Harassed Hindus flee Pakistan

Hindus are fleeing Pakistan after their shops were looted, houses raided and women were converted to Islam, a media report said.Rehman Malik, advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister on interior affairs, however, said that visas being issued to 250 Hindu families by the Indian high commission was a conspiracy, reported Dawn. Malik was responding to a query on migration of Hindu families to India from Sindh and Balochistan after complaining that their shops had been looted, houses raided and women forced to embrace Islam. Rehman Malik said in Lahore that the government had stopped the Hindus of Jacobabad from leaving for India. They would be allowed to leave after complete verification. "The Indian high commission should say why it has issued visas to them," he was quoted as saying. The government has decided to beef up security for religious minorities following large-scale migration of Hindu families to India. Seven Hindu families comprising 90 men, women and children from Jacobabad left for India Wednesday night, citing lack of safety and security in Sindh. They left by train and were seen off by relatives and a large number of people of the community at the Jacobabad railway station. After reaching Lahore, they intended to enter India at the Wagah border. The move comes just six months after 52 Hindu families from the same area migrated to India. Jacobabad police official Muhammad Younus Chandio maintained that complete security was being provided to the community and said the families were not migrating but were going to India to perform religious rites and would return soon.