50 Hindus convert to Islam in Pakistan's Sindh province

At least 50 members from ten Hindu families converted to Islam in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan, troubling Hindu activists who alleged the involvement of the state in the mass conversion.

The people were from different areas of the Mirpurkhas region of the province and were converted in a ceremony organised at the Baitul Iman New Muslim Colony seminary of the city, The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Thursday.

Qari Taimur Rajput, one of the caretakers of the seminary, confirmed that a total of 50 people from 10 families converted to Islam, including 23 females and a one-year-old girl.

Mohammad Shamroz Khan, the son of Minister for Religious Affairs Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood, also attended the conversion ceremony, the report said.

"They all willingly converted to Islam. No one has forced them," Rajput said, quoting Khan.

During the conversion ceremony attended by several residents, Rajput reportedly inquired the new converts if they had taken the step willingly.

Hindu activists, on the other hand, were troubled over the mass conversions and expressed their anger and disappointment.

Faqir Shiva Kucchi, a Hindu activist who often raises his voice against the practice, said, "It seems the state itself is involved in these conversions".

He added that demands to initiate legislation against conversions had been made to the government by local community members for several years.

"The conversions in Sindh are a serious issue, and instead of taking measures to stop it, the federal minister's son is part of the conversion," he said.

"It is a matter of great concern for all of us [Hindus]. "We feel helplessness [now]," he said.

Kuchhi said that most of the converts were economically underprivileged, and the local religious leaders take advantage of this fact.

"They offer them financial support and convert them easily," he alleged.

"We provide all possible support that these people need," Rajput said, pointing out that hundreds of people have converted to Islam in the last five years.

They will stay in a local facility especially established for new Muslim converts in 2018. During their four-month-long stay at the facility, the new converts will study and learn their new religion. The organisation provides for their needs, including clothes, food and medicine.

Pointing that only families were being converted to Islam, Rajput said, "We do not convert an individual as that could create issues." Rajput said that following the four-month stay at the facility, the converts can leave and go anywhere.

Sindh, home to the largest Hindu population in the country who are under social and economic pressure, witnesses regular conversions.

At least 59 Hindu labourers converted to Islam in the Badin area of Sindh in July 2021 at the behest of the landlord whose agricultural land they cultivated for years, reportedly in exchange for protection and economic support, another report by the paper said.