Disquiet among Pakistani Hindus over kidnapped leader

[Andross]

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Islamabad, Feb 25 (IANS) There is disquiet in the Hindu community over the as-yet unsolved abduction of their religious leader, a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader in Quetta has been told.

Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, provincial convener of the PML-N, said all efforts will be made to free Lakki Chand Garji from the captivity of his abductors.


Lakki Chand Garji, 82, who is the 'maharaja' of the Kali Mata Mandir in Kalat town in Balochistan province and considered to be one of Pakistan's most revered Hindu spiritual leaders, was kidnapped by a gang of armed men Dec 21 last year. He is yet to be traced and rescued.


A delegation headed by Santosh Kumar Bugti met Zehri and apprised him of disquiet prevailing in the community over their religious leader not yet being traced or freed, the Dawn reported Friday.


Zehri called Garji's abduction a conspiracy to defame the Baloch people and assured the delegation that tribal influence would be used in this regard.


Abduction for ransom and killing of people belonging to Pakistan's minority communities, including Hindus, has caused insecurity among them, Balochistan Minister for Minorities Affairs Basant Lal Gulshan said earlier this month.


Traders from the Hindu community have been targets of kidnapping gangs.


Rajesh Kumar, a trader, was going to work when armed men in a car intercepted him and tried to kidnap him in Feb 6. When he resisted, he was shot dead. As many as three Hindu traders have been killed so far during attempted kidnappings in and around Quetta during the past three years.


Gulshan said that people belonging to the minority communities were being compelled to migrate to safer places.


Ram Singh Sodho, who was elected to the Sindh assembly in 2008 on a Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) reserved seat for minorities, fled to India and sent in his resignation to assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khoro.


Sick pigs even wont spare 82 yr old man



Disquiet among Pakistani Hindus over kidnapped leader

[Nalwa]

Santosh Kumar Bugti...

Interesting. Thats a Baloch tribal surname if I am not mistaken. Are some Blaoch tribals Hindus as well? Can a Pakistani member confirm this?

[Andross]

Interesting. Thats a Baloch tribal surname if I am not mistaken. Are some Blaoch tribals Hindus as well? Can a Pakistani member confirm this?

Like other places in Baluchistan, Dera Bugti has a Hindu population. One can imagine this area to be sparsely populated by indigenous Hindus for a long time—many of these Hindus may have converted to Islam when the new faith reached this region.

Some historians like Rai Bahadur Hetoram say that the ancestor of Bugtis was Hazrat Ameer Hamza the uncle of the Prophet Mohammed known as one of the bravest Muslims who sacrificed his life for the cause of Islam also titled as {Shaheed Ul Momineen}.

Because of the desert like environment of Baluchistan, with limited agricultural land, the people living in the region historically made ends meet by robbing the pilgrims traveling from the more affluent areas of the South Asia to Mecca.


[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugti

[Spring Onion]

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Balochistan Assembly should take up the issue actively and Center should also act seriously. The BLA terrorists should be taken to task over this terrorism against Pakistani Hindu leader