Over 100 Hindu families in Pak want to migrate to India

Islamabad, Jan 3 (PTI) Over 100 Hindu families in
Pakistan's Balochistan province are making efforts to migrate
to India after becoming the target of a campaign of
kidnappings and extortion, according to a media report on
Monday.
The Hindus of southwestern Balochistan have been hit
hardest by incidents of abduction for ransom and extortion,
with the records of the province's Home Department showing
that a large number of the 291 people abducted last year were
Hindus, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
Five Hindu families have already migrated from
Balochistan's Mastung district to India and six more families
are trying to seek asylum elsewhere or to shift to other parts
of Pakistan, the daily quoted Hindu elders as saying.
Vijay Kumar, a 33-year-old chemist, claimed that over
100 Hindu families of Balochistan are making efforts to
migrate to India because of the campaign of kidnappings and
extortion.
""Our relatives are there in India, thus we Hindus
prefer to settle India," he told the daily.
Suresh Kumar, 31, who runs a grocery shop in Mastung
district south of Quetta, wants to migrate though his family
has lived in Balochistan for almost a century.
"Most of the people are trying to migrate to India or
other areas of Pakistan because of the deteriorating law and
order situation," Kumar said.
"Kumar is not alone in this desire. Frightened by the
rise in kidnappings in which their community is being
targeted, many Hindus want to leave the country at the first
opportunity," the report said.
In provincial capital Quetta alone, four of eight
persons kidnapped last year belonged to the Hindu community.
The situation was worse in Naseerabad district, where
half the 28 people kidnapped in 2010 were from the minority
community.
"It is a common perception that most of the victims
were released after paying huge sums of money as ransom to
kidnappers. Relatives are reluctant to disclose how much money
was paid to the kidnappers, fearing that they will be targeted
again," the report said.
Balochistan's Minorities Affairs Minister Basant Lal
Ghulshan said: "Recent incidents have shocked us."
Forty-one Hindus were abducted during the past three
years and four more were killed when they resisted kidnapping
attempts.
Juhary Lal, a well-known trader, was abducted about 16
months ago in Naal area of Khuzdar district and his
whereabouts are unknown.
The recent abduction of spiritual leader Luckmi Chand
Gurji has shaken the Hindus.