The influx of Hindu refugees from Pakistan is not new. The Government here is aware of the sorry condition of these unfortunate people, but it has chosen to remain mute on what is an issue of gross human rights violation

Persecution, conversion, rape and religious cleansing have been the fate of the Hindus who were left behind post-Partition, in the Islamic state of Pakistan in 1947.

India adopted a secular and a democratic form of Government and polity, despite being a Hindu-majority nation, and made its ‘tryst with destiny’   — accommodating people of all religious denominations and giving equal opportunities to all for development and progress.

On the other hand, the condition of Hindus in Pakistan can be explained from the exponential decline in their population. At the time of Partition the Hindu population stood at nearly 20 per cent there. Today, Hindus have been reduced to a shocking two per cent — a telling commentary not just on the composition of that society but also the priority of the Pakistani state.

The inhuman condition of the Hindus in Pakistan attracted public attention last year when Rinkle Kumari was forcibly converted to Islam and subjected to unfair treatment not only at the hands of the Islamic zealots but the Pakistani judiciary as well, leaving no scope for justice to the beleaguered community.

last year, India witnessed an influx of Hindus from Pakistan, who legally entered India in groups to escape unremitting persecution by the Pakistani state and society. The Indian political establishment has played it down due to obvious reasons of vote-bank politics, the 2014 election and a declared policy of minority appeasement.

But matters seem to have crossed the limits of endurance, as the recent influx of a group of 480 Hindus from Pakistan shows. The pilgrims arrived in India to participate in the Maha Kumbh Mela and have now refused to return to their native place in view of the horrific incidents of gross human rights violations they had been subjected to in the neighbouring country. They are currently housed in a 28-room tenement owned by philanthropist Nahar Singh in South Delhi’s Bijwasan area.

India is their last hope, not just in terms of the country being a secular polity, but also as a functioning democracy and an upholder of human rights. A Hindu refugee explained the reason for not going back to Pakistan: “Hindus are not safe there. Daughters are abducted and forced to convert. We can’t cremate our dead, as Pakistanis ask us to bury the corpses. We want Indian citizenship so that at least we can die here peacefully.”

Recounting their saga of woes, the refugees reveal that they had been denied basic education, freedom of religion, culture, and the right to life and property. Reportedly, their wards are forced to acquire Islamic education once they reach the upper primary classes, and any resistance is dealt with severely and immediately.

Intimidation and persecution is routinely employed to browbeat them into submission. The strategy not just affects their cultural and religious freedom, but it also works well for the Pakistani establishment to keep Hindus away from employment and trade. Worse, girls are married off at the age of 10 years to12 years to escape assault, abduction, rape and conversion. Their lands are subjected to encroachment and they are not paid their due wages routinely.

Rajasthan has nearly two lakh Pakistani Hindus who have taken refuge to escape the myriad atrocities which have been inflicted on them from 1965 on. The million dollar question is: Why have successive Indian Governments remained silent on this issue of gross human rights violationsIJ

Significantly, Partition has not only worsened the condition of the Hindus in Pakistan, but it has also subjected India to new demographic threats — this is starkly evident in West Bengal and Assam, where lakhs of Bangladeshi Muslims were illegally made to infiltrate the State to alter the political calculations. Worse, these illegal migrants have been granted citizenship, rights and voter cards — all in a bid to subvert the sovereignty of India from within.

However, in the case of the Pakistani Hindu refugees, the Union Government seems to have adopted a policy of denial and procrastination in

granting these legally migrated refugees, asylum in India. Such status ought to have come a long time ago.

It is clear that Pakistan has declared its policy in uncertain terms, which is that it has no place for the Hindu (and even other) minorities. As such, India needs to patronise the persecuted not because they are Hindus but because, as a secular polity and the cultural fountainhead of Hinduism, it has a moral and human responsibility to offer succour to the landless people.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had once remarked on the fate of minorities, saying, “The treatment of minorities in India (read Muslims) will act as a safeguard towards the minorities in Pakistan (read Hindus)”.

By that logic it seems that Pakistan has completely failed to protect its minorities while India has done a stellar job in empowering its minorities. So, New Delhi has every reason to question Pakistan over its policy towards the Hindus.