Author: Aroosa Masroor Khan
Publication: TheNnews.com.pk
Date:
URL: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=4463
Hindu girls controversy continues to haunt
community
The controversy over the fate of three Hindu
sisters who went missing from their home in October 2005 to reappear soon
after at a Madrassah as converts to Islam continues to haunt the Hindu community
in Karachi.
For their part, the girls claim that they
have converted to Islam on their own free will. After a court battle for custody
of the girls which lasted for four months, the sisters have been permitted
to stay at the Madrassah Taleem ul Qur'aan-o-Sunnah. The girls, when contacted,
claimed that the madrassah for them was "no less than a home." But
family members disagree.
Reena, Reema and Usha, who claim that they
converted to Islam out of their own free-will, were given the Muslim names
Nida Islam, Anum Islam and Afshan Islam.
The sisters say that they ran away from their
home in Punjab Colony last year. At the time, their family suspected that
they had been abducted and converted to Islam forcefully.
In an interview with The News, Anum said that
they were not pressurized by any Islamic scholar and it was a mutual decision
by the sisters to stay at Madressah Taleem ul Quran-o-Sunnah.
Their parents had earlier suspected that their
daughters ran away with some Muslim boys. "If that was the case then
we would have been with the boys, not here in the madrassah. It was quite
a difficult decision to take but we had no choice after our father announced
that he would soon marry us off," said Anum, adding "conversion
from one religion to another is not a decision one can take hastily. We studied
the religion before converting."
They said that they had learnt about Islam
by watching religious programs and discussions on television and through Muslim
friends at school, which impressed them. "We were greatly influenced
by the pride Muslims took in their faith and have come to understood why they
felt so. This truly is a blessing," said Nida, another sister.
Nida, Anum and Afshan were students of a Christian-run
private school in Punjab colony and were aware of teachings of other faiths.
They claimed that only after deeply studying the Geeta, Bible and Holy Quran,
did they arrive at their conclusion. "There was no kind of pressure from
any Islamic scholar or madrassah," they restated, as if trying to bring
home this point.
Nida added that her curiosity in religion
grew when she questioned her parents about their beliefs. They said that they
had become "Muslim at heart" some months ago but were scared to
confess.
Eventually when their parents found out about
their change of faith, they got offended and their attitude became bitter.
"My father got very upset and he decided to marry us off as soon as possible.
The night we sisters planned to run away because there seemed no other option,"
said Anum.
They went Jamia Farooqia in New Town where
they recited the Kalma and became Muslims. On being questioned about how all
the sisters were inclined towards Islam at the same time, they said: "We
sisters do everything together."
However their father, Sanao Amra, denied any
such issues and said that he found no religious book that his daughters say
that they had studied.
He also said that his 17-year old daughter
was not an adult according to Islamic Law and that her custody should not
have been given to the madrassah authorities.
"I am too tired to fight before the court
and have lost all hope," he stated. Fearing further humiliation from
community members, Sanao has shifted his residence from Punjab Colony to Maripur.
"I have cut ties with my brothers and
other members of my community because they accuse me of giving too much freedon
to my daughters. All I wanted was to make sure they have a good education
so that they could be independent and have a respectable job," he lamented.
Nobody in the Hindu community dares to vent
their anger publicly over the issue because they fear victimization. "My
wife Champa is altogether a different woman now, her health is deteriorating
and she cannot stop thinking about her daughters... but life must go on, we
have to live for our other two children," added the traumatized father.
The girls added that they are unwilling to
meet their parents "if they refuse to accept them as Muslims." They
told The News "We do miss our parents but they have to understand that
we are happy in the madrassah. We are being kept as daughters here and are
respected too."
Initially on the orders of the court the girls
had spent a few weeks in the Edhi Home center but they said that they wished
to return to the seminary.
The head of the madrassah, Maulana Shabbir
Ahmed Usmani, said that they have been receiving threats but that was "not
bothersome." He said "We have done a virtuous deed by supporting
Nida, Anum and Afshan who are now the daughters of Islam."
The girls are also wary of the media. It was
also learnt by The News that the recent news published about the girls desire
to perform Hajj was misinterpreted and their photographs without the veil
were taken without informing them.
"The reporter lied to us that she was
taking some test shots through her camera when we were sitting without our
hijab and she also constantly kept questioning us about Hajj even though we
very well know that Islam does not permit Hajj without a Mehram (male relative).
She actually put her words in our mouth even though we did not state that,
which was quite an irresponsible behaviour," said Nida.
While the critics have been silenced over
the manner in which the girls changed their faith, many in the Hindu community
still say that not all is right in this case. The truth, they say, will eventually
come out one day.
