Evictions, demolition of houses of members of Hindu, Christian community, highly condemnable: HRCP

Lahore [Pakistan], May 28 (ANI): The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday condemned the razing of houses of people from the Hindu and Christian communities in Punjab province's Bahawalpur city. The houses were allegedly brought down by local authorities with political influence.
"HRCP is gravely concerned at reports that houses belonging to the Hindu and Christian communities of Yazman in Bahawalpur have been demolished, allegedly by local authorities with political influence," said HRCP in a tweet.
"Evictions, the demolition of people's houses, and land grabbing, esp. when such communities are doubly vulnerable, are highly condemnable. HRCP will conduct an independent fact-finding exercise to investigate," HRCP added.
A video of a similar incident surfaced on the internet recently in which a basti of a minority Hindu community in Bhawalpur can be seen being demolished. The demolition exercise was carried out under the watch of Tariq Bashir Cheema, the Housing Minister in the Imran Khan cabinet, and the country's Principal Information Officer Shahid Khokhar.
Pakistan is a well-known perpetrator of such human rights violations. On several occasions it has promised to safeguard the interest of minority communities in the nation. However, continuing attacks on minorities narrate a different story.
Islamabad has been discriminating against its religious minorities. This is manifested in various forms of targeted violence, mass murders, extrajudicial killings, abduction, rapes, forced conversion to Islam, etc., making Pakistani Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyyas, and Shias the most persecuted minorities in the region. (ANI)