HinduPACT

Category: CHINGARI

  • Press Release: HinduPACT Calls on Biden Administration to Take Immediate Action to Stop Forced Conversions of Religious Minorities in Pakistan

    Press Release: HinduPACT Calls on Biden Administration to Take Immediate Action to Stop Forced Conversions of Religious Minorities in Pakistan

    HinduPACT Calls on Biden Administration to Take Immediate Action to Stop Forced Conversions of Religious Minorities in Pakistan

    HinduPACT makes statement following admission by ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan

    WASHINGTON, D.C – Following decades of denial, Pakistan has finally admitted to the egregious kidnapping and forced conversion of girls of religious minority communities. HinduPACT calls on the Biden administration to immediately address this issue.

    Ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan (2018-2022) has admitted to the forced conversion of non-Muslim girls in Pakistan saying, “There is an ayat (verse) in the Holy Quran [that] there is no coercion in Islam. This is Allah’s commandment. Whoever forcefully converts a non-Muslim is disobeying Allah.” In quoting the Ayat from the Quran, Imran Khan claimed that conversions are “Allah’s commandment.” 

    Utsav Chakrabarti, Executive Director of HinduPACT, said,

    “Hindus are the indegenous communities of present-day Pakistan who have lived there for thousands of years. For the first time we are seeing a former prime minister admitting to a crime that has been going on for 75 years in his country. We ask President Joe Biden to take swift action and employ the help of our allied nations to put an end to this unacceptable practice.”

     

    Deepti Mahajan, Director, HinduPACT’s CHINGARI Project, said,

    “This is a ray of hope for the minority girls with Mr. Imran Khan’s statement acknowledging abuse of minority girls in Pakistan. The widespread abuse has been brushed aside for decades and the world needs to pay attention to these voiceless girls who need our help to lead fear-free lives.”

    Rakhi Israni, Executive Director of Legal for HinduPACT, said,

    “Former PM Imran Khan’s admission that young girls of minority religions are snatched from their parents and forcibly converted is simply further evidence of how ingrained the abuse of Hindus and those of other minority religions is in the entire Pakistani institution. International governments have a duty to intervene and stop this ‘human rights catastrophe’”

     

    On November 26, 2021, a report by the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Pakistani Minorities – an informal, cross-party groups formed by MPs and Members of the House of Lords – found that around 1,000 girls between the ages of 12-25 who are not Muslim are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan every year and married to their abductors.

  • Press Release: On IWD 2022, HinduPACT calls for Prosecution of Pakistan Army Men Responsible for Rapes in 1971 to Prevent Forced Conversion and Trafficking of Girls in Present Day Pakistan

    Press Release: On IWD 2022, HinduPACT calls for Prosecution of Pakistan Army Men Responsible for Rapes in 1971 to Prevent Forced Conversion and Trafficking of Girls in Present Day Pakistan

    WASHINGTON, D.C – On the 47th anniversary of International Women’s Day, HinduPACT is calling for the prosecution of Pakistani army men who were responsible for the rapes of women during the 1971 Bangladeshi genocide in order to prevent forced conversions and trafficking of girls in present-day Pakistan.

    The Rig Veda, considered the oldest canonical revealed scriptures in the World, includes Ghosha, Lopamudra, Maitreyi, and Gargi as prominent authors. The Rig Veda says: “A scholarly woman, the entire life of society depends upon you. You provide us the right knowledge. May you bring knowledge to all segments of society.” — Rig Veda 2.41.17

    “It is important to send a strong message to modern day aggressors like the Mian Mithoo and other Islamist clerics in Pakistan, that even 50 years from now, they will be held accountable for the crimes that are being committed today against underage girls belonging to the Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities. More than a 1000 girls face kidnapping, forced conversion and trafficking with tacit support of the Pakistan Army every year,” said Rakhi Israni, who leads HinduPACT’s Coalition for Hindu Girls Abducted and their Rights (CHINGARI).

    Shreya Mishra, an intern for CHINGARI said, “The Chingari project not only represents the fight to eradicate gender-based violence, but was also created to protect, promote, and celebrate the strength of women across the globe, and highlight the ongoing battle that women face in different regions every single day. Today, I encourage folks to reflect on the current state of gender-based violence across the globe and support the Chingari project and other causes which advocate for the rights of women and girls.”

    Utsav Chakrabarti, the Executive Director of HinduPACT said, “More than 50 years after the Pakistan Army perpetrated violence and sexual assault on more than 300,000 women, and killed three million people, the war crimes that were committed have not been recognized as genocide. Not only have the crimes not been recognized, but many of the war-criminals went on to become powerful generals and administrators in Pakistan, influencing decision making even today. On International Women’s Day, we call upon the US and the international community to recognize the genocide of Bangladeshis by Pakistan and take immediate steps to bring to trial the 195 current and former members of the Pakistan Army, who were recorded as being responsible for perpetrating the violence. Prominent genocide prevention watchdogs like Genocide Watchand Lemkin Institute have already recognized what occurred in Bangladesh in 1971 as genocide.”

