Karachi

As many as 60 Hindu men, women and children were forced into abandoning their homes in Memon Goth and taking refuge in a cattle pen all because of a boy from their community who drank water from a cooler placed outside a mosque, police officials and community members told The News.

These hapless people ran away from the wrath of some of the influential tribesmen of the area who got so enraged by the incident, which took place last week, that they beat up the members of the Hindu community and forced them into evicting their quarters.

“All hell broke loose when my son, Dinesh, who looked after chickens in a farm, drank water from a cooler outside a mosque. Upon seeing him do that, the people of the area started beating him up.

“Later, around 150 tribesmen attacked us, injuring seven of our people — Samo, Mohan, Hero, Chanu, Sadu, Heera, and Guddi — who were taken to the Jinnah Hospital,” said Meerumal, a resident of the area.

One of the injured, Heera, while showing this correspondent his wounds, said that another 400 families of the area, located in the vicinity of Malir, were also being threatened to leave the area.

“Our people are even scared of going out of their houses. We are also putting up with living in the filthy pen because we cannot go home for fear of being killed,” he said.

The SHO of the Memon Goth police station, commenting on the issue, said, “A trivial incident led to riots between the people of the area. Since both the communities happened to be illiterate, the matter just flared up.”

However, he dismissed the claims of lack of security to the Hindu community in the area and said that they could go back to their homes anytime they wanted to.

Meanwhile, Minister for Minority Affairs Dr Mohan Lal assured the Hindu community of full government protection.

“I have directed the DPO and the SHO to ensure that these people go back to their houses safely,” he said.

The minister said that the culprits would be dealt with severely.

Abdul Hai, of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said that these people, who belonged to the Bheels caste, had been living in the area for several years.

“They are former bonded laborers. Now they earn a meager sum of Rs4,000 to Rs5,000 monthly as watchmen at the farms. Some of them also work for the tribesmen.

“The government must help them in moving back to their homes in order to instill confidence in other families and prevent them from packing their bags too,” he said.

A continuing decline occurred after the fall of the Pala dynasty in the 12th century CE. Buddhism was virtually extinct by the end of the 19th century. During the British rule of India, it was totally disregarded. In recent times, Buddhism has seen a revival in India from the influence of Anagarika Dharmapala, Kripasaran Mahasthavir.
Following the Mauryans, Pusyamitra Sunga is linked in legend with the persecution of Buddhists and a resurgence of a form of Hinduism that forced Buddhism outwards to Kashmir, Gandhara and Bactria. There is some doubt as to whether he did or did not persecute Buddhists actively.
A Buddhist tradition holds him as having taken steps to check the spread of Buddhism as “the number one enemy of the sons of the Sakya’s and a most cruel persecutor of the religion”. The Divyavadana ascribes to him the razing of stupas and viharas built by Ashoka, the placing of a bounty of 100 dinaras upon the heads of Buddhist monks (bhiksus) and describes him as one who wanted to undo the work of Ashoka. This account has however been described as “exaggerated”.Historian Romila Thapar writes that the Asokavadana legend is, in all probability, a “Buddhist version of Pusyamitra’s attack of the Mauryas”, and reflects the fact that, with the declining influence of Buddhism in the Imperial court, Buddhist monuments and institutions would receive less attention.

The accuracy of the Buddhist texts that record Pushyamitra’s persecution of Buddhists has been debated by historians. The first accounts appear two centuries after Pushyamitra’s reign in Asokâvadâna and the Divyâvadâna. Sir John Marshall states that it is possible that the original brick stupa built by Ashoka was destroyed by Pusyamitra and then restored by his successor Agnimitra. Archaeological evidence is scarce and uncertain. Following Ashoka’s sponsorship of Buddhism, it is possible that Buddhist institutions fell on harder times under the Sungas.

The Sungas were patrons of Hinduism and their lack of royal patronage was also a setback to Buddhism, resulting in the splintering of Buddhism into many forces. Some of them were: the Saravastivadins, Mahasargikas, Sthaviravadha, and Yogacara. This resulted in a diversity of opinions and interpretations that led to a conflict between warring schools shortly after the fall of the Mauryans.

Traditional Hinduism is said by some writers to have competed in political and spiritual realm with Buddhism in the gangetic plains while Buddhism flourished in the realms of the Bactrian kings.

In the North and west the collapse of Harshavardana’s kingdom gave rise to many smaller kingdoms. This led to the rise of the martial Rajputs clans across the gangetic plains. It also marked the end of Buddhist ruling clans, along with a sharp decline in royal patronage. This carried on until a revival under the Pala Empire in the Bengal region.

In the south of India while there was no overt persecution of Buddhists at least two Pallava rulers Simhavarma and Trilochana are known to have destroyed Buddhist stupas and have had Hindu temples built over them. However, Bodhidharma, a patriarch of Zen Buddhism of was a Brahmin prince from the Pallava dynasty.

Nagarjuna, the founder of Mahayana Buddhism, was a Brahmin from southern India.

The Satavahanas were worshipers of Buddha as well as other Hindu gods such as Krishna, Shiva, Gauri, Indra, the sun and moon. Under their reign Amaravati, the historian Durga Prasad notices that Buddha had been worshiped as a form of Vishnu.

Furthermore a vigorous Hindu revival of Vaishnavite Hinduism in the region led to a sharp decline of Buddhism

In AD 711, Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh bringing Indian societies into contact with Islam. He succeeded partly because Dahir was an unpopular Hindu king that ruled over a Buddhist majority. Chach of Alor and his kin were regarded as usurpers of the earlier Buddhist Rai Dynasty. The forces of Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir in alliance with the Jats and other Buddhist governors. His campaign’s success is ascribed to the support of Buddhists and the people of lower castes like Jats, Meds and Bhutto tribes.

The Chach Nama records a couple of instances of conversion of stupas to mosques such as at Nerun as well as the incorporation of the religious elite into the ruling administration such as the allocation of 3% of the government revenue was allocated to the Brahmins. As a whole, the non-Muslim populations of conquered territories were treated as People of the Book and granted Hindu and Buddhist religions the freedom to practice their faith in return for payment of the poll tax (jizya). They were then excused from military service or payment of the tax paid by Muslim subjects – Zakat. The jizya enforced was a graded tax, being heaviest on the elite and lightest on the poor.

While proslytization occurred, the social dynamics of Sind were no different from other Muslim regions such as Egypt, where conversion to Islam was slow and took centuries, and generally came from among the ranks of Buddhists.

If Muslims had used forced then their would also be no Hindus in India! Did you kknow that ISLAM is the fastest growing religion in the world? in the last 50 Years it has grown by 245% whereas Christanity 46% and Hinduism 67% and Buddhism by 78%, I’m asking you which war took place in the last 50 years where Muslims forced non-muslims to accept Islam? Dont be a fool, be truthful and realistic! even in the 2004 survey ISLAM is the fastest growing religion in UK, USA, and Europe! who is forcing them?