Hindu leaders in Pak approach Indian, US missions for help

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With no let up in crimes against Hindus in Mirpurkhas area of Pakistan's Sindh province from where nearly 20 families have left the country, the minority community leaders from the region have approached the Indian and US missions for help.

The Hindu community in Mirpurkhas and its surrounding areas is being targeted by criminals day in and day out and police were paying no heed to their plight, Hindu Panchayat Chairman Laxmandas Perwani said.

Hindu families were left with no option but to leave Pakistan and at least 18 families had migrated, a majority of them to India and some to Dubai, during the past five months, Perwani told Geo News channel.

During the same period, the homes of 70 Hindu families in Mirpurkhas and nearby areas were burgled, he said.

Two youths were killed for not paying extortion money and two kidnapped businessmen were freed after they paid millions of rupees as ransom, he added.

With no let up in the incidents in which Hindus were targeted, members of the Hindu Panchayat sent letters to the Indian High Commission and the US embassy, seeking their help, he said.

Perwani, a former member of the Sindh Assembly, said the step of writing to foreign missions was taken after the police and politicians did not pay heed to the grievances of the Hindus.

The kidnapping of a 14-year-old Hindu girl, Manisha Kumari, from Jacobabad in Sindh on August 7 sparked widespread concern in the minority community.

There were also reports last week of the exodus of dozens of Hindu families from the region. Following the reports of the exodus, Pakistani immigration authorities stopped 250 Hindu pilgrims on their way to India at the Wagah border on Friday.

The Hindus were allowed to travel to India after leaders of the community assured the government that they would return to Pakistan after the pilgrimage.

Hindus are the largest minority community in Pakistan but make up about two per cent of the population of 180 million. Most Pakistani Hindus live in Sindh province. c