    There is a need to address these issues, especially on International Women’s Day and during Women’s History Month.

  • HinduPACT Condemns Pakistan’s Rejection of Forced Conversion Bill, Calls for Pakistan to Become Secular State

    HinduPACT Condemns Pakistan’s Rejection of Forced Conversion Bill, Calls for Pakistan to Become Secular State

    WASHINGTON, D.C – Pakistan’s decision to reject a bill that would have banned forced conversions to Islam is the latest blow to the Islamic Republic’s religious minority population. This exasperates the need to ensure the country becomes secular and HinduPACT is calling on the international community to unify and ensure this comes to fruition.

    The fragility of the democratic process, that is still non-existent in Pakistan, is on full display with this latest failure to protect the most vulnerable members of Pakistan’s society, especially Christians, Hindus and other minorities in Sindh and Punjab.

    “Democracy in Pakistan is weak and even in that system there is no willingness to help the country’s religious minorities,” said HinduPACT Executive Director Utsav Chakrabarti. “True democracy cannot take place unless Pakistan becomes a secular State and it is incumbent on the international community to make sure Pakistan becomes a secular State.”

    “The rejection of a bill that expressly prohibits forced conversions of religious minorities, and even more important, criminalizes the forced conversion of underage non-Muslim girls in Pakistan is truly tragic, but for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interreligious Harmony to term a bill that aims to protect the basic rights of minority citizens as non-Islamic is clear evidence of how systemic the religious intolerance is in the Pakistani establishment,” said Rakhi Israni, who leads HinduPACT’s CHINGARI, a project that deals with this issue.

    The bill, which was signed by nearly 40 human rights groups and included signatures by known human rights activists like Irfan Mufti, Mohammad Tahseen, Peter Jacob, Rubina Jamil, and Syeda Ghulam Fatima, among others, was rejected by Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee. It sought to make 18 years the minimum legal age for conversion.

    For Pakistan’s Minister of Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri to suggest that there should be no age limit for conversion is egregious. And for him to reason that a potential law meant to protect minority rights would “create further problems” for them and would make them “more vulnerable” is counterintuitive.

    True democracy is defined by a nation’s ability to protect its most vulnerable citizens. Until Pakistan becomes a secular state, the fate of its non-Muslim minority population continues to hang in the balances.

    For media inquiries, contact adelle.nazarian@hindupact.org 

  • CHINGARI Vigils Across North America

    CHINGARI Vigils Across North America

    CHINGARI-Vigil-Sept-2021

  • CHINGARI Introduction Video

    CHINGARI Introduction Video

  • CHINGARI Vigil Sept 18, 2021

    CHINGARI Vigil Sept 18, 2021

    CHINGARI PROJECT: Sep 18 Vigil RSVP
    RSVP for CHINGARI Vigil on Sept 18, 2021
    CHINGARI PROJECT: Sep 18 Vigil RSVP
    RSVP for CHINGARI Vigil on Sept 18, 2021

  • Abducted, Shackled and Forced to Marry at 12

    Abducted-shackled-and-forced-to-marry-at-12-BBC-News

  • Pakistan: 14-year-old Hindu girl kidnapped, forcibly converted, and married to her Muslim abductor in Sindh

    Continuing with regular incidents of atrocities on minorities, a 14-year-old Hindu girl Parsha Kumari had been allegedly kidnapped in the Mori district of Khairpur in Sindh in Pakistan. According to the reports, she was forcibly converted and married to her abductor Abdul Saboor Shah. The family of the girl registered an FIR, but the police have failed to take any action.

    The family submitted her birth certificate with the complaint. However, an affidavit was presented from the girl’s side in which she claimed that her old name was Parsha Kumari and she has accepted Islam. She further claimed that she is in love with Abdul Saboor and wanted to marry him.

    Read More: https://www.opindia.com/2020/09/14-year-old-hindu-girl-married-to-her-muslim-abductor-in-pakistan/

  • Another Hindu woman abducted in Pakistan, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to Muslim man

    In another shocking incident, a Pakistani Hindu girl was abducted during her wedding ceremony, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man, according to reports.

    The incident allegedly happened at Hala in Matiari district of Sindh province on Saturday when a group of men abducted Bharti Bai. She was later married off to one Shah Rukh Gul.

    According to reports, the police, instead of taking action against the perpetrators, allegedly helped them take away the bride.

    Read More: https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2020/01/27/hindu-woman-abducted-in-pakistan-forcibly-converted-to-islam-and-married-off-to-muslim-man.html

  • Hindu Today, Muslim Tomorrow

    What reports of forced conversion in Pakistan say about the country on the 70th anniversary of its creationBy Saba Imtiaz

    For the first 16 years of her life, Ravita Meghwar was a Hindu girl living in a village in Pakistan. But today her name is Gulnaz Shah, and she is married, and a Muslim. Her family members believe that kidnappers drugged them and abducted their daughter, and that she was forcibly converted to Islam. She says she eloped and married of her own choice.

    Read More : https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/hindu-muslim-pakistan/536238/