The Hindu refugee families who came from Pakistan’s Sindh province a few years ago and settled in the floodplains near Majnu ka Tila gurdwara, due to the continuous persecution they faced in the neighbouring country, are now facing the threat of religious conversion by Christian missionary organisations active in the refugee camp.
According to the news website News India 24X7, Christian missionaries are targeting the uneducated and gullible Hindu refugees and trying to convert them by offering them food and other basic facilities.
The residents believe that the Christian missionaries are working in and around the camp are gathering information on the Hindu immigrants in order to convert as many as possible.
A Hindu refugee named Urmila Rani, residing at the Majnu Ka Tila camp stated clearly that the camp has been subjected to a conversion racket for some time. She revealed how three people had already fallen into the trap laid by the Christian missionaries. She claimed that they were initially successful in preventing missionary organisations from entering the camp, but that subsequently, the same persons returned in the name of new institutions.
Priests affiliated with the temple also claim that these impoverished Pakistani Hindus are under a lot of pressure to convert. Going against these missionaries entails creating trouble for one’s own survival.
The report by News India 24X7 also suggests that these Hindu refugees families at Manju ka Tila camp are not even allowed to celebrate Hindu festivals. The Christian missionaries active in the camp, forbid them from organising functions like Ram Leela during the Hindu festival of Dussehra. However, they compel the Hindu refugees to celebrate Christmas. Poverty and the miserable conditions they are having to live in leave them with no option but to surrender to the demands put forth by these Christian missionaries.
It’s disturbing that these 150 families living in the refugee camp have no one to turn to for assistance, and they are afraid to approach the police.
Source : OpIndia
