Islamabad

In its characteristic style of boosting the Islamic radicals at home while claiming to be the victim of this growing trend, the Pakistan government has invited a cleric who has forced thousands of non-Muslims into embracing Islam for consultations on a proposed law to ban religious conversions.

The government has invited, Pir Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithu, who runs a factory of conversion against Hindus in Pakistan, to be part of the process and consultations in the proposed anti-conversion law.

The move has angered the members of the Hindu and Christian communities, who consider the cleric as one of the key factors behind their fast dwindling numbers in Pakistan.

The Islamic Ideological Council of Pakistan has invited Mian Mithu, who like the rest of the Islamic fundamentalists has vehemently opposed to the proposed law, for consultations on the proposed law.

Council of Islamic Ideology invited the notorious Mian Mithoo for a "brainstorming session" on the proposed anti forced religious conversion bill.

Let's ask the man involved in forced conversions of minor Hindu girls how to make a law to stop him from doing the same. pic.twitter.com/6nvZzkKGxj

— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) September 20, 2021

The proposed law effectively bans the conversion of children and permits only adults to change their religion. Islamic radicals and clerics have launched a massive online campaign to oppose this law. For this reason, on many days, the hashtag '# Anti-Islam Bill Unapproved' has been trending on Pakistan’s social media.

A Pakistani Christian leader Naveed Amir Jiva has been vocal in supporting this law.

Despite fundamentalist threats, Naveed stands strong in support of the bill. However, the invitation to a prominent cleric is now raising questions about the Imran government's intentions. It is Mian Mithu who runs the conversion factory.

According to Pakistan-born human rights activist Rahat John Austin, Prime Minister Imran Khan has succumbed to the pressures of the Muslim fundamentalists. He said that the government of Pakistan was party to religious conversions of non-Muslim in a planned manner.

The Pakistani government provides financial, legal, and administrative support to extremists. Maulvi Mithu who controls a dargah Bharchundi Sharif in Sindh has been running a factory of conversion. His forced conversion campaigns have been exposed by Pakistani media persons on several occasions.

A Pakistani journalist Ajay Lalwani was shot dead in broad daylight for exposing Mian Mithu’s conversion of 14 Hindu girls who were abducted and then forcibly married to their abductors by this cleric.

Mian Mithu is a powerful man who, according to Pakistani media, has the backing of the powers that be. If a girl from this area of ​​Pakistan and its surroundings goes missing, her parents know where she has gone. He has terrorized the minorities living in a Sindh town called Ghotki.

Austin says Mian's influence can be gauged from the fact that Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan calls him his motivator. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the head of Pakistan's most powerful army, visits them and gives them money.

It may be recalled that Mian Mithu was a Member of the National Parliament when he successfully contested on a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) ticket in 2008. He is considered to be close to the actual head of state of Pakistan, Army Chief General Bajwa and has been pictures many times with him.

According to Pakistan media, despite his PPP link, he enjoys a good relationship with Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). In fact, PTI had even invited him to join the party in 2015.

Austin says,"Religious conversion is part of Pakistan's government policy," he said. The government of Pakistan encourages religious conversion through these fundamentalists. Austin said that Pakistan has become a hell for minorities and it started soon after independence.

 Austin said that at the time of independence in 1947, 23% of Pakistan's total population were minorities such as Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs. According to the 2017 census, Pakistan now has 96.28% Muslims and only 3.72% are minorities or non-Muslims.

Austin says that the trend that wherever the population of Muslims increases, there is a proportional decrease in the population of non-Muslims - Hindus and Christians -, is self-explanatory.

According to the 1951 census, there were 12.9% Hindus in Pakistan but now there are only 1.6% Hindus in our country. The dwindling population of minorities is a grim picture of their situation in Pakistan.