Financial crisis is a problem too: Two to Four families are boarding every trip of Thar Express from Pakistan to reach India
Ratan Dave
Barmer Magazine
Employment crisis and the growing oppression in Pakistan is now troubling the Scheduled caste (Dalit) families there. They are leaving Pakistan for India after selling all that they have. Two to four families are boarding every trip of Thar Express from there to reach India. Such families are coming to Jodhpur and living on temporary visas. Relatives of Bheel and Meghwal castes of these families came and settled in India during 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak hostilities. Particularly families from Chhachro, Mithi, Tharparkar, Sangad, Chhor and other areas of Pakistan have been suffering excesses since decades. In addition to facing employment crisis, these scheduled caste families have also been victims of women related crimes perpetrated by the majority community over there. This double jeopardy has compelled the these families to leave for India.
THE THAR EXPRESS CHANNEL
Hundreds of families have reached India till date since via Thar Express which was started in 2006. Most of these are from Charan, Rajput, Meghwal, Bheel and Maali castes. Despite having their relatives in Barmer-Jaisalmer, difficulty in betting visas for Barmer-Jaisalmer is forcing these displaced people to live as tenants in Jodhpur.
RECENT EVENTS
86 Dalit families forced to convert to Islam
86 SC families from Bhadin in Pakistan were forced, last Friday, to accept Islam. Pir Hafiz Ghulam Mohammad was the lynchpin behind this conversion. These were all impoverished families who were coerced to convert to Islam.
30 Girls Kidnapped
In the last three months, 30 girls belonging Hindu families have been kidnapped in Sindh area. They have been coerced to accept Islam and marry Muslim boys.
Doctor Beaten Brutally, His Shops Burnt
After a minor altercation, seven shops of Dr. Ramesh Sindhi were set on fire in Sindh and he was brutally beaten in public.
A Hindu Family Narrates the Saga of Tyranny
Narayan Kaga, a teacher by profession, left Pakistan and has settled in India. When asked about the circumstances which forced his family to leave Pakistan, Mr. Kaga was agitated and got teary eyed. “Words will not suffice to narrate the tyranny being inflicted there” was what he uttered in a grieving but angry tone. His younger brother Kripal was a teacher of ‘second division.’ He was continually harassed beyond humanly tolerable limits. One bad morning, Kripal, his wife, his four children and his mother, were found dead and it was declared by the Pakistani state that it is a case of suicide pact in the family. It was that very day that Mr. Narayan Kaga and his family decided to leave Pakistan. Those living there are bearing hell and suffering a lot.
GOVERNMENT’S HELP IS NEEDED
“Most of the families coming to India from Pakistan are from Hindu clans which were persecuted in Pakistan and had left that place long back. Government should help these families in getting gainfully Employed and also facilitate Basic Amenities for them.”: Babu Daksh Singh Baran, Chairman Dhatparkar Welfare Organization.
Translated by Sri Ananth Seth
