Low-caste Hindus face strict discrimination
By SAADIA QAMAR
KARACHI - Low-caste Hindus are unofficially declared untouchable people within the country as they face discrimination in every walk of life from provision of basic facilities to employment opportunities. Even in some areas they are socially marginalised due to their low-caste.
This was revealed in a research study on caste based discrimination in Pakistan titled: “Long Behind Schedule” a study on the plight of scheduled caste Hindus in Pakistan,” by Zulfiqar Shah which was launched here on Friday at Karachi Press Club.
The study has been conducted on behalf of International Solidarity Network (ISN) and Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) in collaboration with Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP).
The research, conducted in Tharparkar, Umerkot, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur districts, is based on a survey conducted on 750 households in Sindh and Punjab provinces as well as available secondary data.
The survey reveals startling facts. It divulged that schedule caste minorities in Pakistan are facing the worst kind of discrimination in every aspect of life including at the government level.
An overwhelming majority ��" 79 per cent of the scheduled caste population - said in reply to survey’s questionnaire that they face discriminatory treatment of one or another kind. The situation is the worst in southern Punjab where the percentage of those who say they face discrimination treatment was as high as 86.5 per cent. They have also identified groups who they consider perpetuators of discriminatory treatment against them. These groups include Muslims, landlords/elite, upper caste Hindus, and restaurant/shop owners.
The data coming from four districts in Sindh and Punjab revealed that 77 per cent respondents are denied barber services and 90 per cent have been served food and tea in separate crockery at hotels and restaurants which they have to wash by themselves.
Sixty-nine per cent of those surveyed said that their upper caste Hindu and Muslim neighbours either do not invite them to their social gatherings like weddings, or if invited they were being served food separately. This attitude was relatively more prevalent in Rahim Yar Khan (87 per cent) then in Tharparkar (60 per cent). In schools, scheduled caste students are obliged to sit on back seats, leaving front seats for students from non-scheduled castes. Though they are not asked to do so on regular basis, the practice is in place for so long that it had become a custom.
Scheduled caste population, according to official statistics, is only 332,343. Ordinary scheduled castes as well as their political representatives, which consider that the discrimination starts from their exclusion in headcount, challenge these figures.
They said that their numbers had been deliberately shown less and their low number was also a main reason of their backwardness as they were not considered a major group in numbers thus they were not provided adequate share in development budget.