How long atrocities on minorities in Pakistan will continue, asks PML-N MP

The deplorable condition of minorities in Pakistan, including abductions, murder, rapes and forced conversions, finally topped the table for discussion for lawmakers at a session of the National Assembly yesterday.

Addressing the National Assembly on Tuesday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP Kheal Das Kohist said: "In the last four months, 25-30 Hindu girls were abducted. They never came back. How long will the atrocities continue? How long will Hindus here have to pick up corpses? How long will our temples keep burning?"

"Why are these incidents taking place only in Ghotki and Umerkot of Sindh? This fire will spread to the entire Sindh. It should be stopped. There are a few people in Sindh who should be arrested. It is the government's responsibility to curb their power," the parliamentarian said further.

Expressing concerns over the safety of minorities in the country, Das raised the issue in the Pakistan Assembly days after riots broke out in Pakistan's Sindh province after a Hindu school principal was booked on the charges of alleged blasphemy.

Pakistan on several occasions has promised to safeguard the interests of minority communities in the nation. However, rampant attacks on minorities narrate a different story.

In another incident, a first-year medical student, Namrita Chand, who also belonged to Ghotki town, was found lying on a charpoy on Tuesday with a piece of cloth tied to her neck while her hostel room was locked from inside.

It would also be ironic to note that the incidents come just days after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi ranted false narratives against India over the so-called human rights violations in Kashmir at the 42nd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

Such incidents have raised a furore in India, with several political leaders across parties asking for action to be taken against the perpetrators.

Pakistan has been condemned internationally for cracking down on the minorities living in the country.

Islamabad is also reportedly discriminating against its religious minorities, which is mfested in various forms of targeted violence, mass murders, extrajudicial killings, abduction, rapes, forced conversion to Islam, etc., making the Pakist Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyyas, and Shias one of the most persecuted minorities in the region.

Various activists belonging to the Baloch, Pashtuns, and Sindhi communities have been holding protests in Geneva to expose Pakistan over its illegal occupation and suppression of the minorities.

( With inputs from ANI )