WASHINGTON - Days after a US lawmaker called for self-determination in Balochistan, another one has taken up the issue of ‘forced conversion’ of Hindus in Pakistan, citing RinkelKumari's case, amid declining influence and credibility of the incumbent government.
In a letter to President Asif Ali Zardari, Congressman Brad Sherman urged him to take action to ensure the return of RinkelKumari to her family, pursuant to allegations that she had been abducted with the help of a PPP lawmaker. Significantly, the RinkelKumari case was brought to the attention of US lawmakers, not by Hindu activists, but by the Sindhi-American Political Action Committee (SAPAC), a lobby group that, like the Baloch groups, is increasingly asserting the secular and syncretic identity of Pakistan's Sindhi community in the face of what they call the ‘growing Islamisation’ in the country.
The SAPAC activists have been telling US lawmakers that state-sponsored discrimination against minority groups in Pakistan is rampant and is causing Hindus to migrate out of Pakistan in droves.
In his letter, dated March 12, Sherman, a congressman from California, urged Zardari to take steps to ensure that those responsible for such acts of forced conversions were held accountable.
"I urge you to take action to ensure the safe return of this girl to her family," Sherman said, pointing out that Rinkel's family alleged that she was abducted on February 24, forced to marry a Muslim man named Naveed Shah and convert to Islam.
"She was reportedly held in custody with the help of Mian Mohammad Aslam, the son of PPP MNA MianMitho in BharchundiShareef," he said in the letter.
On February 25, she was brought before a civil judge, who ruled in favour of Shah and she was taken into custody for two days at Sukkur police station, the congressman said.
"She was allegedly threatened with violence while in police custody to make her change her statement," he claimed.
He said, on February 27, she appeared in court again and this time her relatives were reportedly not allowed inside the court. During the second hearing, she was returned to Shah's custody.
"Her family is unaware of the whereabouts of their daughter," he said, adding "Unfortunately RinkelKumari's case is just one case of abduction and forced religious conversion in Pakistan. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), around 20-25 forced kidnappings and conversions of Hindu girls in Sindh is happening every month.”
"I urge you to take all necessary steps to bring an end to this practice and other harassment of Hindus in Pakistan," Sherman added.