We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. [24][25] The annual Hinglaj Yatra is the largest Hindu pilgrimage in Pakistan. [41] Although a bill for increasing minorities' seats was introduced by Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, it was not passed. According to the Future of World Religion report, some countries will witness doubling of the number of Hindus by 2050 – mostly because of massive migration and increase in fertility rate. To cancel, communicate from your registered email id and send the email with the cancellation request to. The Hindus who attend the Sri Param Hansji Maharaj Samadhi were still in the process of rebuilding the site after the first attack, in 1997, after the Supreme Court finally issued a rebuilding order in 2015. For the upholders of the Ideology of Pakistan, the existence of Pakistan is defined only in relation to Hindus, and hence the Hindus have to be painted as negatively as possible". [83] At federal level,a Hindu Marriage Bill was proposed in 2016, which was unanimously approved by the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2016[84][85] and by the Senate of Pakistan in 2017. However, some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their rhetoric against Hindus. Nanakpanthi are Hindus who revere Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism along with Hindu gods. Stay on top of your investments. The Bill was effectively blocked by the Islamist groups and parties like the Council of Islamic Ideology and Jamaat-e-Islami. Those who cannot afford the trip go to Churrio Jabal Durga Mata temple in Nagarparkar. Hindus constitute Pakistan’s largest non-Muslim minority, estimated at between two and four per cent of the population. Today, a large fraction of Sindhi Hindus consider themselves Nanakpanthi. [91] Among these 11 temples are in Sindh, four in Punjab, three in Balochistan and two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. [91], The Pamwal Das Shiv Mandir, centuries-old historic temple in Baghdadi area of Lyari Town was illegally turned into a Muslim Pir and slaughterhouse for cows by Muslim clerics with the help of Baghdadi police after making series of attacks on Hindu families living in the area. [96][104][105][106], In 2014, a Hindu temple and a dharmashala in Larkana district in Sindh was attacked by a crowd of Muslims. The Pakistan Hindu Council runs 13 schools across Tharparkar[46] and also conducts mass wedding of poor Hindu couples. [21] They speak a variety of languages such as Sindhi, Seraiki, Aer, Dhatki, Gera, Goaria, Gurgula, Jandavra, Kabutra, Koli, Loarki, Marwari, Sansi, Vaghri,[22] and Gujarati. [54] Political parties Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party is against giving reserved seats for minorities. Pakistan government has granted permission for the construction of a Hindu temple in Islamabad, nearly six months after the work at the site was … [107] In 2019, three Hindu temples were vandalised in Ghotki district in Sindh over blasphemy accusations. In Punjab, a Hindu temple at Rawalpindi was destroyed and reconstructed to use as a community centre, while in Chakwal the Bhuwan temple complex is being used by the local Muslim community for commercial purposes. Today, Muslims constitute 14% of India's population, while in Pakistan, Hindus are said to be just over 2%. Similarly, the number of seats in Provincial Assembly of Sindh and Punjab were increased from 100 to 159 and 240 to 363 respectively, but the non-Muslim reserved seats were not increased. Track stock prices in your portfolio. Struggling for the rights of the most downtrodden community in Pakistan, he has been a member of the Sindh Assembly in the past, protesting his constituency’s plight in Tharparkar. Pakistan's minority Hindu community has rejected India’s offer to grant them citizenship under a new law. And in 2001, Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadis successfully conducted a partial boycott of the elections, culminating in the abolishment of the separate electorate system in 2002. [112] According to the Pakistan Hindu Council, forced conversions remain the foremost reason for the declining population of Hindus in Pakistan. [111] In one case, a landlord abducted a hindu daughter from a farm worker and falsely claimed the teen was compensation for a 1,000$ debt that the family owed him. The tribal chiefs in Balochistan, particularly the Jams of Lasbela and Bugti of Dera Bugti, consider non-Muslims like Hindus as members of their own extended family and allows religious freedom. Pakistan Rebuild demolished Hindu temple in Karak within 2 weeks, orders Pakistan Supreme Court. The Holy Shiv Temple in Kohat has been converted into a government primary school. In 1999, Pakistan abolished this system. The study also found that the scheduled caste Hindu women are most vulnerable to sexual abuse by Muslim men and young girls are lured into matrimony or abducted and wed through forced conversions. They became the first non-Muslims to win a general seat (non-reserved) in a provincial assembly election. [36]After Pakistan gained independence from Britain on 14 August 1947, 4.7 million of the country's Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India. According to the Sono Kangharani, member of Pakistan Dalit Network, the Korean missionaries have been active in the area from 2011 and these missionaries don't focus on individuals but they convert entire villages. However, there is the lack of upkeep of the dilapidated Hindu temples in the city. The letter comes in the aftermath of the destruction of a Hindu temple in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan on 30 December 2020 by a … The mob also desecrated the idols of Hindu gods and defaced the temple premises, accusing a boy of the minority community of blasphemy. Pick 5 of your favourite companies. Hinduism is the second largest religion in Pakistan after Islam. [63][64] They are considered as a separate ethnic religion people by the government of Pakistan. Mobs attacked scores of Hindu temples across Pakistan. Unlimited access to all content on any device through browser or app. In general, religious conversion was a gradual process, some converted to Islam to gain tax relief, land grant, marriage partners, social and economic advancement,[119] or freedom from slavery and some by force. Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim - the Hindu community makes up less than 2% of the population. India Lodges Protest on Attack on Hindu Temple in Pakistan. [55], In 1980s Zia ul-Haq introduced a system under which non-Muslims could vote for only candidates of their own religion. A survey carried out by All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement Pakistan's revealed that out of 428 Hindu temples in Pakistan that existed before Partition only around 20 survive today and they remain neglected by the Evacuee Trust Property Board which controls those while the rest had been converted for other uses. [21] Korean Christian missionaries are also very active in Sindh, who have built schools from Badin to Tharparkar. Karachi: A Hindu temple in Pakistan's Sindh province was vandalised by an angry mob that also attempted to attack over 300 Hindu families, but were stopped by Muslims from entering the century-old neighbourhood, a media report said on Wednesday. [20] In the 1951 census, West Pakistan (now Pakistan) had 1.3% Hindu population, while East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had 22.05%. For example, 428 poor Hindus in Matli were converted between 2009–11 by the Madrassa Baitul Islam, a Deobandi seminary in Matli, which pays off the debts of Hindus converting to Islam. [28], The Sindh kingdom and its rulers play an important role in the Indian epic story of the Mahabharata. Before partition, according to the 1941 census, Hindus constituted 14% of the population in West Pakistan (currently Pakistan) and 28% of the population in East Pakistan(currently Bangladesh). [81][82] The bill paves the way for regulations on registration of marriages and divorce for Hindus and fixes the minimum marrying age for males and females at 18 years-old. Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Pakistan`s Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari condemned the incident, calling on the provincial government to ensure the culprits are brought to justice.