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"Dalit Solidarity News" is an information project run by the International Dalit Solidarity Network. News stories are extracts from online newsservices. Link to the full story is found at the end of each blog.
Visit the International Dalit Solidarity Network at www.idsn.org
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Formed in 2000, the IDSN is a network of international organisations, national solidarity networks and affected country groups, campaigning against caste-based discrimination throughout the world, from the dalits of South Asia to the Osu of Nigeria and the Burakumin of Japan. Visit our website International Dalit Solidarity Network for more information.
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Friday, May 11, 2007
PAKISTAN: LOWER CASTE HINDUS TURN TO MUSHARRAF FOR HELP
AKI - Italiy
10 May
Low caste Hindus or Dalits in Pakistan have written a letter to Pakistani president Gen. Pervez Musharraf urging him to take "swift action" to ensure an end to "many forms of untouchability, caste discrimination, human inequality and humiliation" at the hands of higher caste Hindus and those who have converted to Islam. The letter was written by the founder president of the Scheduled Castes (or Dalits) Federation of Pakistan, Surendar Valasai, but is yet to receive any response from the general.
Speaking to the Indian daily, the Asian Age, in a telephone interview from Pakistan, Valasai, who takes pride in being the "first" Dalit journalist in Pakistan, said the two million Dalits in that country did not want to be clubbed together with higher caste Hindus. They are currently classified as part of a single community. He said most Dalits live in Lower Sindh and Lower Punjab and have been deprived of their due share in government schemes, with all the benefits going to upper caste Hindus. He said 70 percent of Hindus in Pakistan are Dalits, and pointed out that in many areas they were not allowed to share the same utensils in schools and government offices.
Valasai said the situation was bad, but even then "it is better than that of dalits in India, as at least our lives are secure." Pointing out that the discrimination faced by dalits was similar in all South Asian countries, he said the discrimination against the entire community should be recognised and addressed by the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as an issue on its agenda. He said the Dalits in Pakistan were in the process of conducting a study to determine the social indicators of development. Admission to schools was not a major problem, but discrimination faced by students after they were admitted certainly was.
The letter to Gen. Musharraf was written on the eve of his visit to Naunkot in Sindh province, the centre of Mirpurkhas division, where Dalits form almost 35 per cent of the population. It has drawn the general's attention to the "Law (Code) of Manu" being followed in the region despite Mohammed Ali Jinnah's statement in 1944 when he is quoted as having said: "I can tell my friends of the scheduled castes (or Dalits) that at no time have I overlooked their interests and position, and I may claim that in the past I have done all I could to help them and I shall always stand for their protection and safeguard ... for I think the wrongs and injustices inflicted on them for centuries should not be allowed to continue under any civilised form of government."
The Dalits have started a signature campaign to be considered as a distinct group, separate from the "Hindus and scheduled castes" category. The petition points out that Dalits are poorly represented in Pakistan's parliament compared to higher caste Hindus. It also demands separate reserved seats for Dalits in parliament and the four provincial assemblies in accordance with their population, as well as special concessions in the economic, educational, social and political fields to remove "the wrongs and injustices done to them in the past." Other demands include the constitution of a National Commission on Scheduled Castes; allotment of land to landless Dalit peasants and state protection against harassment and discrimination.
Valasai said they had not received any positive response from the government but were optimistic that their demands would be listened to. He is in touch with Indian Dalit groups but rules out any "pro-active cooperation." He has made common cause, however, with resistance movements within Pakistan and participated last year at the Karachi World Social Forum.
Link to the articleLabels: Pakistan
1:55 PM
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Caste in a discriminatory mould
Scheduled castes in three districts of southern Punjab share their tales of socio-economic and political deprivation
The News - Jang Group
By Zulfiqar Shah
Kanji Ram Menghwar, a young member of Sadiqabad district council, has good news to share with his scheduled caste community: the government has declared Hindu festivals like Holi and Dewali as official holidays. He came to know of this in his meeting with Ejazul Haq, minister for religious affairs. He held a copy of the notification provided by the minister like a sacred document.
For a community, which stands at the bottom in social and economic indicators and has been a victim of social exclusion on the basis of caste and religion, even this simple government gesture was like a dream come true.
Sadiqabad, Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur, three districts of southern Punjab, which also share borders with Sindh, have a sizeable population of scheduled castes -- Bheel, Kolhi, Menghwar, Balmaki and Jogi.
These castes, which are commonly considered minority within minority, rarely see people from majority faith around them interacting or discussing issues concerning their socio-economic and political deprivation. If and when such a rare opportunity is provided, they just burst out. This is what exactly happened last week at a day-long consultation on 'caste- based discrimination' held in in Rahimyar Khan that brought together about 50 men and women from scheduled castes.
They have so many stories to tell -- ranging from complaints of downplaying their number in population census to forced conversion. The worst comes in the shape of refusal of food and other services at common places or what's commonly known as 'untouchability'.
According to population census report of 1998, the only authentic government document on the population prepared a decade ago, scheduled caste population in Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur districts is 17459 and 876 respectively.
But quoting this data is like abusing the community, which is already marginalised. "These figures are totally wrong," comments Bhayya Ram Anjum, who has twice contested the election for provincial assembly. "There are more than 50,000 Hindu registered voters in Rahimyar Khan, ninety per cent of whom are scheduled castes," is his angry response to the official data.
