14th August 2021 – Two days after an 8-year old Hindu boy was booked for blasphemy in Pakistan’s Punjab province, a huge crowd of the Indian community gather today afternoon outside Consulate General of Pakistan in Vaughan, Ontario to protest against draconian blasphemy laws in Pakistan. On its 75th Independence day, Pakistan’s treatment of its minority communities particularly Hindus, Sikhs and Christians is condemnable. The crowd gathered at CGP demanded for safety of minorities in Pakistan and removal of blasphemy laws. The angry crowd shouted slogans such as ‘Down Down, Pakistan’ and ‘Stop Killing Minorities’. Today’s protest was also to draw attention of the Canadian community and political leaders towards breach of basic human rights of minorities in Pakistan.
In the recent past, Pakistan and its government has come under lot of criticism locally and internationally against forced conversions of minority communities. According to a report published in ABC news last year, as many as 1000 girls from Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities are converted to Islam each year in Pakistan. Almost 2 weeks back, a Hindu temple was vandalized and attacked by majority community of Pakistan in Rahim Yar district of Pakistan. During the attack, the religious idols in the temple were broken with sticks, bricks and stones and several Hindu men were threatened and beaten.
