According to the information collected, Mr Jagdish Kumar
belonged to a lower Hindu caste and his family lives in Mirpurkhas, a city
close to India bordering the Rajasthan state. Jagdish came to Karachi, the
capital city of Sindh province, for a better job some years ago and joined
the Nova leather factory in Korangi, Karachi, which has 7,000 workers,
about 60 of whom are Hindu. Jagdish was very close to a Muslim girl who
worked at the factory but supervisory staff and some
workers who are members of Islamic fundamentalist groups were not happy
with the close relationship which developed between Jagdish and the Muslim
girl. The relationship showed every promise of turning into a lifetime
partnership.
On the day of the incident, April 8, 2008, at 10 a.m. some
workers and security guards beat Jagdish and warned him not to "involve
himself in so many things". They told him that he must remain simply a
Hindu worker. After beating him, he was produced before Ms Naushaba, the
supervisor of the stitching department where he was working, and Jagdish
was accused of saying bad words against the Muslim prophet which he denied
instantly. But Ms Naushaba, who was aware of his relationship with the
girl, just softly slapped his face and told him to start work. So at that
point things were quite normal but at 11.30 a.m. some workers of a
religious group started beating him again and after some minutes the
security guards of the factory locked him in a security room which had
iron gates. The workers who had beaten him started shouting that Jagdish
was using bad words against Islam.
In the meantime, Mr Irfan Iqbal, the director of Nova,
along with his managers Mr Nadeem and Mr Saleem, arrived at the scene and
in their presence the mob, believing that they had the support of the
management, broke the iron gates of the room, dragged Jagdish out and beat
him with heavy rods, stones and hammers. The management watched the
incident without interfering. In the meantime, some people called the
police and initially only four policemen turned up in a police jeep. Later
they were followed by two more jeeps carrying officers who all stood by
and watched the lynching. The police and the management remained
spectators while the beating continued from 11.30 to 12.10 inside the
factory compound. Witnesses from the Hindu community residing at Lyari
town reported that even when the fanatics drove screwdrivers into
Jagdish’s eyes neither the police nor the management intervened. When
Jagdish was finally handed over to the police, he was dead. The police
refused to enter a first information report (FIR) by the family of the
victim but later on filed their own FIR after one day had passed.
Jagdish was beaten beyond recognition and as a result his
body was not shown to his mother who is still in a state of
semi-unconsciousness.
The family was first pressured by the management of the
factory and the police not to register the case of killing by lynching.
Then some Muslim religious groups persuaded the Hindu community residing
in Marwari Mohalla, Lyari town, Karachi, not to file an FIR or report it
to the press otherwise the whole Hindu community and particularly the 60
Hindu workers working in the factory would face more bloody incidents in
the name of blasphemy charges. The management of the factory has since
stopped sending its bus to cater for 40 Hindu workers from Marwari Mohalla.
Marwari Mohalla has a population of 2,000 Hindus who reside in more than
200 houses in a big compound. The members of the
community are so scared that they locked themselves inside the compound
(fearing attacks from) a Muslim fundamentalist sectarian group known as a
militant organisation.
The police have arrested three persons, two from the Sunni
Tehreek (ST), a militant sectarian organisation, and one from the Pasbaan
organisation. However, the Korangi 4 police station is providing
protection to the perpetrators by not arresting the other persons who were
very visible in the (video footage of) the whole incident recorded on
different cameras installed in and outside the factory. It is alleged that
two arrested persons, Mr Waqas and Mr Usman of the Sunni Tehreek, are
notorious and have been involved in cases of murder, attempt to murder,
rape and other crimes but are employed by the management of the factory.
Mr Sarwer Nadeem, the manager, along with these two persons is terrorising
the employees, particularly young women who are generally employed on
piece rates. The third arrested person, Mr Hashim Makrani, belongs to
Pasbaan, also a religious organisation. There is a 300 strong group of ST
members in the factory.
It is believed that the police are destroying the evidence
against the other perpetrators and arrested persons. The Korangi 4 police
station has appointed Mr Ulfat Husain, assistant subinspector, as
investigating officer, who is very close to the management of the factory.
On the other hand, the factory management says there is no video recording
of the incident as their cameras were not working at the time.
One day before his killing, Waqas, Usman and some other
persons from the ST threatened Jagdish not to come back to the factory
otherwise he would face exemplary punishment. Jagdish complained about
this threat to his seniors, particularly his supervisor, but no action was
taken.
The provincial government of Sindh has still not started
an investigation into this incident. When contacted, the minister for
minority affairs, Mr Daya Ram said he had heard about the case but did not
have detailed information. Later he said that he had informed the prime
minister about the incident and the prime minister had assured him that he
would look into the case. After the passing of several days, neither the
minister nor the provincial government has done anything about the case.
Even the Pakistan Peoples Party, a secular party in power, is not taking
up the case, nor has it even issued a statement because of the involvement
of powerful religious groups which the party does not want to annoy.
Different Muslim religious parties, including the Sunni
Tehreek, Jamaat-e-Islami, have acknowledged the incident but other than
condemn the matter, have not taken any action. This is the same situation
with different NGOs who claim to represent civil society but who, as yet,
have not issued any press statements. Only the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan has issued a statement.
The dark aspect of the incident is that extreme militant
Muslim organisations will use the tool of blasphemy as the best way to
keep religious minority groups under pressure. This will continue if the
state does not rein in the misuse of the blasphemy law. The conspicuously
indifferent attitude of the coalition government of the Pakistan Peoples
Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N) on the issue of
killing a young man just because he was in love with a Muslim girl will
turn the country into an intolerant society and no one, not even political
parties, will be spared by the militant groups.
The government of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
should immediately probe this case of the killing of a young Hindu man on
charges of blasphemy. The government must take action before the formation
of a probe commission by judges from higher courts. The police officers
and the factory management that stood by and watched this young man being
beaten to death must be brought before the law and punished accordingly.
The demand for a probe commission consisting of judges
from higher courts is very pertinent as the incident is of a heinous crime
where the government and state has remained inactive. This will be a test
case in which the newly elected government will either show its commitment
for the rule of law or adopt the course of political expediency.
April 23, 2008
