World News | British Hindus Organise Vigil Against Minority Persecution in Pakistan

London, Oct 4 (PTI) An Indian diaspora group organised a series of coordinated silent vigils across 40 locations in the UK to register a protest against the persecution of minorities in Pakistan.

Insight UK said the vigil was organised on Saturday evening to coincide with Gandhi Jayanti, celebrated as International Non-Violence Day.

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The locations covered by the group included Edinburgh, Leeds, York, Manchester, Warrington, Bolton, Liverpool, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, London, Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Rugby, Sheffield, West Bromwich, Bristol, Swindon, Salisbury, Cheltenham, Swansea, Reading, Slough, Basingstoke, and Cardiff.

“British Hindus across the United Kingdom gathered to highlight the helpless condition of minorities in Pakistan, particularly the minor girls in Pakistan,” Insight UK said.

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“After the vigil, the community members petitioned their local MPs to take up this humanitarian issue with the Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth [Lord Tariq Ahmad] and ask for: the UK government to raise these concerns with the Pakistan government to protect the minorities and safeguard their human rights; and take up this matter with the Indian government to ensure that the citizenship application of the minorities from Pakistan who have taken refuge in India should be expedited,” it said.

Insight UK, which describes itself as a social movement of British Hindu and Indian communities, has put together a report that notes that over 1,000 young Pakistani girls of minority religions are forcibly converted to Islam every year.

“The latest US State Department report on International Religious Freedom 2020 depicts a very precarious situation for minorities in Pakistan. At the time of independence in 1947, Pakistan had a minority population of about 31 per cent; of these 24 per cent or 7.5 million of the minority population were Hindus. In 75 years, the minority population has dwindled to 4 per cent; of which Hindus form merely 1.6 per cent or 2.5 million,” it claims.

“Insight UK is committed to spreading awareness of the atrocities and brutality that young girls in Pakistan face daily,” the group adds.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)