Partition is Not Over Yet: The Plight of Pakistani Hindus

Seventy years have passed, but Hindus are still moving from Pakistan to India to get rid of discrimination and persecution they are facing as a Hindu in Muslim Pakistan.

New Delhi/Islamabad, July 31: The partition which gave birth to two separate countries – India and Pakistan – in 1947 also led to the largest mass migration in human history. Lakhs of people moved from India to Pakistan and vice-versa in search of ‘their’ country. Seventy years have passed, but Hindus are still moving from Pakistan to India to get rid of discrimination and persecution they are facing as a Hindu in Muslim Pakistan. Thousands still live in makeshift camps near the border with no legal right to work. For them ‘partition is still not over’.

“No job, no house, no money, no food. There, we were working in the fields, we were farmers. But here people like us are forced to break rocks to earn a living,” 81-year-old Jogdas was quoted as saying by international news agency AFP. Jogdas is among hundreds who live in a camp on the outskirts of Jodhpur. “For us the partition is still not over. Hindus are still trying to come back to their country. And when they come here, they have nothing,” Jagdas added.

The formation of India and Pakistan forced 15 million people to live their place. While Hindus and Sikhs fled the newly formed Pakistan, Muslims moved in the opposite direction. Like many Muslims didn’t leave India, lakhs of Hindus decided to stay back in Pakistan. Hindu community is now one of the largest religious minorities in Pakistan. But the decision of not leaving Muslim Pakistan turned out to be the biggest mistake for many. Many Hindus in Pakistan face discrimination and even risk abduction, rape and forced marriage.

“Soon after partition, the harassment started. There was not even a single day when we could live in peace. I wanted to come back to live with my Hindu brothers,” said Jogdas, who with his family had moved to what is now Pakistan a few months before partition to escape a devastating drought. Though the Indian government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made rules easier for Pakistani Hindus to seek Indian citizenship, but the reality is many of the immigrants still live in isolated camps, far from local communities and are treated with suspicion by authorities.

Under current rules, Hindus from Pakistan qualify for a fast track to citizenship after seven years in the country. But bureaucratic delays add more to their woes. “There is no assistance from the government. We are just like cattle with no owners. We are just surviving on our own,” said Khanaramji, who became an Indian citizen in 2005 after fleeing Pakistan in 1997. What hurts them more is the suspicion from authorities. “Those who do not have citizenship are harassed by (intelligence) agencies. They are always treated like suspects and agents of Pakistan,” he said.

Speaking to AFP, Hindu Singh Sodha, who runs a charity in Jodhpur for Pakistani Hindus seeking to settle in India, said they had high hopes of PM Modi, but had been disappointed. “Their life becomes hell. Because everything is affected. Their shelter, health care, access to education, their livelihood,” Sodha was quoted as saying.

There are hundreds of such stories which reveal the Pakistan’s ill treatment to its Hindu minority. Many want to migrate again, but the strained relationship between India and Pakistan pushes them under scrutiny even if they manage to return.

(Edited by: Aadil Ikram Zaki Iqbal)