How Hindu persecution is negated at the “paper of record”! New York Times quite correctly raises alarm at Pakistan strengthening its blasphemy laws which target non-Muslim minorities. But doesn’t mention Pakistani Hindus at all, despite daily atrocities.
Per census data Hindus comprise the largest religious minority in Pakistan: 2.14% vs 1.27% for Christians. And face non-stop persecution & hostility from private and State actors for their faith along with attacks on Hindu temples and loss of sacred spaces.
Hate against “idol-worship” & fake blasphemy charges against Pakistani Hindus are common. In 2019, a Hindu school principal was accused of blasphemy by a Muslim student simply for being asked about incomplete homework. Community-wide attacks followed.
In 2022, that very same principal, Notan Lal, was fined and sentenced to 25 years in prison, even though the student had confessed to lying on the intial charges of blasphemy.
Also in 2019, New York Times itself reported on Pakistani Hindus caught up in blasphemy charges, along with those of other minority faiths.
In 2021 Pakistan had the dubious distinction of charging an eight year old Hindu boy with blasphemy. Following international outrage, charges were dismissed, but not before the local Hindu community faced yet another round of violence.
In August 2022, a Hindu sanitation worker and the broader Hindu community (again) faced the wrath of mobs after trumped up blasphemy charges.
And just last week we heard of Luv Kumar, a Hindu boy imprisoned for blasphemy after a post bewailing “God” in context of the kidnapping & forced conversion to Islam of Hindu girls in Pakistan. So Hindus do not even have the right to cry or complain!
We question why the very important New York Times coverage on Pakistani blasphemy laws ignored these, and many more such Hindu blasphemy victims? As an advocate for Hindu Human Rights, CoHNA is aghast at the blatant manner in which the paper ignores anti-Hindu hate and violence.
(This article has been compiled from the tweet thread originally tweeted by CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America) (@CoHNAOfficial) on January 24, 2023.)
