British Hindus have raised the plight of minorities in Pakistan, highlighting the burning of an old temple in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last month.
A letter that has been signed by Hindu leaders under the initiative of Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain was sent to Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking urgent action to pursue the Prime Minister of Pakistan to stop this ‘rampant persecution of Hindus in Pakistan’.
The joint letter (see pic) sent to 10 Downing Street on 9 January 2021, issued by the British Hindu umbrella organisations has been signed by Trupti Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain, Dhiraj Shah, President of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Rajnish Kashyap, General Secretary of the Hindu Council UK, Arun Thakar, President of the National Council of Hindu Temples UK and Tribhuvan Jotangia, President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The letter was sent after a temple in Terri village in Karak district of Pakistan was attacked even after Hindu community there received a formal permission from local authorities to renovate its decade-old structure. The mob burnt down the newly constructed temple as well as the old structure.
The letter to PM Johnson highlights the heart-breaking incident on 30 December 2020, when the temple was destroyed by the mob consisting of “thousands of fanatics led by clerics”.
Trupti Patel from Hindu Forum of Britain told Asian Voice exclusively, “We have witnessed in our lifetime the total decimation and persecution of minorities in Pakistan. Every successive Pakistani Government has indulged in some form of persecution that has affected Hindus as well as Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs. These horrendous abuses have hitherto gone unchallenged. It is time for the world to wake up to this brutality and we ask our Prime Minister to take a leading role in setting up a far-reaching inquiry to assess the level of human rights violations. The minorities in Pakistan are vanishing rapidly, they need our help.”
The letter said, “We the representatives of the national umbrella bodies for Hindus in the UK would like to seek urgent action to demand that the Prime Minister of Pakistan does everything possible to stop the rampant persecution of Hindus in Pakistan… in the recent past the situation for minorities like Hindus in Pakistan is getting extremely perilous.
“We ask you Prime Minister to set up a Governmental Inquiry into this issue and to ask all good democracies around the world, via the United Nations, to replicate a similar type of inquiry. The mass murder, genocide and persecution of minorities in Pakistan must be stopped…”
It also talked about how the vast majority of UK and international news organisations failed to cover this ‘religiously motivated hate crime’.
The letter further pointed out the scandalous opinions of high-profile figures in Pakistan, who resisted building of a Hindu temple in Islamabad, which further resulted in an anti-Hindu ‘hysteria’.
Rajnish Kashyap from Hindu Council UK said, “The recent destruction of a Hindu temple is the one example of long list of terrorising and victimisation of Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan. There are grotesque minority issues in Pakistan which has been ignored by the west. So, we want Prime Minister Boris Johnson to demand action and accountability from the Pakistan Government.”
The signatories of this letter have also asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street to discuss the matter further.
