Pakistani Hindus are known to be one the most badly persecuted minority community in the world. They have been victim of systemic discrimination and forced conversions. There have been regular reports about how young Hindu girls are kidnapped and married off to their abductors in Pakistan. The abductors then claim that the Hindu girls ‘eloped’ with them and willingly changed their religion.
Now a report in the New York Times has shown how the poor Hindus of Pakistan are left with no choice but to accept Islam. The report mentions that many Hindus have become Muslims in hope that they will get money and dignity to survive in the Islamic state of Pakistan.
“The dehumanization of minorities coupled with these very scary times we are living in — a weak economy and now the pandemic — we may see a raft of people converting to Islam to stave off violence or hunger or just to live to see another day,” Farahnaz Ispahani, a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute, a research group in Washington, was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
You can read more on religious persecution of minorities in Pakistan here.