25 Hindu girls abducted every month in Pakistan and converted forcibly

25 Hindu girls abducted every month, claims HRCP official

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
By Rabia Ali, Karachi

As many as 20 to 25 girls from the Hindu community are abducted every month and converted forcibly, said Amarnath Motumal, an advocate and council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

“There is no official record to support this statement, but according to estimates, in Karachi alone, a large number of Hindu girls are being kidnapped on a routine basis,” Motumal told The News. “The families of the victims are scared to register cases against the influential perpetrators as death threats are issued to them in case they raise their voice. So, the victims choose to remain silent to save their lives,” he said.

Motumal said the word ‘Hindu’ had become an insult and a kind of abuse for the Hindu community. “Almost 90 per cent of the Hindu community comprise poor and impoverished families whose needs and rights have been neglected by the ones at the helms of power,” he said, adding that since a majority of the people feel helpless, only a few families come to him with their cases.

A former MPA, Bherulal Balani, said that the Hindu girls, especially the ones belonging to scheduled castes, were mostly being abducted from the Lyari area. “Once the girls are converted, they are then sold to other people or are forced to do illegal and immoral activities,” Balani said. He added the perpetrators were very powerful and that was the reason that no cases were being registered against them.

The number of attacks against the Hindu community has increased in the interior Sindh during the last three months. At least nine incidents have been reported which range from forced conversion of Hindus to rape and murders.

In one incident, a 17-year-old girl ‘K’ was gang-raped in Nagarparker area. In another incident, a 15-year-old girl ‘D’ was allegedly abducted from Aaklee village, Tharparkar, and was forced to convert. About 71 families migrated from the village in protest against the girl’s abduction.

Moreover, the Hindu communities were not even spared on the occasion of their joyous festival of Holi as two girls, Anita and Kishni, were kidnapped in Kotri. Moreover, two Hindu boys, Ajay and Sagar, were abducted from another place on the same day.

One Amir Gul was murdered in the beginning of March in Tando Haider, Umerkot, allegedly by a landlord. Later in the month, a boy, Kishan Kumar, was kidnapped from Kandhkot, Jacobabad.

MPA Pitamber Sewani told The News that these acts were being done by certain elements who believe that these minority communities might support the government in the upcoming local bodies’ elections, and these elements want to harass them.

However, President Pakistan Hindu Council Ramesh Kumar criticised the minorities’ representatives for not raising their voice at relevant forums. He said that they were simply representing their respective parties and not the poor people. He added that poor economic conditions had led to an increase in kidnapping cases in the province, especially in the Kandhkot and Jacobabad areas.

Coordinator HRCP Task Force Sindh Dr Ashothama Lohano told The News the according to their one fact-finding report, the most affected persons of violence belonged to Hindu and Christian communities. He said that various reasons have been cited for this. “The recent wave of extremism is one reason, which has destroyed the harmony of the land of Sufis. Another reason is the destruction of the agriculture sector and small markets that has led to frustration and lawlessness. Yet another reason is that the elected representatives are working only for the party and not for the community,” Dr Lohano added.

He further said that minority communities were easy targets as the Hindus were generally hesitant to raise voice against the injustices. “When the Hindu communities become politically active, they are blamed for having Indian connections,” doctor Lohano said.

Kidnappings to fund Islamic terrorism in India

Kidnapping: Terror’s new funding source
Vicky Nanjappa
October 10, 2008 12:02 IST

It is a known fact that fake currency is one of the main funding methods to carry out terror-related activities. While investigating agencies have begun to crack down heavily on the fake currency racket, terror operatives are now finding newer methods to fund terror operations.

Intelligence bureau officials warn that the next big to fund terror activities would be abductions and investigations have shown that ransom money was used in major terror operations such as the attack on the World Trade Centre and the Indian Parliament.

IB reports suggest that the abductions are often carried out by the underworld and a part of the ransom money is handed over to terror operatives, who use it to carry out subversive activities.

According to a report prepared by B Srinivasulu, Superintendent of Police, Intelligence, Hyderabad, kidnappers resort to new methods to achieve their goal. Abductions in India are often controlled from Dubai, that operate using satellite phones. These persons use local conduits in such operations.

Persons desperate to go to the Gulf are chosen as conduits and are lured into the racket with a promise of easy money. The job assigned to these conduits is to identify persons who could be abducted. Once identified, the local gangs are directed to undertake the operation.

Once the operation is complete, the call is then made through satellite phones from Dubai and the ransom money is transferred.

The IB says that a large part of this money is used in funding terror operations. In the year 2001, a businessman from Kolkata by the name Partho Burman was abducted and later released after ransom money of Rs 4 crore was paid.

The IB report says that the man who controlled the operation from Dubai was Aftab Ansari, a resident of Uttar Pradesh [Images] who owed allegiance to the Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islam.

The agency adds that that there is proof of ransom money being used in terror operations.

An E-mail sent by Ansari to Asif Reza Khan, a SIMI [Images] leader stated, ‘Bhai maine ek lakh dollar Sheikh Omar ko de diya hai (I have paid $100,000 to Sheikh).’

The modus operandi is proving to be difficult to crack for investigating agencies.

Recently, a boy abducted in Hyderabad was kept in a farm house in the city and later shifted to Pune where another gang took possession of the boy. Ironically, the gang at Hyderabad, which carried out the operation, was unaware of the members of the Pune gang.

From Pune the boy was shifted to a remote village in UP and handed over to another local gang. Once again, the Pune gang had no idea about the gang in UP. The only person aware of all the three gangs would be the man sitting in Dubai and controlling operations, the IB says.

This in turn makes it very difficult to crack down on the case since these gangs are operating strictly on a need-to-know basis.

According to Srinivasalu’s report a specialised organized crime unit needs to be set up at the state level to handle such cases and this unit needs to coordinate with the rest of the states.

There needs to be a central nodal agency to coordinate the efforts of this team and it would be the job of this agency to collect information from all units, analyse it and then pass it on.

As the kidnappings/extortions are being perpetrated by the underworld from foreign soil, it is necessary to have a matured co-ordination with the Central Bureau of Investigation to handle such cases when the state units are unable to investigate effectively for unforeseen reasons viz., case spreading over different states, compilation of ownership details of satellite phones and also extradition of the accused.