Thaindian News

Islamabad, Aug 10 (IANS) About 250 Pakistani Hindus have moved to India after promising authorities here that they will return after completing their pilgrimage, media reports said Friday.

The Hindus, men and women, gave the commitment after a section of the media speculated that the Hindus had no intention of returning to Pakistan because of alleged harassment by Islamists.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik went public Thursday night alleging a “conspiracy” against Pakistan and demanded to know why the Indian High Commission in the Pakistani capital had issued so many visas to Hindus.

He refused to let the Hindus proceed beyond Jacobabad, Sindh, unless he was satisfied they would not take asylum in India citing religious persecution — as some Pakistani Hindus had done earlier.

Eventually, after some hours, the Hindus were allowed to go after their representatives pledged to return to Pakistan.

“After the interior ministry orders, the Hindu families were kept waiting on the (railway) platform. They were perplexed over not being allowed to cross the border despite having (India) visas,” Dawn reported Friday.

Media reports earlier reported that the Hindus had no plans to return from India following allegations that their shops and houses were raided and their women converted to Islam.

One report said that seven Hindu families comprising 90 men, women and children from Jacobabad left for India Wednesday night, citing lack of safety and security in Sindh province.

They left by train and were seen off by relatives and a large number of Hindus at the Jacobabad railway station.

The move comes six months after 52 Hindu families from the same area migrated to India.

Jacobabad police official Muhammad Younus Chandio said security was being provided to Hindus and that the families were not migrating but going to India to perform religious rites.