Dalits turn to Musharraf for help
Friday, May 11, 2007
LAHORE: Dalits in Pakistan have written a letter to President General 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 caste Hindus and those who have converted to Islam, The Asian Age reported on Thursday.
The letter was written by the founder president of the Scheduled Castes Federation of Pakistan, Surendar Valasai, but is yet to receive any response from the president.
Valasai, who takes pride in being the “first” dalit journalist in Pakistan, said the two million dalits in Pakistan did not want to be clubbed together with caste Hindus. They are currently classified as part of a single community. He said most dalits were living in Lower Sindh and Lower Punjab and had been deprived of their due share in government schemes, with all benefits going to caste Hindus. He said that 70 percent of Hindus in Pakistan were 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 “it is better than that of dalits in India”. He said that dalits faced similar discrimination in all South Asian countries and asked SAARC to address it. daily times monitor
How can Pakistan launch huge military actions in Balochistan and take on Bugti’s Vadera philosophy while noone knows anything about which philosophy the Dalit people are suffering under?