Alam Ram Bheel, a resident of Basti Kahoor Khan, and his family were attacked and assaulted by local Muslims for the sin of getting drinking water from a public tap planted close to a mosque. The incident occurred in Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Members of the victimized family belong to the Hindu community and work as farmers to earn their meager livelihood.
The atrocity occurred a couple of days ago; Alam Ram was picking cotton with his family at a field of Chak 106-P. As the day progressed, the family felt the need for water and reached a nearby mosque to get water from a tap outside the establishment. The landlords and local men noticed them, identified them as Hindus, and brutally thrashed them for coming near the mosque premises. This was, however, not the end of the family’s suffering. While they were on their way home from work, Alam Ram and his family were again ambushed by the landlord and the men. The landlord held the entire family, including little children, hostage at his outhouse, where they were tortured for hours before being rescued by some local people of Basti Kahoor Khan.
Though rescued by locals, the Bheels didn’t get any aid from the administration. Ram Bheel accused the Airport police station of not registering his case, as the perpetrators were related to a local parliamentarian belonging to the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
In response to the police’s apathy and refusal to register his complaint, Bheel decided to hold a sit-in protest outside the police station. The case was accepted by the police only on Friday, after the victim party approached lawmaker Javed Warriach. The accused have been booked under sections 506, 154, 379, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code; however, aside from the basic formalities, no major progress has been made on the case. District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz has confirmed that he was investigating the matter, and Deputy Commissioner Dr Khuram Shehzad promised to meet the elderly members of the Hindu community on September 21 before taking any action.
Yodhister Chohan, the Secretary-General of PTI’s south Punjab minority wing, confirmed the veracity of the incident. Despite being the representative of the minority community, Chohan maintained silence instead of rushing to the family’s aid, due to the influence of the PTI on this case, which again, is the same political party to which he belongs. Astonishing!
On the other hand, a member of the district peace committee, Peter Jhon Bheel, who had joined the victims in the sit-in protest, informed Dawn that his request for an emergency meeting over the matter was not honored by other members of the committee. When questioned about the inactivity of the peace committee, Deputy Commissioner Dr Khuram Shehzad insisted that the committee was “fully functional.”
Peter Jhon Bheel has also alleged that the police have not taken any firm action on the case despite a formal complaint being lodged. Local news outlets reached the spot to cover the protest, and others from the Hindu community could be seen adding strength to the protest. Hindu women with veils carrying placards with Urdu inscriptions were also spotted at the protest site.
People from the Bheel community are extremely poor, and make their ends meet by engaging in farm work. Their exploitation by the landlords, who are notorious for picking fights over trivial issues, is nothing new.
Along with Sindh, the Punjab province has a reputation for tormenting minorities. Last month, a Hindu temple was torn down by an unruly Muslim mob armed with stones, sticks and bricks. They vandalized the temple, damaged its electric fittings, doors, and walls, desecrated the idol, and then set it on fire. Hindus are traumatized by those memories. This instance of torturing a hapless family for taking drinking water from a public tap only adds to the dread.
Hounding Hindus for taking water from a mosque premises is not a rare phenomenon in Pakistan. Back in 2010, a mob of 150 Muslims pounced on Hindu families in Karachi after a boy drank water from a cooler kept outside a mosque. He was immediately caught and beaten by locals, but that is never enough. How dare they “violate the sanctity” of their holy place? Throngs of furious men raided the Hindu neighborhood, forcing over 60 men, women and children to abandon their homes immediately. At least 400 Hindu families were threatened and told to leave the area. But where could they go?
Harassment of the defenseless in Pakistan is an everyday occurrence, and hence carries no shock value. This could be a reason why the most popular and influential figures in the establishment media decided not to cover this horrifying violation of human rights. And those who did cover it covered it fairly late.
mortimer says
Discrimination is systemic in Islam and if the mullahs don’t actively encourage it, they will say nothing to stop it. Whatever helps Islam to terrorise the kafirs and subjugate them is ‘good’, no matter how unreasonable. Pakistan has turned into a hell for minorities. And it seems to be getting worse.
– from Sufi scholar Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624): “The honour of Islam lies in INSULTING kufr and kafirs. One who respects the kafirs dishonours the Muslims… The real purpose of levying jiziya on them is to HUMILIATE them to such an extent that they may not be able to dress well and to live in grandeur. They should constantly remain TERRIFIED and TREMBLING. It is intended to hold them under CONTEMPT and to uphold the honour and might of Islam.”
– from ibn Taymiyya, “Book of Emaan”: “… true believers show ANIMOSITY and HATRED towards disbelievers and NEVER support them.”
– K. 28:86 says: “Lend not thou support in any way
So … no water for Hindus, even if the outlet was installed for the general use of the public regardless of their race or creed.
commonsense says
Note that the first quote is from a Sufi scholar, Ahmad Sirhindi. This belies the unfounded assumption, held by many who know little or nothing about Islam, that Sufis are peaceful Muslims, unlike their non-Sufi co-religionists. Many probably associate Sufism with the whirling dervishes, the mystics who perform on stage before non-Muslim audiences. But many Sufis were not only ardent proponents of jihad, but also of persecution of infidels. Sirhindi was not alone.
Honest Ali says
Why any Hindu remains in Pakistan is beyond me.
Keith O says
Too poor to leave?
Infidel says
That, and the journey from Sind to India is long and complicated. On the Indian side, they’ve reduced several barriers, and there are NGOs that help resettle them in states like Rajasthan. Problem is that there are still 10 million Hindus in Pakistan, so it will take a while to get all of them out
Bikinis non Burkas says
Cross the border to India and claim asylum!
Infidel says
Remember earlier this year, when near Delhi, at the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad, the temple managers supporting Swami Yati were heavily pilloried by the Indian media for scolding a muslim kid who had entered the temple to have water? Facts of that case: there was a tube well or water source outside the temple premises, and what’s more, the kid in question was caught urinating in the temple, stealing money from there and doing other anti-Hindu acts
In this case in Pakistan, the Hindus in question didn’t enter the mosque itself: they had water from a faucet outside it, but that didn’t stop the Mohammedans from acting up on them. Swami Yati should get videos of that incident, and the next time any muslim tries to trespass into ?, he should get a good hiding and get told that it’s in retaliation for what happened in Pakistan
faraway says
One time long ago, I was shouted at for peeing against the outer wall of a mosque in Old Delhi; seems like I got off lightly 🙂