PAKISTAN : Fate of HINDU GIRLS remains unclear

[govind shiyani]

PAKISTAN : Fate of HINDU GIRLS remains unclear
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www.jang.com.pk/thenews/index.html
By Aroosa Masroor Khan

Father knocks on many doors for justice

KARACHI: The fate of three sisters from a Hindu family who were
kidnapped from their house in October remains unclear with their
family insisting that they are being detained against their will at
a city madrassah. The madrassah insists that the girls have
converted to Islam by their own free will and are not interested in
meeting their family.

The parents were allowed to meet their daughters a few weeks back
after orders from the court but the meeting was carefully
orchestrated. All three girls were behind a veil and were assisted
by a woman from the
madrassah.

The father of the three girls, Sanao Amra, said that he felt that
his daughters were being pressurized because he could see tears in
their eyes - the only body part that was exposed.

He objected to the interference of the lady of the madrassah who did
not let him and his wife talk to them in private. He also said that
the veil was perhaps being used to hide their facial expressions,
because hiding the face behind a hijab in front of the family was
not a part of the Islamic practice.

The family was earlier informed by one of the neighbours that the
girls were found and brought to Frere police station after which
they were shifted to the Darul Uloom. Amra was told that he could
not meet his daughters until he had orders from the court.

Even though the magistrate reassured that the girls had accepted
Islam, the father insisted on acknowledging this fact only after he
met them. Recognising the family's right to meet the girls, the
court ordered a meeting under the supervision of five policemen
including an senior official from teh Baloch Colony police station.

On reaching the madrassah, where they have been kept for over two
months now, the family was told that none of the girls were willing
to meet their parents. "I couldn't believe my daughters saying such
a thing and immediately understood there was something fishy," said
the father while talking to The News.

After much debate, the girls were then brought to a small cubicle
room surrounded by people other than the family members. The
daughters were unable to disclose anything in the uncomfortable
surrounding so the woman accompanying the girls did the talking,
which did not quite please the family.

"We got up after 20 minutes instead of the decided one-hour meeting
because we did not like the intrusion of others who were made our
conversation an ordeal," disclosed Sanao.

Not satisfied with this meeting, Sanao Amra filed an application
with Magistrate Zulfiqar Ali for arranging another meeting either in
the court, the Edhi Center or the Darul Uloom. However, this
application was rejected after referance was made to a 'letter of
satisfaction' from the daughters as proof to convince the parents
that they were not willing to meet again.

On 18th October when Sanao Amraís wife, Champa, returned home from
work,
her daughters were nowhere to be found. Unable to understand what
had
exactly happened behind her back, she inquired about their
whereabouts
from her neighbours. The neighbours initially said they had not seen
the
girls, but later told Champa that the elder daughters Reena, 21 and
Usha, 19, were seen rushing out of home towards their younger sister
Reemaís school from where perhaps all the sisters were kidnapped.

Sanao Amra searched for his daughters for 2-3 days after which he
went
to the police. They turned down his pleas for help by saying that
the
government had not provided them with proper means of investigation
and
therefore there was not much they could do. The refusal by the
police
did not leave much for the family to hope.

Then a few days later, one of the neighbours handed some documents
to
Sanao, which they said that they had received through courier. The
documents stated that their daughters had embraced Islam and was
signed
by them too. A neighbour informed the girlsí family that the girls
had
embraced Islam a year ago, but the father did not believe him. "No
sane
person would ever fall for that. My daughters were kidnapped on the
18th
and the documents state that they accepted Islam on that day itself,
if
at all." He said that he had been with his daughters for years and
was
very well aware of their thoughts and actions.

Sanao added that kidnapping Hindus and making them embrace Islam is
not
a new practice for their minority. "This has been happening for
years,
itís just that we belong to a suppressed class and are scared of
involving the police and the media which is why such cases werenít
highlighted before. This is the first time anybody from my community
has
taken this step and I am not going to withdraw the case, but I can
nothing by myself until I have the police or some government
official to
help me investigate."