11 September 2012 | blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime
When Shaani Das left Pakistan, she didn’t imagine having to shelter from the Indian monsoon under a damp and cramped plastic tent with her husband and children.
But Kurup Das, her husband, says that their new life is still better than living like the “lowest” in Pakistan. “Here we have the freedom to breathe without fear,” he said.
The Hindu couple from Pakistan came to India on a tourist visa almost a year ago and never returned. Last month, the Indian media reported that hundreds of Hindus were flocking across the border. Over the weekend, more than 170 Hindus arrived in India from Pakistan seeking refugee status, the Press Trust of India reported.
Many tell tales of persecution – especially of forced conversion of young women to Islam. Hindus, who make up almost 2% of Pakistan’s population of around 180 million, are the largest minority in the country. Most of them live in the country’s Sindh and Punjab provinces.
A Parliamentary Committee constituted by Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari last month found no mass migration of Hindus from Sindh yet, the Pakistani media reported. The committee, however, found that the possibility of such an event exists.
The Das couple, along with six other families, have pitched tent in an ashram near Majnu Ka Tila, the home of many Tibetan refugees in Delhi. Mrs. Das, 30, is now questioning whether she made the right decision. “Look at us,” she said. “We had such big dreams and now we are living in poverty.”
Ravi Nair, from the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, pointed out India and Pakistan, unlike Israel, did not offer a right of return based on religion.
Mr. Nair, who has been working on refugee-related issues in India since 1971, also sees economics as a motivation for moving. “Most of them are very very poor,” he said.
In Sindh, these Pakistani-Hindus are called Haris, which means landless peasants.
Mr. Das, a farm laborer from Matiari district in Sindh, used to receive a small portion of the crops he tilled on land owned by Muslims. Now, he earns about 200 rupees ($4) every day by selling vegetables. Unlike his wife, however, Mr. Das, 32, is convinced he made the right decision. “The only thing we had there was food but it was a slavish existence,” he said. “We had no hope for a better life for our children.”
Mr. Das, joined by other Hindus in the ashram, narrated a litany of humiliating instances in their day-to-day life in Pakistan. “They make it very difficult for us to burn our dead,” he claims, adding they complain about the smell, saying it’s nauseating.
Sonia Mukh, 20, another resident at the ashram, chimed in by describing how Muslims keep separate utensils for them. “And even when they give us water, they do it from far,” she said, extending her arm to elaborate.
In India, similar discriminations are practiced among Hindus who still live by the caste system – especially against those who engage in menial work like cleaning toilets. These people, often referred to as untouchables, are not allowed to enter homes as even their shadows are considered impure.
While prejudice takes subtler form in the day-to-day urban life, it is entrenched among rural communities. In countless villages, the upper caste people live separately from the lower caste groups like Dalits. There is no mixing of utensils or drinking from the same wells or hand pumps.
For Mrs. Das, educating her six children was the main motivation for leaving. “Look, for generations, nobody in our family is literate but I want these kids to be,” she said. “I know it can change their lives.”
The ashram dwellers said their children are made to learn about Islam in their local schools in Sindh. “Even in government schools they are not given free clothes or books if they don’t read Islamic texts or learn Arabic,” said Ganga Ram, 36, who also came from Pakistan one year ago and now lives in Faridabad.
Fearful of forced conversions, Hindus often pull their teenage girls out of school. Mrs. Mukh, who has two girls, said she would not allow her girls to go to school in Pakistan after they turned 13. “It’s simply not safe,” she said.
But staying in India has been challenging. Mrs. Das says that her four boys were turned out of a local government school, which was not keen on keeping Pakistani kids.
Instead, the couple sent their children to a Hindu religious educational centre in Jammu. “But that’s not what I had hoped for,” she said. “I wanted them to learn Mathematics, English and all the other things.”
As his wife looked downcast, Mr. Das tried to lighten her spirits. “Well, at least it keeps the kids out of trouble,” he said. “Now, they have a small pony at the back and they do Hare-Krishna the whole day.” The other campers joined in the laughter.
The campers also expressed concern that several of their children were roaming the Delhi streets with little to do except get up to mischief. But opinions are varied. Mr. Ram, for instance, agreed that getting their children admitted in local schools had been difficult but that the situation was gradually being worked out. “Nobody welcomes newcomers,” he said. “But several kids are beginning to settle in school where they get free uniforms and books.”
So far, the Indian government has not said how it intends to deal with Hindus from Pakistan. Most Hindus who arrive in India are usually issued a 35-day visa to visit families or for pilgrimage. For those who want to stay longer, extending their visas by one or two years is one option.
“They are in a state of limbo but the government has given them an unofficial nod to stay,” said Mr. Nair. The expert also pointed out that admitting them would open the gates to Hindus from anywhere. “What will happen if, say, tomorrow Hindus from Fiji or the Caribbean or say Guyana want to come,” he said. “At any given time, we have at least one-seventh of Nepal’s working population here…do we want to formalize their stay?
The visas of the estimated 191 Pakistani-Hindus who arrived a year ago have expired. Their petition for citizenship, filed in the Delhi High Court last year, is currently pending as well.
But it’s unlikely that they will be deported back due to political and popular pressure. The opposition Bharatiya Janta Party, which has raised the issue in Parliament, wants Pakistani-Hindus to be rehabilitated in India. Mr. Nair recalled that an earlier batch of asylum seekers from Sindh, who settled in Rajasthan, waited 15 years before being granted citizenship.
While they wait, India maintains the right to education for children irrespective of their nationality. Kishan Das, spokesperson for the group from Pakistan, said that they had also made affidavits that they were refugees from Pakistan and their children should be given admission on humanitarian grounds. “That’s how they got in,” he said.
Conversations with Pakistani-Hindus revealed different experiences of their stay in India as well as life in Pakistan. For instance, while some insisted that forced conversions were rampant, others said that there are women who convert voluntarily as well. The Das couple also differed. “There are many conversions but I won’t say it’s all the time,” the wife said. Although this was just one of the many things they disagreed on, the spunky couple kept the little gathering amused with their repartee.
But even as Mrs. Das laughed at her husband’s ready supply of witticisms, she didn’t share his conviction that they made the right choice in moving. She misses her family, and phone calls are expensive. “Six of my family members are here but hundreds of relatives are still there,” she said. “One hour on the phone costs 200 rupees…that’s how much we earn in a day.”
It is also harder for her because she left their two-month old girl with her grandparents. The baby’s visa didn’t come through in time. The small gathering fell silent as Mrs. Das’ eyes brimmed with tears while talking about her baby. “Don’t worry, we’ll get her here soon,” said Mr. Das, still committed to their move to India.
Betwa Sharma is a journalist focusing on human rights. She has reported for The Guardian, The New York Times and The Daily Beast, among others, and was previously the New York/United Nations correspondent for the Press Trust of India newswire. You can follow her on Twitter @betwasharma.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/09/11/pakistani-hindu-couple-torn-over-move-to-india/?mod=irt