Hindu minorities of Pakistan are constantly facing persecution, with killings, abductions, rapes, and forcible conversions being the norm. The world and so-called champions of ‘human rights’ have conveniently turned a blind eye to the plight of Pakistani Hindus.
Therefore, British Members of Parliament (MPs) calling on the United Kingdom (UK) government to pressurise the Pakistan government to end the persecution of minorities, including minor Hindu girls, is a welcome step. However, the coverage, rather a lack of it, has raised important questions about the anti-Hindu bias of international media. As British Journalist Naomi Canton pointed out, the journalists and the media houses that cry hoarse about the ‘persecution of minorities’ in Bharat have maintained a deafening silence despite the charges being equally, if not more, serious.
British Parliament on persecution of minorities in Pakistan
British MPs debated the worsening state of religious freedom in Pakistan, highlighting severe persecution faced by Hindus, Christians, Ahmadis, and Shia Muslims. Reports revealed that girls as young as 12 are being abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married against their will, particularly in Sindh province which has the highest concentration of Hindu minorities. Blasphemy laws, among the harshest globally, often incite mob violence against innocent individuals, with perpetrators going unpunished.
MP Jim Shannon criticized Pakistan’s societal and legislative frameworks for fostering intolerance, citing issues like forced marriages, desecration of Ahmadi mosques and graves, and hate speech. He also condemned the lack of response from organizations like Amnesty International. Shannon urged the UK government to condition aid to Pakistan, impose sanctions on officials involved in human rights abuses, and pressure reforms on blasphemy laws.
Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell noted that 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls are kidnapped annually in Pakistan. Meanwhile, Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer stated that these concerns had been privately raised with Pakistani officials, who claimed to be addressing them.
The debate also touched on religious persecution in Bangladesh, where Hindus face attacks on their homes, temples, and institutions. Bob Blackman MP highlighted an attempt to ban ISKCON in Bangladesh and the arrest of its leader Chinmoy Krishna Das, calling for Bharat and the UK to intervene to protect religious minorities.
International media’s anti-Hindu & anti-Bharat bias
Despite the important debate, no media house thought it worthwhile to cover and ask tough questions about Pakistan. In contrast, the Western media makes no effort to hide its anti-Bharat bias. It constantly rants against ‘minority rights’ in Bharat while ignoring human rights abuse in Pakistan and China. The Western media never debates the declining Hindu population of Pakistan but uses false cases to target Bharat as being ‘dangerous’ for minorities, particularly Muslims.
However, the truth is contrary to this. The Hindu population in Pakistan has sharply declined since 1947. Almost all Hindus have either been killed or forcibly converted to Islam, with the result that barely 1-2% of the Hindus out of the 26% at the time of partition are still alive there. Contrast this with the Muslims in Bharat, who have prospered and progressed to over 200 million from a mere 30 million.
During the Loksabha elections this May, there was a constant attempt by the US media to fearmonger and project Bharat as anti-Muslim. “The New York Times published a report on May 19, in which it was said that Muslim families living in India have been sidelined by the ruling authorities and even their identities are being questioned,” noted OpIndia.
As elections began in Bharat and it was a given that PM Modi would be back in power, Western media houses began scaremongering with lies, exaggerations, and anti-Hindu prejudice. From the New York Times to Reuters to Al Jazeera the same narrative of ‘Hindu Supremacy’ and ‘Muslim khatre mein’ (Muslims are in danger) was peddled to influence the electoral process. Fortunately for Bharat, the Hindudveshi anti-national INDI alliance was kept out of power by the electorate and Modi returned as PM albeit with a diminished mandate.
The Financial Times is another Western media house that has been perpetuating misleading narratives about Bharat’s democratic decline, fostering claims of anti-Muslim rhetoric, and alleging restrictions on media freedoms, among other accusations. Additionally, it has been attempting to interfere in Bharatiya elections and politics, positioning itself as if it were an active political participant. Even EAM Jaishankar had slammed the Western media for meddling in Bharat’s internal affairs.
The complete silence of the Western media in the case of Pakistan reveals their double standards and deep-seated hatred for Hindu Bharat.
