamabad: Three Hindu traders have been abducted by unidentified armed men in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan, the latest in a series of crimes targeting the minority community. The traders, Denesh Kumar, Retesh Kumar and Ratan Kumar, were kidnapped at a spot about 140 km from provincial capital Quetta on Friday night. The incident triggered protests against the government's continued inability to provide any sort of safety to...
03:23 AM, Jul 30, 2012
Mangalore: Eight people have been arrested in the attack on a group of youngsters partying at a private resort in Mangalore. The members, reportedly owing allegiance to a pro-Hiindu group, called 'Hindu Jagran Vedike' allegedly beat up and harassed young women and men at a resort on Saturday evening. Reportedly, more than 50 men attacked the private party. However, Karnataka ADGP Law and Order Bipin Gopalakrishna said that no drugs...
01:31 PM, Jul 29, 2012
Bangalore: Taking a serious view of the moral policing act in which activists of a Hindu outfit assaulted girls and boys at a private home-stay in Mangalore, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Sunday rushed a top police official to probe the incident, which has triggered protests. As the attack in which about a dozen girls and boys were targeted by a 50-member group, suspected to be members of...
12:18 PM, Jul 29, 2012
