Vikrant Shekhawat : Mar 22, 2022, 08:54 AM
A heartbreaking news has come out from Pakistan, where the attackers who came here to kidnap a girl for conversion shot dead a Hindu girl. According to a media report, 18-year-old Pooja Odd was shot dead in the middle of the road after she resisted the attackers in Sukkur area of Sindh province.Forced conversionAccording to media reports, every year many women belonging to minority communities in Pakistan, especially Hindus in Sindh, are abducted and forcibly converted by religious extremists.Incidents of forced conversions are happening continuously in Pakistan.The report said that Pakistan's minority community has been facing the issue of forced marriages and conversions for a long time. According to the People's Commission for Minorities Rights and the Center for Social Justice, there were 156 incidents of forced conversions between 2013 and 2019.A media report said that in 2019, the Sindh government attempted to ban forced conversions and marriages for the second time, but some religious protesters opposed the bill. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reports the Hindu community at 1.60 per cent of the total population in Pakistan and 6.51 per cent in Sindh.Hindus are the largest minority in PakistanHindus are the largest minority community in Pakistan. According to official estimates, there are 7.5 million Hindus living in Pakistan. However, there are more than 90 lakh Hindus living in the country according to the community. Most of Pakistan's Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, tradition and language with Muslim residents. They often complain of harassment by extremists.