SUKKUR (Sindh): According to details available from Sindh, the 18-year-old Hindu girl Pooja Oad was shot dead in broad day light during a failed abduction attempt. The girl Pooja Oad was said to have been shot in the middle of the street in Rohi, Sukkur after she put up resistance to the attackers, The Friday Times newspaper reported.
This is not a stand-alone incident in Pakistan. Human rights activists say that hundreds of Christian and Hindu girls are forced to convert to Islam every year.
Women belonging to minority communities are regularly abducted and forcibly converted. Rights group says the country’s minority communities have long faced the issue of forced marriages and conversions.
Multiple rights organisations have accused the Pakistan government of not taking necessary actions over the rising crimes against Hindus and other minorities.
The overall population of the Hindu community in Pakistan at 1.60 per cent, and 6.51 per cent in Sindh, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
According to Sukkur Station House Officer (SHO) Bashir Jagirani, the assailant — identified as Wahid Bux Lashari — and two of his accomplices broke into Pooja Kumari’s house and opened fire on her. Officials said Lashari wanted to marry the teenager but she refused.
According to a Dawn report, the victim’s father, Sahib Oad, lodged a first information report (FIR) against the suspects under Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), Section 302 (punishment for murder), and 337H(ii) (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The police arrested Lashari today and presented him before a local court, which subsequently remanded him into police custody for 10 days.
Kumari’s murder drew condemnation on social media, with #JusticeforPooja trending on Twitter.
According to a report published in ThePrint, people are demanding ‘justice for Pooja’ after the 18-year-old Hindu woman from Sindh was shot dead and her body thrown on the streets while she resisted her killer.
News reports say that Pooja’s killer Wahid Bux Lashari wanted to convert her to Islam before marrying her. Lahiri forcefully entered Pooja’s house and tried to abduct her but she refused. After which an enraged Lahiri killed her.
A Twitter user named Sorath Sindhu, demanding justice for Pooja, asked, “Is FIR the mere justice we want for the murder of an innocent girl & family?”
Sharing a protest video against the killing of Pooja Kumari, Pakistani journalist Veengas questioned the politicians. “I just wonder how many politicians in Pakistan have condemned the brutal killing of #PoojaKumari or any Human Rights org.”
Protesting Hindus in Rohri, Sukkur, where Pooja was killed, are asking for justice. In one such video, protestors can be seen chanting “Insaaf do, dahshatgardi band Karo”.
A Twitter user blamed PM Imran Khan for the deplorable state of minorities in the country. Olivia Ozukum wrote: “Hindu girl killed in Pakistan after failed abduction attempt. total loss of law and order in failed state Pakistan. Imran Khan failed to face India directly and now even affects minorities.”
Another user wrote, “Due to such matters the name of our country is getting worse at the global level.” A user by the name Trishu, however, claimed the incident wasn’t about minority exploitation.
The Sindh incident adds to a long list of atrocities against minorities, especially Hindus, in Pakistan. According to European Parliament, “the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s 2019 Report states that on average, more than 1 000 forced conversions take place every year.”
Former MQM leader Raza Haroon was among those who demanded justice for the slain girl. He urged Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to take action, calling it the “worst form of human rights violation and persecution of religious minorities in Sindh”.
Activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir criticised the provincial authorities, saying: “Under the PPP government, child marriage laws aren’t worth more than the paper they’re printed on.
“Doors to forced conversion of minor girls are open because child marriages are facilitated by corrupt and ignorant [officials],” he added.
Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai’s father Ziauddin called the murder “disgusting” and a “heinous crime”, adding that “we all must speak up to demand justice for the bravest Pooja Kumari.”