Ground Report: "Don't Send Us To Hell Like Pakistan," Plead Hindu Refugees In India
Jaisalmer:
Pakistani Hindu refugees living in India are gripped by fear as the deadline approaches for Pakistani nationals to leave in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. The ultimatum has left them worried due to the worsening condition of Hindu minorities in Pakistan.
India has given a Sunday ultimatum to Pakistani nationals to leave after the massacre of 26 civilians by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week. It will not impact long-term visas that are already issued to Hindu citizens of Pakistan, the government has clarified. However, no such relief has been extended to short-term visa-holders.
This has left several Hindu refugees fearing for their lives in case they have to return to Pakistan. Having fled religious persecution in the neighbouring country, they feel that returning to Pakistan could be dangerous for them.
"Accept Death, Not Pakistan"
At a refugee colony in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer, NDTV found several families who had entered India through the Wagah-Attari border. "Eklavya Bhil Basti" in Mulsagar village hosts over a thousand Hindu refugees from Pakistan who have come to India on short-term visas. But the April 27 deadline for Pakistani nationals has left them worried.
Kheto Ram, who used to live in Sindh, had left Pakistan due to continuous harassment, selling everything that they owned there. He and his family - his wife and two sons - had arrived in India just hours before the Pahalgam attack unfolded on Tuesday.
Speaking to NDTV, Mr Ram said the attack had left him fuming. As tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, the thought of returning to a "hell like Pakistan" has left him disturbed. For him, "dying in India is acceptable, but not returning to a hell like Pakistan."
He said he has appealed to the government and the prime minister to consider his case, stating that his entire family had moved to India after selling everything they had in Pakistan.
Balam, another man from Sindh among the refugees at Eklavya Basti, his wife and young son are not keen on returning to Pakistan. Death is better than that, Balam said while his wife pleaded, "We left everything we had, please don't send us back."
Hindu refugees fear that if they return to Pakistan, they may again be subjected to religious persecution - the very reason why they had to seek refuge in India.
According to a latest report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the condition of religious minorities in Pakistan has been worsening. They continue to bear the "brunt of persecution and prosecutions under Pakistan's strict blasphemy law," the report said, urging the US government to redesignate Pakistan as a "country of particular concern".
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