India's Citizenship Amendment Act Exposes Discrimination Against Minorities in India: Ramesh Kumar

PHC patron-in-chief says India's Citizenship Amendment Act exposes discrimination against minorities in India The Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) on Wednesday vowed to approach international forums to demand justice for the tragic killings of 11 Pakistani Hindus in India. On August 9, 11 members of a Pakistani Hindu migrant family were found dead at a farm in Indian northern Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district, police officials said. Addressing the media outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC), PHC patron-in-chief Dr Ramesh Kumar underscored that the killings had exposed India's Citizenship Amendment Act and its discrimination against minorities in India. The patron-in-chief condemned the verdict of an Indian court that acquitted Hindu nationalist leaders, including former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, in a case over the demolition of the 16th-century Babri mosque at a disputed site 28 years ago, citing a lack of evidence. Earlier this week, Dr Ramesh Kumar asked the Pakistan government to help move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the brutal killing of the 11 Pakistani Hindus. “I would soon move the ICJ against India for the killing,” Dr Kumar said. ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the federal government and the Foreign Office on the murder of 11 members of a migrant Hindu family in the Indian city of Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan. The Sindh-based family had migrated to India last month and only one member of the family now remains. The bodies were found in “mysterious” circumstances in a village field. The notices were issued on a petition moved by the IHC Bar Association Tuesday, seeking a court order directing the government to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the incident. “The constitution gives equal rights to minorities. 11 Hindu citizens of Pakistan were murdered in India over refusing to spy on the country,” the petition had observed. “The Indian High Commission in Islamabad had issued visas to the victims. Indian diplomatic mission working against diplomatic norms.” Following a brief hearing, the bench issued notices to the respondents and adjourned the hearing for two weeks. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the members of the minority Hindu community took the Islamabad late Thursday night, demanding that a probe be opened on the incident. “We want justice for these eleven Pakistani Hindus who were killed in Jodhpur,” Ramesh Kumar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MP and patron-in-chief of Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC), had told reporters. The Foreign Office (FO) had on Sept 14 summoned an Indian diplomat and conveyed its “serious concern” over the matter. The diplomat was told that the daughter of the deceased head of the family, Shrimati Mukhi, had made “highly concerning statements, implicating the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in the murder of her father, mother and other family members, allegedly after the agency failed to convince them to spy on Pakistan and issue anti-Pakistan statements”. However, a subsequent Foreign Office statement regretted that despite Islamabad’s repeated calls, the Indian government has still not released the necessary information on the incident. “I wish to reiterate that the Jodhpur incident is a matter of grave concern for the government and the people of Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Hindu community,” Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri had said last week.