September 16, 2019, put a black spot on the white of the flag of Pakistan when Dr Nimrita Chandani, a student at the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University’s Bibi Aseefa Dental College, Larkana, was found dead in her hostel room. The status of her death was given as suicide by the concerned authorities just to keep away from any responsibility, as it was reportedly a murder case. According to her post-mortem report, it was not a suicide. How can a person commit suicide when just one and a half hour before her death she was distributing sweets?
According to her brother, Dr Vishal, Nimrita was a sexual harassment victim. It was reported that there were strangulation marks on her neck; that indicates that it was not a suicide attempt. She was hanging from a rope when a security guard opened her locked room after her friends were worried that she was not opening the door. Police started an investigation, and have not so far given any information whether it was a suicide or murder.
If it was a suicide then Nimrita must have some depression or anxiety signs, and she must have been dealing with a serious issue, but according to her friends, before her death, she was calm and cool without any tension. Neither had she any academic stress that nowadays is a major reason behind suicide attempts in young people. If all these reasons are not there, there is a strong possibility that it is a murder case. And if that is true, what have we done with our narrative of protecting minorities in Pakistan? The case of Nimrita’s death has now taken a religious colour, and people are not demanding justice for her because she was a Hindu. This is an alarming situation. Nimrita was first and foremost a human, she was a young woman, and she had every right to live as per her faith. Our constitution and religion provide safety for minorities in our state.
Nimrita is not the first minority victim in Pakistan. A massive number of cases of torture and deaths of minorities are reported, and our extremist behavior is the main reason behind that. If a Muslim has a personal issue with a non-Muslim, a trend is developed to accuse that person of blasphemy. It could be an act of revenge. In the case of a woman from a minority faith, we see incidents like Nimrita’s murder. Even after a brutal act, minorities are not given justice.
It has been reported by a Hindu community activist that Hindu girls are abducted and raped at gunpoint, and are forced to marry Muslims even if they are already married
The population of Hindus is 6.51 percent of the total population of Sindh. It has been reported by a Hindu community activist that Hindu girls are abducted and raped at gunpoint, and are forced to marry Muslims even if they are already married. A bill has been presented by the PPP government in Sindh that children under the age of eighteen must not be allowed to marry. But in the same province, Hindu girls are converted to Islam by marrying them with Muslims. The Sikh community is also under threat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The activist also mentioned the case of a Christian woman; a mother of three was forced to marry and convert to Islam.
A single incident of injustice to any minority in any province can harm the image of the country, as it negates the essence of Pakistan’s inception. All rights of minorities must be safeguarded-their cultural, economic, political and basic rights. In view of these sad incidents, there is a need to forma national minorities commission. There should be new laws by the minorities’ affairs ministry with the participation of the representatives of the minority communities. And whatever they propose for protection of their people should be given a great deal of attention by the government.
The writer is a freelancer