The poignant lead of Dawn’s June 17 editorial calling on Muslims wrapping up Haj rituals and celebrating Eid ul Zuha as well as “all people of conscience” to “remember the brutalised inhabitants of Palestine in these times of festivity” is heartrending and compels one to introspect.

The fact that anyone and everyone who matters in Pakistan has been expressing unconditional solidarity with the people of Gaza and newspapers have been continuously highlighting the piteous condition of Gaza’s unfortunate inhabitants upon whom a bloody war has been thrust is indeed praiseworthy. However, this impassioned display of concern and solidarity has one glaring drawback- it’s extremely selective and the stoic silence of Pakistani  leaders, media, the clergy and civil society members on the plight of brutalised Muslims living elsewhere is deafening!

There is no outrage against the patently blasphemous so-called ‘sinicisation’ of Islam in China and Beijing’s institutionalised religious persecution of Xinjiang’s Uyghur Muslims. Apologists could cite lack of credible information for this omission. However, the truth is that despite being aware of the atrocities being committed on indigenous Muslims of Xinjiang, Islamabad [which tires to project itself as a messiah of downtrodden Muslims the world over], is so dependent on Beijing that it is scared to stand up for securing the religious rights of Uyghur Muslims.

Pakistan waxes eloquent on implicit adherence to Islamic principles and extols the virtues of the ummah, an Islamic concept that binds the whole community of Muslims worldwide together by ties of religion. So, it’s really shocking when not a tear is shed, nor a word of sympathy expressed for the brutalised people of Balochistan and Sindh who have been forced to protest against the enforced disappearance of their near and dear ones on a day when they should have been celebrating Eid. That Pakistani media chose to completely black-out this news is, to say the least, deplorable.

Nevertheless, it would be incorrect to say that no one in Pakistan cares for the marginalised people of Balochistan and Sindh provinces. However, since highlighting their plight would invariably expose the gross wrongdoings and illegal actions of the perpetrators [which is the Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence or ISI], the media, organisations, groups and individuals tend to avoid running the risk of antagonising the ‘establishment’ by writing or speaking on the issue of enforced disappearances and thereby inviting its menacing wrath!

As they say, “discretion is the better part of valour”!

In occupied-Balochistan, the Eid day protest against enforced disappearances was held by the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons [VBMP], a Quetta based non-governmental organisation formed in 2009 that represents family members of thousands of people who have been subjected to enforced disappearance in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. This NGO has been pressing for a political solution to end the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan rather than using brute military force, but hasn’t met with any success.

VBMP co-founder Mama Qadir Baloch in a touching video statement on the Eid day protest said, “For the past 15 years, the atrocities committed by the Army and intelligence agencies of Pakistan have led the Baloch [people] to boycott Eid celebrations. While Muslims across the world celebrate this occasion, the Baloch [people] mourn.“ [Emphasis added]. So, while the war ravaged Muslims in Gaza definitely deserve sympathy, don’t the Baloch people [who too are Muslims] too merit compassionate dealing?

Mama Qadir isn’t an opportunist. He is a well-grounded person whose words come straight from his heart since he knows exactly what families of those subjected to enforced disappearances go through since he has himself experienced this agony. His own son was forcibly abducted in broad daylight by intelligence operatives in February 2009, and remained missing for two years and nine months. Qadir also knows what a father feels when the bullet riddled dead body of his son bearing signs of severe torture is found dumped by the roadside. 

Similarly, in Sindh province too, Missing Persons Families, Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh, Sindh Sabha and national workers of Sindudesh Movement organised protests on Eid day against enforced disappearances orchestrated by the Pakistan Army and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. However, despite the fact that this was for the second consecutive year that such a protest was organised coinciding with Eid celebrations, this event too went mostly unreported.

Pakistan has been unable to arrest the despicable trend of enforced disappearances since these occur on explicit orders of the Army which being law unto itself is answerable to no one. And a two star Pakistan Army General’s candid public admission that “We don’t want any person to go missing but where there is a war, you have to do a number of [undesirable] things. It is said that everything is fair in love and war. War occurs to be ruthless” [Emphasis added] provides irrefutable proof of Rawalpindi’s complicity in enforced disappearances.

