Reacting to shocking visuals of a temple being vandalised in Pakistan, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday hit out at those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which provides Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities in the neighbouring country.
Taking to Twitter, Shekhawat posted a video of miscreants vandalising the Shri Ganesh temple in Rahimyar Khan district of Pakistan, and stressed the need to protect the minorities, who deal with these situations on ‘a daily basis’.
“Why did Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah introduce the CAA bill and why do other minority religions including Hindus need protection in Pakistan? This video of Shri Ganesh temple in Rahimyar Khan district of Pakistan will answer your questions,” Shekhawat tweeted along with the video. “All minorities in Pakistan have to deal with these situations on a daily basis,” he said.
The Union Minister said, people whose heart does not melt even after seeing such visuals, and those who advocate for the withdrawal of CAA, such people value appeasement over humanity.
क्यों मोदीजी और अमित शाह जी ने #CAA बिल लाया और क्यों पाकिस्तान में हिन्दुओं समेत अन्य अल्पसंख्यक धर्मानुयायियों को संरक्षण की आवश्यकता है?
पाकिस्तान के रहीमयार खान जिले में श्री गणेश मंदिर का ये वीडियो देखकर इस तरह के सवालों के जवाब मिल जाएंगे।#Pakistan pic.twitter.com/KRxSKZFrwe
— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) August 4, 2021
The sufferings of religious minorities continue to persist in Pakistan as there have been several incidents of violence, abduction of girls from the minority community, forceful conversions, or the vandalism of religious institutions reported frequently.
The persecution of religious minorities has been manifested in various forms of targeted violence, mass murders, extrajudicial killings, abduction, rapes, forced conversion, etc. Pakistani Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyyas, and Shias have been the most persecuted minorities in Pakistan which have suffered religious hatred at the hands of the majority.
What is CAA and how does it benefit religious minorities in Pak?
The government of India introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 that allows persecuted minorities belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to avail themselves Indian citizenship.
As per the provisions of the Act, those from the said communities who came to India by December 31, 2014, after facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. Not only this, if a person belongs to the aforementioned faiths, from these three countries, does not have proof of birth of parents, they can apply for Indian citizenship after six years of residence in India.
