The case of Rajeeta Kolhi, a Pakistani Hindu girl abducted from her home, forcibly converted to Islam, and married to her abductor, has brought to light the pressing issue concerning the condition of Hindus in Pakistan. Rajeeta’s ordeal, like many other minority girls, exposes a system that often appears rigged against the persecuted.
In a deeply troubling development, a young Hindu girl, Rajeeta Kolhi, was at the centre of a distressing ordeal in Pakistan. Despite her impassioned pleas to a Pakistani magistrate for a longed-for reunion with her parents, she was forcibly remanded to judicial custody at the so-called “Dar-Ul-Aman,” an Islamic shelter home.
Rajeeta Kolhi was abducted at gunpoint from her house and subjected to unimaginable horrors. She endured captivity, gang rape, and forced marriage to her abductor, Ashiq Ahmadani, for two months, in Karachi. Her harrowing journey took a turn when she was about to be sold off in Hyderabad. In Hyderabad, Rajeeta summoned the courage to escape, ultimately reaching Mirpurkhas.
Upon her escape, Rajeeta has expressed grave concerns for her life, fearing the specter of re-abduction, an all-too-common occurrence in similar cases in Pakistan. Rajeeta pleaded with the court to be reunited with her parents. However, the court’s decision was perplexing. It ordered her to be placed in the custody of Dar-ul Aman, a safe house for women, typically considered a “refuge” in sensitive custody situations. In this instance, Rajeeta herself had requested to return to her parents, but her plea was denied. Her desperate cries and emotional pleas in court went unanswered.
This deeply unsettling pattern of re-abduction is starkly exemplified by the case of Meena Kolhi, who, after surviving 14 months of captivity and the ordeal of gang-rape at the hands of seven individuals from the same family, was tragically re-abducted by her initial tormentors in June. To make matters even more heart-wrenching, there remains no trace of Meena’s younger sister, Rekha, who was initially abducted along with her.
The dismal state of affairs is further exacerbated by reports of unspeakable conditions within the self-proclaimed “government shelter homes” that these vulnerable girls are sent to. Allegations of rampant sexual, physical, and psychological abuse cast a long shadow over these facilities. To compound the injustice, it is alleged that the abductors often wield significant influence, enabled by their connections to the military-mullah network, granting them unhindered access to these shelters. This, in turn, results in the cruel isolation of the girls from their desperate and heartbroken parents.
Human rights activists like Shiva, Co-Chairman & Founder of Minority Rights Organization, have been working relentlessly to provide whatever assistance they can to these victims. Despite the heroic efforts of these activists, the system in Pakistan appears to facilitate the persecution of Pakistani Hindus.
Will our Hindu girls ever live a normal life in Pakistan? Will our so-called celebrities voice out their support for them? The only lone voice in all this chaos is that of a fellow Pakistani Hindu, Danish Kaneria, who always makes it a point to call out the hypocrisy of the Pakistanis when it comes to treating the minority Hindu population. However, no Hindu celebrity in Bharat opens their mouth for the cause.
