Mithi, an oasis of religious tolerance
MUSLIMS AND HINDUS LIVE IN HARMONY, EVEN EXCHANGING GIFTS AND SWEETS TO MARK EACH OTHER’S FESTIVALS
Muslims, Hindus live in harmony, exchange gifts and sweets to mark festivals |
Cows roam freely in the city of Mithi in Sindh, as in neighbouring India. Considered sacred among Hindus, these animals embody the religious tolerance of this community in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where minorities often face heavy discrimination.
Here, “Muslims respect the beliefs of Hindus,” said Sham Das, a 72-year-old pensioner. “They do not kill cows, or only in remote places, but not in Hindu neighbourhoods.”
Unlike in the rest of Pakistan, cattle in Mithi live very well. They eat as they please, often from rubbish bins, and fall asleep on the roads. At times tuk-tuks and motorcycles navigate a weaving path around these stray animals. At other places, vehicles wait patiently for them to wake up!
Mithi is a mostly Hindu city of 60,000 people, a rarity in a country where some 95 per cent of the population is Muslim. As they enter Shri Krishna temple, the Hindu faithful ring a bell, the sound of which mingles with the adhan.
A relaxed group of young Hindus talk outside the colourful, intricately carved exterior, where not a single guard is employed. This is in sharp contrast to the Hindu neighbourhoods in the megacity of Karachi, some 300 kilometres away, which are under armed surveillance.
‘Migration of Hindus’
Vijay Kumar Gir, a Hindu priest in Karachi, said that of the 360 temples in the city, merely a dozen are still functioning.
“The rest of them have been shut down and their land is being encroached [upon],” he said. It is a bleak situation that is far more representative of the stigma tis at ion that Hindus face across Pakistan, where they are often assumed to be “pro-India because of their religion”, according to Marvi Sirmed, of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP).
The HRCP describes Pakistani Hindus as feeling “uneasy” in their country, saying in its annual report that “the migration of Hindus to India may soon turn into an exodus if the discrimination against them continues”.
According to the HRCP, which cites religious leaders, the biggest problem facing the community is the “forced conversion” to Islam of women and girls, many of whom are abducted before being married off to Muslim men.
But none of this appears to affect Mithi, where Muslims and Hindus say they live together in harmony, even sending one another gifts and sweets to mark their religious holidays, residents say. “Since I was old enough to reason, I have witnessed fraternity, love and harmony between Hindus and Muslims,” said Sunil Kumar, a 35-year-old businessman from the city.