LONDON: Members of the Sindhi, Hindu and Baloch rights organisations held a demonstration in front of 10 Downing Street, the residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron, protesting the alleged kidnapping and forced marriages of Hindu girls in Sindh and against the Lyari operation.
Members of the World Sindhi Congress and International Sindhi Women Organisation (ISWO) were joined by Baloch and Hindu groups.In a petition submitted to the office of the British prime minister, the demonstrators urged the British Government to intervene in the matter as the Pakistani government was showing “apathy” on the issue.
The petition pointed out that the Hindus constituted 15 per cent of the total population in Pakistan at the time of the partition in 1947 but it has now dwindled to less than 2 per cent.The petition claimed that in the recent past there were as many as 25 cases of Hindu girls being kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslims youths in Pakistan.
The speakers requested the international community to put pressure on Pakistan to guarantee the protection and safety of Sindhi Hindu girls in Pakistan as, they alleged, young Sindhi Hindu girls are being kidnapped, subjected to forced marriages with Muslim boys, and converted to Islam. They mentioned the case of Sindhi Hindu girls Rinkal, Lata and Aisha Kumari and called on the Pakistani government to take notice of their plights.
The Baloch on this occasion protested against the on-going operation in Lyari and urged the Pakistani security
