Forced conversions of girls leave Pak Hindus unsettled, alarmed

New York, August 19 : Cases of Hindu girls allegedly being forced to convert to Islam are being presented before courts in Pakistan’s Sindh province, which has left the community deeply unsettled and alarmed.An article authored by freelance journalist Saba Imtiaz and published in the web site www.theatlantic.com, has said, “The allegedly forcible nature of the conversions, the almost identical pattern of the cases, and the targeting of minor girls have deeply unsettled the Hindu population, which constitutes about two per cent of Pakistan’s approximately 200 million people.” Imtiaz says this sense of alarm has led some Hindus to even reassess their place in Pakistan 70 years after its creation and the partition of the Indian sub-continent.
Cases of forced conversion are mostly reported from Sindh. Although Pakistan became a Muslim-majority state post-partition, with Muslims dominating politics, the economy, and society, Hindus managed to retain a degree of social influence in Sindh province, where they were known as successful merchants. The discrimination that this minority community faces in Pakistan is with those who are declared lower-caste and have low incomes.