HINDU FAMILIES FLEE BALOCHISTAN

BALOCHISTAN SPIRITUAL LEADER KIDNAPPED
HINDU FAMILIES SEEK ASYLUM IN INDIA

www.thehindu.com - Twenty-seven Hindu families from Pakistan’s Balochistan province have approached the Indian High Commission here for political asylum after a series of kidnappings and killings that targeted the minority community. “As many as 27 Hindu families from Balochistan have sent applications to the Indian [High Commission] for asylum in India,” Mr. Saeed Ahmed Khan, a regional director for the federal Human Rights Ministry said.
In the latest incident targeting the minority community in Balochistan, unidentified men abducted 82-year-old spiritual leader Maharaja Luckmi Chand Garji and four of his companions last week, as he was going to officiate a wedding. Three of the men were freed later though Garji is yet to be traced. This was a matter of “great concern” and the government should take immediate measures to improve the law and order situation in Balochistan, Mr. Khan said.

Chand Garji is one of Pakistan’s most revered Hindu spiritual leaders in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. He has been performing his duties as maharaja at Kali Mata Mandir for the past 60 years and he had command on several languages including Balochi, Hindi, Sindhi, Persian and Brahavi, his devotees said.

According to the Human Rights Ministry’s statistics, there has been widespread violation of rights and abduction for ransom in Balochistan. 291 people were abducted while 8 were kidnapped for seeking ransom throughout Balochistan in 2010. Of this, a large number were Hindus. It is a common belief that most of the victims were released after paying huge sums of money as ransom to the kidnappers.


The minority Hindu community in Balochistan has started to migrate out of this Pakistani province with some even considering applying for asylum in India. Frightened by the rise in kidnappings, many want to leave at the earliest. The recent incident of abducting a leading spiritual leader, Luckmi Chand Garji, has shaken the community. The Vedas teach us that there is spiritual unity among all beings and even non-beings. We cannot possibly stop wars and the concepts of minority and majority in our world until we remove the feelings of duality and polarity toward other creatures. The sages see all religions as true, or portions of the one truth and different ways of spiritual development.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

There is no discrimination toward other religions in Hinduism. Hinduism views all authentic religions with a potential to raise the consciousness of its followers to a higher level of understanding God, themselves, and humanity. This is merely one of the beautiful aspects of Hinduism; that it provides the greatest latitude of diversity in the ways of understanding God. That is why you can mix Hindus with anyone, and they can peacefully coexist, just as you presently have Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and others all living together peacefully. But as soon as you mix those of other religions who are dogmatic in their views, there is trouble. The reason is that there is no room for diversity of thought in such people. They think that in the eyes of God no one else is saved. They think they must “save” everyone by making everyone else just like them. And the way that is done is by converting all others to their own dogmatic beliefs. Thus, they give no credence or understanding toward any religion but their own.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Why Be A Hindu?: The Advantages of the Vedic Path”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com
http://www.stephenknapp.info/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/why_be_a_hindu_booklet.htm