GD GOENKA University

Political Science Faculty

Internship Program

Baloch Hindu Minorities

Prepared by: Shafiullah Saberi

1
 Hinduism in Balochistan
Hinduism is a minority religion in Balochistan followed by 0.4% of the population of the
province. It is the largest minority religion in Balochistan. The Balochistan is home to the shrine
of Shri Hinglaj Mata temple, which is one of the most sacred Hindu temples. The annual Hinglaj
Yatra to the temple is the largest Hindu pilgrimage in Pakistan

History
The earliest people in Balochistan were the Brahui people, a Dravidian speaking people closely
related to the Dravidian speaking people of South India. They were originally Hindus and
Buddhists. The Hindu Sewa Dynasty ruled much of region of Balochistan up until the 7th
century AD. The Sibi division which was carved out of the Quetta division still derives its name
from Rani Sewi, the queen of the Hindu Sewa dynasty. In 634 CE, the Hindu Brahman dynasty
of Sindh controlled parts of Balochistan.

During the 7th century, Arab forces invaded Balochistan subsequently converting a large
majority of the Baloch people from Hinduism to Islam. After the partition of British India and
the ensuing creation of Pakistan, much of the Hindu Baloch migrated to India, particularly the
Bhagnaris community

Demographics
According to the 1998 Census, Balochistan had approximately 39,000 Hindus (including the
Scheduled Castes) constituting 0.59% of the population. In the 2017 Census, the absolute
number of Hindus increased to 49,000 but their percentage decreased to 0.4%.However, Pakistan
Hindu Council estimates that there are 117,345 Hindus in Balochistan

Only a minority of Baloch people are Hindus. There are Hindu Balochs in the Bugti, Bezenjo,
Marri, Rind and other Baloch tribes.

Compared to the rest of the country, the Hindus in Balochistan province are relatively more
secure and face less religious persecution. The tribal chiefs in Balochistan, particularly the Jams
of Lasbela and Bugti of Dera Bugti, consider non-Muslims including Hindus as members of their
own extended family and allows religious freedom. They have never forced Hindus to convert.

2
In Balochistan Hindu places of worship are proportionate to their population. For example,
between Uthal and Bela jurisdiction in Lasbela District, there are 18 temples for 5,000 Hindus
living in the area, which is an indicator of religious freedom. However, in Khuzdar District and

Kalat District, Hindus face discrimination.

The Hindu marriages in Punjab are registered under the Hindu marriage act of 2017. In
Balochistan provincial assembly, there are three seats reserved for minorities. Hindus usually get
elected on 1 or 2 seats

Human rights violations in Balochistan

Human rights violations in Balochistan refers to the mass human rights abuses committed by
combatants involved in the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan. The situation in Pakistani
Balochistan in particular has drawn significant concern in the international community, being
described by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as having reached epidemic proportions. The
deteriorating human rights situation in Balochistan is credited to the long-running conflict
between Baloch nationalists (as well as some Baloch terrorist groups, such as the Balochistan
Liberation Army) and Pakistani security forces.

Brad Adams, director of the HRW Asia Branch, has said that the Pakistani government has not
done enough to stop the widespread human rights abuses in the region, which include torture,
forced disappearances of those suspected of either terrorism or opposition to the Pakistani
military, ill treatment of captured combatants or criminals, and extrajudicial killings. As of 2018,
per The New York Times, the Pakistani deep-state was using Islamist militants to attack Baloch
separatists. Academics and journalists in the United States have been approached by Inter-
Services Intelligence (ISI) spies, who warned them not to speak about the insurgency in
Balochistan or human rights abuses committed by the Pakistan Army, while also threatening to
harm them or their families should they continue to investigate the conflict

3
 Background
Before joining Pakistan, Balochistan consisted of four princely states: Makran, Las Bela, Kharan,
and Kalat. Thr ee of these, Makran, Las Bela, and Kharan willingly joined Pakistan in 1947
during the dissolution of the British Indian Empire. However, Kalat, led by the Khan of Kalat,
Ahmed Yaar Khan, chose independence as this was one of the options given to all of the princely
states by Clement Attlee at the time. Muhammad Ali Jinnah persuaded Yar Khan to accept
Pakistani rule but the Khan stalled for time. After a period of negotiations, Khan finally decided
to accede to Pakistan on 27 March 1948. The Khan's brother Prince Kareem Khan declared
independence and fled to Afghanistan to seek aid and begin an armed struggle that failed. By

June 1948, Baluchistan in whole became a part of Pakistan.

There were a further three insurgencies in the region after 1948: 1958–1959, 1962–1963 and
1973–1977, and a fifth nationalistic movement which began in 2002. The 1958–1959 conflict
was caused by the imposition of the One Unit plan which had been implemented in 1955. This
led to further resistance, and by 1957 Nauroz Khan announced his intention to secede; Pakistan
declared martial law one day later. Pakistan bombed separatists hideouts and deployed tanks with
support from artillery. Nauroz was arrested and died while in prison, his family members were
hanged for treason. According to Dan Slater, pro-independence feelings in East Pakistan and
Balochistan increased in parity with continuing military intervention in the political arena

Karachi (Pakistan): Minorities face threats and have been under attack in Balochistan, the
southwestern province of Pakistan. The province is struggling with an insurgency and Christians,
Shias, Hazaras and Hindus are unsafe.

Recently, reports claimed that Christian and Hazara communities have been targeted by terrorist
groups. Jalila Haider, an activist from the Hazara community, went on a hunger strike
demanding protection for the Hazara community. “More Hazaras have been murdered than rump
sheep in Quetta,” she said, speaking to BBC Urdu.

In Quetta, banned organisations operate openly and the city has experienced unending violence
against minority communities.

