Pakistan`s 27 Hindu families seek political asylum in India

Islamabad, Dec 27 (PTI) Twenty-seven Hindu families
from Pakistan's Balochistan province have approached the
Indian High Commission here for political asylum after a
series of kidnappings and killings that targeted the minority
community, an official has said.
Saeed Ahmed Khan, a regional director for the federal
Human Rights Ministry, made the revelation while addressing a
seminar on the unrest in Balochistan in provincial capital
Quetta on Sunday.
"As many as 27 Hindu families from Balochistan have
sent applications to the Indian (High Commission) for asylum
in India," he told the seminar that was attended by leaders of
political parties and representatives of civil society groups.
In the latest incident targeting the minority
community in Balochistan, unidentified men abducted
82-year-old spiritual leader Maharaja Luckmi Chand Garji and
four of his companions on Wednesday.
Three of the men were freed later though Garji is yet
to be traced.
A strike was observed in Khuzdar and nearby areas this
week to protest Garji's abduction.
The strike was called by the All Parties Shehri Action
Committee, Balochistan National Party, Anjuman-e-Tajiran or
traders' association and Baloch Students Organisation.
Khan told the seminar that Hindus had been living in
Balochistan for centuries but several members of the community
had been kidnapped or murdered in recent weeks.
This, he contended, was forcing Hindus to seek asylum
in India.
This was a matter of "great concern" and the
government should take immediate measures to improve the law
and order situation in Balochistan, Khan said.
According to the Human Rights Ministry's statistics,
there has been widespread violation of rights and abduction
for ransom in Balochistan.
Baloch nationalist groups too have protested against
the arrest and detention of their members without charge.
Hazara Democratic Party chairman Abdul Khaliq Hazara
said over 100 groups involved in kidnappings for ransom were
operating in Balochistan.