Seekers of Indian citizenship have personal agenda: Hindu community

By Javed Aziz Khan

PESHAWAR: Busy preparing for the colourful religious festival of Holi on Wednesday, the Hindu community from across the NWFP alleged the Hindus seeking Indian citizenship in Amritsar had a "personal agenda" as there was no threat to their lives and families in Pakistan.




"Around 400 Hindu families living in Peshawar are celebrating Holi today and there is no restriction or threat to our youth, men, women and elders. We have never been approached by any Hindu family with complaint of threats to their lives or families," Ram Lal, president of the Balmik Samaj Sabha (BSS) and provincial general secretary of the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF), told The News.




I think, he added, a few individuals who have claimed threats to their lives would be having personal problems. "Had there been any complaint or threat, they would have contacted me or our minority MPA," Ram Lal opined.




As cheerful celebrations by thousands of Hindu families in this country were on, the Indian media had reported that 35 members of five Hindu families from the NWFP had reached Amritsar with citing threats to their lives in Pakistan. These minority members, reported to be 16 each men and women and three children, have sought Indian citizenship, citing threats to their lives in Pakistan's Frontier province as the major reason.




"They have probably done it to seek Indian citizenship because we never faced any problem in performing our religious, political or social activities in any part of Pakistan. The Hindus of Dera Ismail Khan are celebrating Holi and they are as happy as they could be in any other part of the world," Businessman Ashok Kumar, told The News from Dera Ismail Khan. His cousin, Kishor Kumar, is the lone Hindu lawmaker from the province.




There are three Hindu temples in Peshawar and two in Dera Ismail Khan. Several such temples exist in the remaining 22 districts of the NWFP.




"We perform our religious rituals freely. As far as the law and order situation is concerned, mostly Muslims are being killed in violent incidents and not members of the minority community," Ashok argued.