Voicing atrocities as minority in Pakistan; Victim refugees thank PM Modi with solidarity for CAA
New Delhi, December 24: Slammed, tortured, harassed, the atrocities on minorities in Pakistan goes way beyond tolerance. They suffered it all, voiced for justice but to no avail. Spending most of their life in an environment where they were forced to convert their religion, harassed and violated; these people saw a ray of hope when Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill and the Parliament passed it making it a law now. Amid the wide protest boiling state against CAA, over 80 civil society organisations came together with more than 50 refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan signifying solidarity on CAA.
“We were treated as untouchables, our children were not given admission in schools, we even begged for water, tortured, harassed by the authorities and people living in Pakistan,” said a refugee as he expressed his grief of being a Hindu minority in Pakistan. Understanding the atrocities and giving the refugees a platform to express their solidarity, ICCR President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe played a vital role as 80 civil society organisations came together to support more than 50 refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh at an event organised by ICCR, ‘Dialogue with the victims of atrocities of Pakistan.’ The refugees expressed their contentment with PM Modi’s decision of embracing the victims and giving them citizenship in India.
The refugees urged the people to understand the Act and support the government in their quest to bring back the forgotten people back to Indian soil. The people highlighted that the situation for minority is deteriorating in the neighbouring country as they are facing issues like abduction, forced conversion with many news coming into limelight. Even after residing in the land for ages, the Hindus couldn’t make their own house and were liable to the authorities in Pakistan. The government has helped the people in understanding the CAA and enrolling their name to avail the citizenship of the country.
Jai Ahuja whose family migrated from Pakistan to save life while narrating his story said, “How can one also allow perpetrators of atrocities on minorities in Pakistan? Victims of atrocities need ‘positive discrimination’ and MODI Govt has done the same’!
Rightly explaining the process, the victims have stated that the main fear for them to migrate back to India is so that their children are not fallen prey to the vicious atrocities of Pakistan authority. Apart from religious atrocities, the Hindus and other minorities also seem to be struggling economically. While five per cent of government jobs in Pakistan mostly lower-level jobs are reserved for minorities, only 2.8 per cent are for non-Muslims. The education system in Pakistan is also heavily tilted against children from minority communities. The event and the discussion taken place at this event will duly provide a strategic direction to the CAA debate after knowing the experiences shared by the victims.