So, while reading Pakistan Army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations’ [ISPR] recent statement that Pakistan Army Gen Syed Asim Munir “condemned India’s ongoing oppression and brutalities against Kashmiris,”one is tempted to  ask him to set his own house in order by putting an end to enforced disappearances rather than shedding crocodile tears on imaginary oppression of Kashmiris.

As the wise have said, “charity begins at home!”

Tailpiece: Asian Human Rights Commission [AHRC] August 29, 2014 statement [Document ID ARHC-STM-167-2014] issued to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances reads, “The government [of Pakistan] as well as the judiciary has today fully realized the prevalence of enforced disappearances – being perpetrated by the military and the intelligence services; that these agencies of the government are abducting hundreds, if not thousands of people from different parts of the country make them disappear, in particular from Balochistan where it is done in staggering numbers.” [Emphasis added].

To remedy this sorry state of affairs AHRC had urged “both the parliament and the judiciary of Pakistan to take charge of the defence forces and make them answerable to the people of Pakistan.” Unfortunately, even though ten years have since elapsed, the menace of enforced disappearances in Pakistan persists, because with Rawalpindi manipulating both the parliament and judiciary expecting them “take charge of the defence forces,” and making Rawalpindi “answerable to the people of Pakistan” is nothing but a perverse joke!

May God give people of Pakistan the power to accept things they cannot change!

In a marginalised Hindu minority in Bangladesh, more than hundred homes were demolished in Dhaka’s Miranjilla area this week, rendering impoverished Hindu families homeless in an act of blatant persecution.

What began with assurances from city officials that only part of the Harijan Colony would be cleared soon turned into a nightmare for the long-suffering Hindu community. On Monday, authorities from the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), backed by heavy police presence, descended on the area with bulldozers and demolition crews.

Without warning, the bulldozers razed the humble residences of Hindu families who had lived in Miranjilla for generations – some for over 400 years after being brought from India by the British for cleaning work. Belongings were crushed, homes destroyed as helpless residents watched, women wept, and protesters tried in vain to stop the demolition drive by lying on the roads.

The heart-wrenching scenes sparked an outcry, with the Hindu organisation Jatiyo Hindu Mahajote vowing to support the newly displaced families. Some of these homes belonged to Hindu veterans who fought for Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.

The demolitions have reignited long-simmering anger over the repeated persecution of religious minorities by Bangladeshi authorities, with allegations that the land is being cleared to build a market.

In a tragic culmination of the events, one person died of a heart attack while another took his own life, crushed by the loss of their homes and generational roots. The displaced Hindus, speaking Telugu and belonging to the Harijan community, now face an uncertain future of potential statelessness in the nation they have called home for centuries.

In yet another shocking case, a Hindu girl named Sonika Chawla from Larkana was abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to her Muslim abductor, highlighting the ongoing issue of forced conversions and marriages targeting religious minorities in Pakistan.

The tragic incident follows the recent case of 13-year-old Roshni Meghwar from Mirpur Khas, Sindh, who was also forcibly converted to Islam and married to a Muslim boy, underscoring the precarious situation of minority girls in the region.

Once a significant population, Hindus have now been reduced to a vulnerable minority, with their daughters becoming prime targets for radical Islamist groups. These groups systematically abduct Hindu girls, forcibly convert them to Islam, and marry them off to their abductors, often men two to three times their age.

The victims frequently face sexual violence and coercion, compounding the trauma of their abduction and forced conversion. Despite the gravity of the situation, international human rights organizations have largely overlooked their plight, enabling the perpetrators to act with impunity.

On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, families of missing persons and civil society groups in Sindh organized protests, demanding the release of individuals abducted and subjected to enforced disappearances by Paki establishment.

The protests, organized by Missing Persons Families, Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh, Sindh Sabha, and the National Workers of the Sindhudesh Movement, drew attention to the widespread issue of enforced disappearances in the occupied Sindh, Balochistan, and the Pashtun regions of Pakistan.

Despite repeated pleas and the inability of the judiciary and executive branches to take action, the organizers vowed to continue raising their voices against the cruelty and human rights violations.

The protesters appealed to international human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations, to take notice and action against the human rights violations in Pakistan.

They also called upon the international community and world powers to support the Sindhi people in achieving their freedom and restoring their independent status from 1843.

The protests brought together families of missing persons, civil society activists, and supporters of the Sindhi independence movement, unified in their demand for justice and an end to the practice of enforced disappearances.