On Sunday, temples belonging to the minority Hindu community were vandalised and violence was unleashed against Hindus in Pakistan’s Ghotki after a principal Notan Das had allegedly made some ‘blasphemous’ remark. The violence had broken out after a student accused the school principal Das of making ‘blasphemous’ remarks.

In a new twist to the whole incident, a news report in Pakistani media outlet Naya Daur states that the attacks against the Hindu community were pre-planned by the goons of notorious Radical Islamic leader Mian Mithoo. Mian Mithoo is alleged to be behind the abduction and forced conversion of several Hindu underage girls in the area.

School principal Notan Das had reportedly saved an abducted Hindu girl by giving refuge to her and the attack against him was an attempt to cover up the crime by Mian Mithoo’s goons.

Reportedly, the recent incident of alleged blasphemy is linked to an earlier kidnapping and attempt to forcefully marry a Hindu girl. In 2018, an 11-year-old girl Monika was reportedly abducted from Hala with an aim to forcibly convert her. The girl had been recovered and the court had ordered that the girl should be returned to her parents because she was underage.

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Naya Daur has claimed that local activists have informed them that the girl had been given refuge by Notan Das, the school principal, who has now been accused of committing blasphemy in Ghotki. Shockingly, Monika was again kidnapped a day before the riots erupted and immediately protests erupted against Notan Das for his alleged ‘blasphemy’.

The activists said that the allegations were made against the principal so that the abduction could be covered up and Hindu community of the area could not have a chance to protest against the kidnapping. Mian Mithoo was seen inciting and leading a mob which later vandalised the Hindu temple in Ghotki and unleashed an attack on Hindus.

According to the activist quoted by Naya Daur, Mian Mithoo is currently being backed by powerful people and his rampage against the Hindu community is being supported by those people.

Mian Abdul Haq, commonly known as Mian Mithoo, belongs to an influential family in the Sindh province and is an influential political and religious figure in Ghotki. He had been elected as a member of the National Assembly from Ghotki in the elections of 2008 on a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) ticket. He is also the custodian of a Muslim shrine, Barchundi Sharif.

Mithoo is feared by the local Hindus as they accuse him of kidnapping and forced conversions of Hindu girls. The minority Hindus of the area claim that Mithoo provides protection to those who kidnap underage Hindu girls and forcibly converts them to Islam before marrying them off to their kidnappers. Further, he also wields his political power to influence legal processes in case families of kidnapped girls decide to go to court.

Mian Mithoo, the chief of Bharchundi mosque is accused of systematically carrying out the kidnapping and forced conversions of underage Hindu girls in the area. Mian Mithoo was also behind the abduction and conversion of two underage Hindu girls Raveena (13) and Reena (15) from Ghotki in Pakistan’s Sindh on the eve of Holi earlier this year. The girls were later forcefully converted and married off to older Muslim men.

This scum Mian Mithoo is responsible for majority of kidnappings of minor Hindu girls and their forced conversion to Islam in Pakistan. He has close links with Pak PM Imran Khan, Army Chief General Bajwa and both PTI/PPP. Hence no action against him by Govt, Police or Judiciary. pic.twitter.com/vJMvLuVUhE — Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) March 24, 2019

Pakistan is notoriously known for its persecution of not only religious minorities but also ethnic minorities within their own country. The forceful conversion programmes have often been unleashed against the minorities especially Christians, Sikhs and Hindus living in Pakistan with utmost brutality.