Caste in a discriminatory mould
Scheduled castes in three districts of southern Punjab share their tales of socio-economic and political deprivation
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.
hey 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.
his 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
A faith issue
Lala Mehar Lal Bheel, a former minority MPA from Bahawalpur, has many documents which he has moved time and again drawing attention of authorities to the plight of scheduled castes in Pakistan, particularly in Southern Punjab
From seeking land rights for scheduled castes residing in Cholistan to ban on forced conversion, he has suggested several remedies to bring in a change in the lives of Pakistani dalits.In his unending struggle for rights, the 70-year-old Lala Bheel has a very few successes stories to tell. More recently he has been able to convince DIG police Bahawalpur division to send a letter to officers urging them to take due care while dealing with cases of kidnapping and forced conversion of girls and women belonging to minorities.
The letter issued on January 31, 2007 reveals that it’s actually not a new instruction but reiteration of orders that were passed by the provincial government in 1981. According to the orders, a minority girl kidnapped should immediately be recovered and separated from captors. The claim of conversion should be independently verified and made without any pressureIronically, these and other such instructions are frequently violated. Representatives of Bheel and Menghwar, two major scheduled castes from Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur, blame that their girls and women are kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. They say police refuses to lodge an FIR due to their weaker social and political position; then they hear that the girl had converted to Islam and got married on her own. All this comes happens at the captors home or a madrasa. The girls’ families are provided no chance to check the authenticity of the claim
We understand that we are poor and we may not have as many rights as Muslims but at least we should have the security of our honour," complains Peter Jan Bheel.
The constitution of Pakistan, the supreme law of the country, makes protection of property and honour of citizens an obligation of the state without any discrimination. It has failed to discharge this responsibility so far
Lala Bheel suggests the formation of a commission to investigate and oversee the process of faith conversion. “This is a serious issue and should be verified by an official commission comprising members from all faiths and not a mullah,” he added
Participants of the consultation claim that the trend of kidnapping of girls from scheduled castes and then their conversion has increased in recent years where young girls have been kidnapped and forcibly converted. Usually a girl disappears with a Muslim man. Then comes an announcement of conversion at the place of a religious cleric followed by court marriage.Many people particularly the Muslims in Rahimyar Khan say that girls leave their homes on their free will to convert to get married to Muslim men. It’s also interesting to note that many Muslims believe that scheduled caste girls convert to get rid of extreme poverty and discrimination they face.Lala Bheel and Bukhsha Ram, also a former MPA, say they been hearing this rhetoric for long time. “Our argument is that the girl should be provided independence to decide,” says Lala. "Once she is kidnapped, police should recover her and she should be allowed to live with her parents for 15 days before asking for a statement in court."They also complained that police is not willing to lodge FIR. Once a Muslim man kidnaps a Hindu girl, it becomes a religious issues. “We are told that we should forget her because she is Muslim now,” says added Bheel.
- Zulfiqar Shah