Lala Mehar Lal Bheel, a former MPA, shares Ram's anger: "The population census data is absolutely incorrect. We have raised this issue time and again but nobody listened." In his view, this is the beginning of discrimination meted out to the scheduled caste population. "When our actual numbers in population are not accounted for, what else may we expect."
They agreed that a large portion of those described as scheduled castes have wrongly been included in Hindu (Jati) category. During census, people are usually asked about their caste and they reply by saying: 'Hindu'. This way those scheduled castes that did not specifically describe them as such are counted in the boarder category of Hindus.
According to census report total population of Hindus in Pakistan is 21,11,171. Of this only 332,343 are identified as scheduled castes and rest as Jatis (upper castes). But Lala Mehar says the fact is quite opposite. "More than 90 per cent of Hindus in Pakistan are scheduled castes. That means our population is around two million even according to government figures."
There are also chances that many of the scheduled castes are completely left out during the head-count due to their social invisibility. "In many cases we are even not considered humans; what difference does it make if we are not included in census," says Nathu Ram, a young participant of the consultation.
Scheduled castes in this part of the country, young and old and women and men, say they face discrimination and hatred in every walk of life with no one talking about this issue. "Every body hates us; often we are asked to sit on floor in hospitals and other places," says Kanya Lal, 30, from a basti near Rahimyar Khan. "We are told that we are Menghwar and deserve this treatment."
Kanya Lal gets emotionally charged when he shares how a nurse refused to treat his sister when they went to a local private hospital after a severe pain in her teeth. "She said she won't pollute her hands by touching my sister."
It's interesting to hear such stories despite tall claims by state and non-state actors that there is no question of caste-based discrimination in Pakistan. In reality exclusion on the basis of caste is present in its worst form. The scheduled caste Hindus particularly Kolhi, Bheel, Menghwar, Bagri, Balmaki face discrimination in the shape of untouchability. They are often termed achoot (untouchable) by faithful Muslims and also by upper caste Hindus.
This discrimination haunts them from Tharparker in the bottom of Sindh to Rahimyar Khan in southern Punjab. There is hardly any change in the pattern of social, economic and political exclusion and forms of discrimination against this group of citizens -- regardless of which part of the country they reside.
They are not welcome at hotels and restaurants to share utensils and barbers refuse to offer them services. In some instances they have been physically humiliated when eating in hotels when they dared to break this rule.
"My friend and me were literally beaten up in Khanpur when we attempted to eat in a hotel," says a young man who doesn't want to be quoted by name. He says he and his friend were eating in a hotel in Khanpur but were pushed out when some other clients pointed that we were non-Muslims.
Similarly, a young student of pre-medical shares how scheduled caste Hindu students are described as polluted. "The most frequent comment is that we do not take bath for months and emit a bad smell," says Shankar.
The day-long candid interaction with the group suggests that they face discrimination at both public and private spheres. Add to the injury is complete silence particularly on the part of so called intellectuals and liberals from majority religion.
It's actually the caste system coupled with class. Discussions with different groups suggest that there may be a little space for the highly educated which is a rare breed anyway; uneducated and poor Hindus are the worst victims. These are literally broken people and there would be no harm to describe them as Pakistani Dalits.
Scheduled caste women say they are easily identified from their dresses and face multiple discrimination. "When we go to bazaar, we are asked not to touch the things but ask the price from a distance," says a woman participant. "We also face discrimination in public transport and are treated like second class citizens." They also complain of sexual harassment.
A look at the demography of these communities reveals that both in Sindh and Punjab, they are residing in districts near the Indian border. The assumption is that upper caste Hindus left the country at the time of partition but these dalits couldn't because they did not have the means to do so. Ironically, scheduled castes in these two areas are in the same condition regardless of the development of the area.
For instance, the conditions of Kolhi, Bheel and Menghwar in district Rahimyar Khan is not different from that of the same castes in Tharparker and Umerkot, despite the difference in development indicators of the two areas -- district Rahimyar Khan is supposedly better-off.
"They live in pathetic conditions," says Bushra Khanum, a Multan based social scientist who has recently conducted a series of field visits to the area as part of a research study. "They live in literally inhuman conditions." She says of the 20 bastis (villages) visited by her, majority has no basic amenities including health facilities and sewerage. "Hardly two or three bastis had a primary school and that too in bad conditions."
She says, in Chak No 115, women had to walk a long way just to bring drinking water. "These communities are really poorest of the poor. Their biggest demand was a common toilet." Toilets and latrines are a frequent demand of excluded population groups including scheduled castes and bonded labour but the government development programmes have no provision for this basic facility.
Unfortunately, these Pakistani dalits are also not visible in donor-prescribed development programmes -- as reflected from their obviously pathetic conditions. Heavy funding by multilateral donors has also failed to target these communities.
Though the state of Pakistan has promised equal treatment to minorities and even the national flag carries a white portion, a symbol of minorities, that promise has yet to be fulfilled.
Obviously, there is widespread poverty in Pakistan and Muslims may make majority of the poor because of their size of population; social exclusion on the basis of caste, religion, work, ethnicity and gender is rampant.
There is an urgent need to break the culture of silence on the issue. The debate and discussion would need a follow-up strategy to bring in rapid change in the lives of those ignored for decades.
Link to the articleLabels: Pakistan
10:56 AM
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