Crime wave against Sindh's Hindus: A conspiracy?

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

Not since the massacres of January 1948 has Sindh's Hindu community
been subjected to such persecution as today.  Outside of parts of Thar
in Eastern Sindh, where Sindhi Hindus are in majority, Sindh's Muslims
have served as a wall of resistance against attempts to incite violence.

There is a feeling among Sindhis that the current wave of crime is a
campaign designed to create a panic among millions of Hindus in Sindh,
a systematic campaign that has been launched by the Pakistani agencies
so that, particularly once the Sindh-India Khokrapar border is opened,
Sindh's demography can be once again changed to finally render Sindhis
a minority..  (Meanwhile, the government has decided to issue identity
cards to illegal aliens in Sindh).

Sindhi newspapers, intellectuals, activists as well as common Sindhis
all over Sindh have been disgusted by the current situation and a
feeling of panic is spreading..  Below is an excerpt of a translation
of the lead in Sindh's prestigious and staid Daily newspaper
Ibrat.. English version posted by Javed Qazi:

 RISING CRIME AGAINST HINDU MINORITY,
         WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Hardly a daily newspaper goes without reporting violent incidents that
have taken place against the Hindu minority, women and children....

From last two years sense of insecurity in Hindu community of Sindh
has risen. The conscious class and the civil society of Sindh feel
that this is a purposeful and deliberate act that to convert Sindhis
into minority in their own province.

The renowned Hindu entrepreneur Saddam Chewelah of Jacobabad was
murdered in a broad day light and the culprits have not been arrested,
which made the whole Hindu community even more disappointed and
resulted in the migration of his family to India.

Hindu girls have been forced to marry Muslims boys: at least twelve of
such incidents that have been reported in the papers.  The Hindu
trader who was kidnapped from Larkana has not been yet released after
a two months; the school boy of another Hindu entrepreneur was also
kidnapped two weeks ago.

Kidnapping of Hindu Sindhis has become order of the day and an
established crime [wave], yet serious and sincere efforts of the
government are not visible that we may register here.

Today it has been reported in the Sindhi papers that a renowned Hindu
medical practitioner of Hyderabad Dr. B. J. Gaimnai has silently
migrated to India after receiving the threats.  He sold out his
property without making any announcement of his migration just telling
a few close friends that he is going to Dubai and will return back
after a few months. His decision due to the worsening insecurity for
the Hindu community has brought yet another scar to the spirit of the
nation.

The Sindhi nation which has been throughout successfully carrying a
discourse in shape of Tassawif [theosophy] and thus we have been
successful to bring about religious tolerance here, which again is
facing a yet another serious crises...

[Sindhi Daily] Ibrat feels that in response to this yet another
challenge, joint effort of the people from the all walks of life be
taken and the civil society should take this matter as a highly
serious issue and also the Sindh government may make some serious
efforts in this respect.