The Indian media had wreaked havoc with the news that Hindus were migrating to India from Pakistan purporting that they were escaping the alleged harsh treatment and marginalization of minorities by extremist Muslims.
Indian flogging of Pakistan was short lived because very soon the Hindus started returning to Pakistan. The harsh truth dawned on them that there was a fanatical Hindutva based government ruling India, which was terrorizing the minorities in every possible manner, killing, raping, burning, looting and incarcerating them. Though the migrating Hindus were safe from the brutality of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the horror of the cruelty meted to the minorities traumatized them badly. To make matters worse, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims of “Rising India” turned out to be a pipe dream. His gross mishandling of the Indian economy as well as the global pandemic, which has left millions affected in India, opened their eyes. To their horror, they discovered that there were no job opportunities for them nor any potential for pursuing commercial interests.
They started returning to Pakistan and to their pleasant surprise, on their return, they were accorded a warm welcome, with the Additional Deputy Commissioner, personally receiving them and assuring them that all Hindus returning to Pakistan, will be taken care of.
There is a sharp contrast in the treatment of minorities in Pakistan vis-à-vis of those in India. The minorities in Pakistan have been granted freedom to practice their religion while their places of worship have been guaranteed protection by the Constitution. It is true that there have been sporadic attacks on Christian churches and Hindu temples when terrorism was at its peak but following Military operations Zarb-el-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad, the terrorists have been defeated and the minorities continue to practice their religious rites with freedom.
The current political dispensation in Islamabad has created history by launching the Kartarpur Corridor, providing Sikhs the opportunity to visit the holy shrine of Guru Nanak at Nankana Saheb in 2019 on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism.
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, during his visit to Pakistan last year, also visited the Kartarpur Corridor. He was so impressed by the facility that his spontaneous comment recounting Pakistan’s journey from “terrorism to tourism” became a meme.
Pakistan has also made conscious efforts to renovate and revive ancient Hindu temples. Katas Raj Temple has been fully renovated to welcome tourists as well as the Hindu devout. The Royal couple of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who visited Pakistan in October 2019, toured Kafiristan in Chitral. They were amazed at the preservation of the lifestyle of the “Kafirs” of Chitral, where the literacy rate is 98 percent, while women’s empowerment in this region is the highest in Pakistan.
Under these circumstances, minorities feel secure in Pakistan. India is trying to run propaganda campaigns based on the fallacy that Pakistani Hindus are migrating to India which is welcoming them. In fact, India is trying to divert attention from the gross maltreatment of its minorities.
In August 2020, a family of 11 Pakistani Hindus was found dead in a rented farmhouse in the city of Jodhpur in India’s Rajasthan state. This brutality incensed the Hindus to the extent that they demonstrated outside the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, demanding investigation and reparations.
The cruelest blow to Indian Muslims was delivered on 5 August 2019, when Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, providing autonomy to Kashmir, were abrogated and Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were merged into Indian Territory. Since the illegal Indian action, the Valley of Kashmir has been in a state of lockdown. Kashmiri children are being deprived of food and nutrition and men, women and children are confined to their homes, while protesters are shot on sight.
To make matters worse, in December 2019, two draconian laws were introduced to heap misery on Indian Muslims. The contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) allows Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally to become citizens if they can show they were persecuted because of their religion in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Muslims have been deliberately barred from this Act. The National Register of Citizens (NRC), which excludes 1.9 million of northeastern Assam state’s 33 million populations, demanded the citizens to register themselves but the Muslims of Assam and elsewhere were barred from it. Thus, they remain outside the reach of registration, deprived of their basic rights and if deemed necessary, are being forced to leave India or remain incarcerated in concentration camps.
The Indian hoax of offering asylum to Hindus to migrate from Pakistan to India has been exposed since the Hindus have become aware of Indian machinations and will not fall in the trap being laid by the BJP to ensnare them.
Ironically, massive rallies protesting the promulgation of both pieces of legislation, deemed a usurpation of human rights are prevalent all over India, by not just Muslims, but also citizens of various faiths including Hindus. The rallies have been led by the student community, who have been fired upon and a number of them have been killed.
The US Congress and European Parliaments have taken cognizance of the oppressive piece of legislature in the form of CAA and NRC. They have asked India to reconsider.
Currently, New Delhi is in a state of siege by protesting Sikh farmers, who have been incensed by another stringent piece of legislature, which marginalizes small farmers, depriving them of their livelihood. The Hindus returning to Pakistan are sensible to come back to Pakistan, where they will be respected and are welcome.
*The writer is a retired Group Captain of the Pakistan Air Force. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host and has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China.
January 1, 2021
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