4
Two Hindus – 40-year-old Jay Pal and his 19-year-old son Girish Nath – were gunned down in
Hub, a city in Lasbela district of Balochistan on May 12, 2018.

Jay Pal’s brother Sandeep Kumar said the two men were killed while resisting arobbery. “We
belong to a middle-class family and my brother ran a small business. He was carrying 7 lakh
rupees in cash and was killed during an attempted robbery, we are told,” he says.

Compression of Baloch Hinduism

According to the Pakistan Hindu Council, the Hindu population of Balochistan is 117,345. About
13,512 Hindus live in Lasbela district. Jay Prakash Moorani, a senior journalist and president of
the Hyderabad Union of Journalists, said Hindus are targeted because they are business oriented
and effective in trade.“ The Hindu community is influential not only in Balochistan, but also
Sindh,” he says. Moorani said there were targeted killings of Hindus in Mithi and Umerkot in
Sindh too. A cursory look at the First Information Reports (FIR) would show that robbers
routinely target the Hindu community, he said. The city of Hub is well connected to Karachi,
capital of Sindh, and has a thriving business market. Moorani insinuated that rivalry among
business groups might also be a reason behind the robberies and killings. “Local Hindus have
been working in Hub and share 80% of the business. Other groups have settled recently,” he
said. Mohammad Ali Talpur, a reputed writer, also felt the Hindu community was being targeted
for their business orientation. The attacks were an attempt to break the community’s hold on the
market, he said. Minority communities in Balochistan do not have any security, he felt.

The media has largely ignored the killings of Hindus, said Talpur. “Hindus and minorities are not
the media’s concerns. The large rally held by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Karachi

was also ignored by the media,” he said.

Mol Chand, a counselor in Hub, said that when people from the Hindu community file FIRs, the
police record it only as a formality and there is no progress later. “For instance, last year a young
man was accused in a blasphemy case. The community was assured of justice, but he is still in

5
prison. No one knows if there has been any progress in the case and his family is suffering.
Indeed, many families have migrated,” he says.

Chand also felt that the Hindus were being targeted by ‘outsiders’ – though he refused to name
any group – for their business influence. “We only ask for safety and that we are allowed to go
about our business,” he said. Raj Kumar, a member of the Hindu Notable Forum, said that Hub
has seen an influx of ‘outsiders’ who are supported by religious groups. Raj Kumar’s niece
Rinkle Kumari was abducted and converted to Islam in 2012.

“The system has a policy to harass and target Hindus to try and force them to leave the country.
The system has a policy against Hindus, not India,” says Raj Kumar.

The Hindu Notable Forum had held a protest against the killing of Jay Pal and his son, which
was attended by a small crowd. “The media does not cover our issues,” he said.

Raj Kumar also referred to an advertisement issued by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where only non-Muslims and Shias were asked to
apply for the position of sweeper. Imran Khan later opposed the advertisement in a tweet after
criticism on social media. “If the party that wants a Naya Pakistan (new Pakistan) has this
attitude, then what hope do we have?” he asks.

“We want Pakistan to give us equal citizens status, not treat us as a minority. Our children have a
right to at least dream of becoming Pakistan’s Prime Minister,” says Raj Kumar.

Sunil Kumar, a leader of the Balochistan National Party said he was confident of achieving
justice in the Jay Pal case. “Our local communities and political forces, especially nationalist
parties like mine will keep following the case and support the Hindu community. We are in
touch with officials and family members to pursue the case,” he said. Sunil Kumar’s uncle was
also killed in a robbery which he says made him realize something must be done to protect the
minority communities. “Hub is becoming more important because of its business and its
connection to Karachi. Therefore, Hub has seen an influx of outsiders and the situation does not
seem as peaceful as it once was,” he said.

Habib Tahir, an advocate and the vice-chairperson of Balochistan’s wing of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan says, “Since 2006, the insurgency in Balochistan has unsettled the

6
situation. Religious groups independently working in Balochistan are supported by state
institutions. Minorities are not safe, and we saw how Christians and Hazaras were targeted. It is
utterly a failure of the state. Hindus also face such a situation,” he said.

He said the religious groups are also funded by Saudi Arabia and other countries.

The judiciary is also not keen on protecting the minorities, said Tahir, citing Chief Justice of
Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s controversial statement last year in Quetta in which he said, “Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan was probably the first thinker who conceived the Two Nations Theory, that
there were two nations; one was Muslims and the other — well, I don’t even want to utter the
word”

New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Balochistan Hindu Panchayat, an organization working for the
protection of those who fled Pakistan, on Wednesday defended the Citizenship Amendment Act
before the Supreme Court. The organization said the law was essential to protect minorities in
the three neighboring countries and it is not adverse to the principle of secularism.

In an application, the Delhi-based NGO contended the core the Act, passed in December, ensures
well-being of minorities who faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Afghanistan.

"India has not discriminated or set aside people from any particular community here. The Act
does not state that the Muslims will not be granted citizenship. Because Pakistan did not honour
the Nehru-Liaquat Agreement, the government made a reasonable classification to prefer the
communities of Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Christian, and Buddhist," said the application.

The applicant contends the amendment did not say if a Muslim immigrant were to apply for
citizenship, then it would not be considered.

The application emphasized that Muslims were neither minorities nor do they face religious
persecution because of their religion. It contended CAA was based upon the principle of
protecting the minorities, as the Constitution from Articles 29 to 30 provided for special
treatment and protection to the minorities, which was not available to them in the Muslim
majority countries.

7
"The right to avail citizenship is equally applicable for the majority of these three countries like
other foreigners; It is only for the minorities of these three countries, because of their being a
persecuted class, their application for citizenship is being fast-tracked under the present
amendment," said the application.