PAKISTAN: Hindu girl forcibly converted to Islam
Posted on | maart 8, 2012 | No Comments
Mr. Rehman Malik, Minister for Interior, PAKISTAN, or
Re: PAKISTAN: Hindu girl forcibly converted to Islam
Dear Minister for Interior ,
Name of victim: Rinkle Kumari daughter of Nand Lal resident of Mirpur Mathelo, Sindh, Pakistan
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Naveed Shah, resident of Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki district, Sindh province,
2. Mian Abdul Haq alias Mian Mitthan, member of the National Assembly, Pakistan People’s Party, the ruling party of the country and resident of Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki district, Sindh province,
3. Mian Aslam, son of Mian Mittho, resident of Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki district, Sindh province,
4. Mr. Allah Warayo Dayo, Civil Judge, Ghotki district, Sindh province
Date of incident: 23Febraury 2011
Place of incident: Mirpur Mathelo, district Ghotki, Sindh province
I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the abduction of a 17-year-old girl who was then forced to convert to Islam and forcibly married to a gangster.
Ms. Rinkle Kumari, (17), a Hindu girl living in Mirpur Mathelo; a small city of Sindh province and the daughter of a school teacher, was abducted on the night of 23 February by notorious gangsters of the area with the help of a member of the National Assembly from ruling party and local Muslim fundamentalist groups. Following her abduction she was forced to embrace Islam.
It was very shocking for me to know that a legislator from the ruling party was involved in illegal and unconstitutional actions to force the religious minority groups to change their religion.
It is also very surprising for me that the government and even the president knows about the case and the involvement of one of his legislators but no action has been taken against him, the local police officials and the leaders of the Madressa Bhurchundi including other perpetrators.
According to the information received, Naveed Shah, a member of a famous criminal group of Hassam Kalwarh, along with more than dozen persons abducted Kumari from her house on 23 February. They kidnapped her at gunpoint and took her to the resident of Mian Abdul Haq, alias Mian Mithhu, the member of the National Assembly from the ruling party, the Pakistan Peoples’ Party. She was then taken to a famous Madressa at Dargah Aalia Qadria Bharchoondi Sharif where she had forced to sign the marriage certificate (Nikkah Nama) and married with Naveed Shah, a street gangster. The Madressa is famous for converting Hindu girls in the province which claims that it has the target to convert 2000 Hindus every year to Islam.
I was informed that Ms. Kumari was recovered by the Police and then presented before the civil court, where she pleaded in front of the civil judge to go be allowed to return to her parents. According to law in under section 164 of Pakistan Penal Code, a statement before the magistrate, she needed to be present with the two parties in the presence of their lawyers, in the first session she informed her parents that she was not willing to marry Naveed Shah and she was pressurized to convert to Islam.
It is to be mentioned here that Kumari when informed the court that she was abducted by Naveed Shah and other men with Hassam Kalwarh, a notorious gangster, who came through the roof of their house to kidnap her, the court just ignored her plea and followed the instructions from the member of National Assembly.
In the year 2000, Hassam Kalwarh was arrested by the police and on the orders of the court he was paraded on a donkey through the streets after black colour was put on his face. This man is a favourite of Muslim fundamentalist groups for helping them to kidnap Hindu girls and forcing them to convert to Islam. During the court proceedings she cried out and pleaded to the civil judge that she wants to live with her parents.
I am shocked to know that Mian Abdul Haq alias Mian Mittho the member of National Assembly slapped her repeatedly infront of the judge and threatened her not to give any statement in their favour and she has become Muslim and could not go to her family back otherwise her family has to bear dire consequences. But the court was failed to get her confessional statement under section 164 and instead of sending her to her parent’s house sent her to a women police station, Sukkur district.
How a legislator from the ruling party dictates the court and government remained silent on this illegal and unconstitutional behavior of the member of National Assembly? Is it the policy of the government or of the ruling party?
I was informed that on 26 February the President of Pakistan took notice of the prevailing case but avoided to take any action against the fundamentalist groups.
When the police was informed that the president of Pakistan has taken notice of the incident they, in an effort to please the perpetrators, particularly the member of the National Assembly, suddenly took her from Sukkur women’s’ police station, Sukkur city at 2 am in the night to a far flung area, the Mathelo, 35 kilometers away from Sukkur city. Due to the depilated condition of the roads it takes more than one and half hours to reach Mathelo from Sukkur.
The next morning the lawyers and family members of Kumari came to know that she was sent to Mathelo court and then they hurriedly went there but the police had put barricaded the roads leading towards the court with oil and water tankers. The fundamentalists, who were heavily armed, however, were allowed to enter the court in hundreds. When the family members and their lawyers were able to reach the court at around 8.45 am they found there was jubilation with aerial firing by the Muslim groups after she had been declared Muslim.
I am told that the court proceeding was started at 8.15 and within no time the civil Judge announced that she has embraced Islam. Still no confessional statement had been taken under section 164 by the court. The court was full of fundamentalists and gangsters who were chanting slogans in favour of Islam. She repeatedly told the court, according to court staff, that she wanted to go to her parents but the judge declared that the home of the husband was the proper home of a newly married girl.
Eventually the judge gave the decision in favour of the perpetrators and Ms. Kumari was handed over to the Haq’s men without consulting her parents. Again justice has surrendered before injustice and the rule of law has been violated.
After the court’s announcement the girl was whisked away by the perpetrators and since then her whereabouts are unknown. The girl’s father told that he and his family was pressurised and threatened by the political and criminal elements to accept the decision of the court or else he will have to face the bitter consequences and they also have to fear for their lives if they disobeyed them.
The Hindu community throughout the country is agitating against the forced conversion to Islam and the abduction of Hindu girls by the powerful persons, legislator and fundamentalist groups.
I therefore urge you to initiate an impartial inquiry in to the matters of forced conversion to Islam by powerful people, fundamentalist groups and police. Please prosecute Mian Mitho, the civil magistrate of Ghotki district and incharge of Bharchundi Madressa and the other perpetrators for abduction of the Hindu girls and forcing them to convert their religion. I urge you to recover Rinkle Kumari and allow her to settle at her parents’ home. Please also ban the Madressa at Bhurchundi and recover all those Hindu girls who were sold to criminal elements in the name of Islam.
Yours sincerely,
AUTHOR: William Nicholas Gomes
URL: www.williamgomes.org
E-MAIL: williamgomes.org [at] gmail.com
Tags: converted to Islam > forcibly > Hassam Kalwarh > Islam > Pakistan > Rinkle Kumari
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