Pakistan: ‘This country is ours, provide security to our children’: Hindu senator on attacks on community

Pakistan senator Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das has condemned the rising threats and attacks against the members of the Hindu community and temples across the country.

In a tweet on his Twitter handle on Thursday, Das wrote, “We Hindus can give our lives for our land Pakistan, this country is ours, this Pakistan is ours, we will tell the world that there is freedom of speech in the Parliaments of Pakistan, the job of the state is to provide security to our children.”

Das, who is affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League (N) party, is a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in the minority-reserved seats.

In his tweet, Das also question the inaction of the present government of Pakistan towards the attacks against the Hindu community, saying, “During Nawaz Sharif’s time, there was a targeted operation [against attackers] in the past, so why not now? It [attacks] may still happen.”

The senator’s comments came after reports emerged of a Hindu temple being vandalised by dacoits in the Ghouspur area of Sindh’s Kashmore. The dacoits in the area have targeted the lives and livelihoods of the minority communities, which has caused a state of fear in the area.

Not just Hindus, situation of Muslims bad too: Pakistan senator

Speaking at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Senator Das said that dacoits have been targetting the Hindu community in many places, and the condition of Muslims in areas such as Kashmore, Sakkar, Kandhkot, and Rajanpur is equally bad. He urged the present government to provide protection to the Hindu community by taking action against the dacoits.

The senator also said that despite the bad conditions, Hindus will not be terrorised by the events and will not leave Pakistan.

Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Pervez Ashraf promised the government’s full support to the Hindu community, saying that minorities should not have to live in fear as the state has a responsibility to keep its citizens safe.

Similar words were echoed by Member of National Assembly (MNA) Akbar Ali Chitrali of the Jamaat-e-Islami, who said that attacks on any citizens, despite their religion, were an attack on the Constitution of Pakistan itself.