Had they been Rohingya refugees…

Shiban Khaibri
Reminded of a famous saying depicting human callousness , apathy, nonchalance and insensitivity towards tragedies – man made or natural of fellow human beings, it says, ” It is not catastrophes , murders, deaths, diseases etc that age and kill us , it is the way people look and laugh and possibly run up the steps of omnibuses.” Had they been Rohingya Muslims illegally intruded into our country and 11 of them dying mysteriously as happened with the unfortunate persecuted and hounded out Pakistani Hindus in Jodhpur Rajasthan on August 9, all hell would have broken loose. Conspiracies, involvement of the usually whipped RSS and Bajrang Dal and ‘communal and fascist’ forces would have been making rounds . Headlines of papers and ”proper” follow-up and ”monitoring” would have been the immediate and sustainable response as also secular band and wand would have been at great work. Some ‘leading’ advocates would have directly approached the Apex court even during the midnight to have the matter investigated as to how 11 and the entire family of poor and persecuted Rohingya Muslim ” refugees” were found dead in mysterious conditions. Vote Bank commercial politicians would have made investments of all the rhetoric at their command in the incident. At the outset , a cheap race among some of the ‘top’ liberal, democrat secularists would have been in respect of how much compensation and ex-gratia was going to be paid to the next of kin of the deceased but since they were persecuted Pakistani Hindus , nothing of the sort happened.
Needless to add, choosing this theme by this writer when almost, perhaps, none has found it worthwhile to have any interest in it, to write at least a few lines if not for any purpose but at least to serve as a brief elegy, regarding the poor , oppressed, victimised and tyrannised Hindu refugees from Pakistan , whose 11 members were found dead in ‘mysterious’ circumstances in Jodhpur may appear to many as not very important but this writer often chooses such heart rending topics also if tenets of fair, impartial and spirited journalism carry some sense. Last time, it was in respect of Palghar Sadhu lynching wherein this writer felt that it appeared more than a simple crime spontaneously committed and the poor innocent two Sadhus and their driver who were mercilessly beaten to death , needed adequate justice. Let us see how, when and how much .
However, the topic of Pakistani Hindus may not be one among those topics which are debated day in and day out on our numerous TV Channels watching which perhaps, apart from feeling bored , even resulting in the levels of tension of many viewers. Many of the viewers must be assessing the quality , purpose , selection and the contents of such debates in terms of ”gains” or addition to their knowledge and must surely be analysing what if they would have not watched such chirping debates and whether , therefore, could have missed something very important. More so ,when perused in respect of the ”matured and liberal ” views about most of those speaking critically in such debates and terming most of the problems in the country as drama of the government , its policies to ‘break the country’ , its failures on ‘every front’ and ”imposing ” on everyone the agenda of the RSS etc etc. It is this fuel which keeps their dilapidated and worn out engine chugging on very short distances though.
The unfortunate Hindus from Pakistan are no one’s baby as most of the liberal intellectuals including many media personnel, perhaps, undergo the feelings of trepidation in case they even raise the voice in this country against their plight in Pakistan and reaching here encountering lack of empathy . On the other hand , consequent upon having been persecuted to this extent they find the only place in the whole world perhaps ”safe” for them to be India alone. And the ones under reference, arrived in Rajasthan in 2015 or five years back and took to petty manual jobs on day to day basis . It is said that they were so much fed up and weary of the travails and turmoil , and the threats they had to undergo in Pakistan, their beloved birth place of thousands of years, that they had no alternative but to leave behind all they had inherited from generations, just to save their life and honour . Reaching India , their hopes got shattered as they did not get citizenship rights even after 5 years to be able to lead an average honourable life and belongingness.
Again, had they been Rohingyas from Myanmar, no sooner the news of their leaving their motherland for good would have reached their choicest place of ”sojourn” in India – later to claim permanent stay , the ‘philanthropic but missionary’ organisations would have arranged construction of rain proof and fully secured strong shacks much before their actual arrival. Water and power connections would have been arranged before their getting into those shacks as also arrangements of their ration . A leading National Daily in its edition of September 24, 2017 carried a report that many Rohingyas in Jammu had even succeeded even in procuring the then most important document of the PRC required of legitimate citizens of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir which now has been replaced by the Domicile Certificate (DC) following the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on August 5, last year. Not only that , many were reported to have ”managed” election cards, ration cards and head of a family had even an Aadhar Card.
However, these Pakistani Hindus and others like them , after breathing fresh air in this country must have been hearing about the plans, protests, resistance , sloganeering , holding traffic and people to ransom for months together like in Shaheen Bagh of Delhi and at other places with intent that these persecuted Hindus and others like them could not get benefits under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CCA). They must have been aghast seeing the double play that of feigning love by the protesters for the country’s constitution and simultaneously raising provocative slogans , just that they could not get citizenship rights in this country. If they got, it should be doubly ensured that their tormentors and chasers too got citizenship rights whenever they thought to cross over to this side.
What a country Pakistan is where one of the senior most cabinet Ministers openly proclaims that they were possessing such ‘tiny – small- compact’ nukes which were capable of targeting and killing only non Muslims in India. With this stupidity but diabolical designs it can be visualised what such a Minister must be advocating for – not ”so openly”. In a country, where to wash its sins of 72 years of systematically neutralising and decimating Hindus and their centuries old symbols and heritage, the Government to paint its face as ”liberal” towards the left out Hindu population in Pakistan and to put a face of genteelness before FATF to escape from being Black Listed as a sponsor of terrorism, planned to build with government funds a temple but the same was bulldozed much before its height tried to gain a few inches above the ground levels . In a country, where in a planned and well organised manner, Hindu girls mostly minor, are abducted and forcibly converted as per even the government run and managed Human Rights Commission of Pakistan which claims a minimum of 1000 Hindu girls abducted and forcibly converted in Pakistan every year , one can imagine the constant fear, threat, scare and despair the Pakistani Hindu and other religious minorities must be undergoing every minute . And , Imran Khan on communal harmony is lecturing India , the most tolerant and peaceful country in the world where all citizens , irrespective of religion , creed , faith and language were enjoying equal rights and privileges.
However, the 11 Hindus from Pakistan who were ”found” dead in an agricultural farm at Lodta village in Jodhpur in Rajasthan on August 9 in the morning, police suspected that they committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance and bid farewell to this world which proved too cruel for them to be explained in words. Some inject able vials too were recovered from the shack , the bodies were found in . Only one member of the family Kewal Ram 35 , son of the head of the family ”survived” as he was out from the farm. We hope some breakthrough in their deaths must have been achieved by now and whether they were killed , they committed suicide or some other factor was responsible for their deaths must be known . Gehlot Government, undoubtedly , was too busy and engrossed in ”saving ” democracy in Rajasthan which is fairly saved now, must institute an inquiry to let the facts be known about these deaths . The policy of the State Government towards such people migrating into Rajasthan from Pakistan needs to be based on more compassionate basis . Let such unfortunate tragedies not visit anyone – least , the ones persecuted from Pakistan who seek refuge in this country. The question is where else can the likes of these persecuted Hindus go if they face apathy and the cold shoulder even in this country?
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com

Follow our WhatsApp channel