Former Pakistani cricketer Danish Kaneria has accused that he faced discrimination and his career was destroyed for being a minority in the country.
Kaneria, who belongs to the Hindu faith, alleged that he did not receive equal treatment and respect in Pakistan. He made these claims at the Congressional Briefing on ‘Plight of minorities in Pakistan’ on Wednesday.
“Today, we all gathered here and expressed how we all faced discrimination and raised our voices. I also faced discrimination in Pakistan and my career was destroyed. I did not get equal values, respect in Pakistan,” Kaneria told ANI.
“All the people who came here spoke against discrimination on how Pakistan treated them. So, the main aim was to spread awareness among everyone, especially US, on how people suffer and the problems that exist in Pakistan and take action against it,” he added.
The former cricketer has played 61 test matches for Pakistan, the second Hindu player to be a part of the cricket team after Anil Dalpat.
Apart from Kaneria, Indian-American US Congressman Shri Thanedar attended the event and asked the US to call out ‘human rights violations’ against Hindus in Pakistan.
“We ask that US State Department demand that we strongly condemn these. United States strongly condemn these human rights violations in Pakistan against the Hindu minorities and quick action be taken, not just words but also quick action as far as economic sanctions against Pakistan to ensure that these atrocities stop,” Thanedar told ANI.
Zeba Mohammed Arif while speaking especially about women, told ANI, “We are here all together to speak against the Pakistani government, who are pressuring minority religion, as well as people who don’t have any voice, and especially we’re talking about the women who are suffering in Pakistan, the country that pressuring women against the minority religion. So, we’re here to speak about them and raise their voices.”
Former journalist Asra Nomani from Wall Street Journal remembered how her colleague and friend, Daniel Pearl, was “kidnapped, beheaded and cut into pieces” in 2002.
“I saw on the streets of Karachi, Pakistan, the tragic impact of the sectarianism that is laying claim to too many minorities. My friend and colleague, Daniel Pearl, was the journalist who was kidnapped and then beheaded and cut into pieces in 2002,” Nomani stated.
“In the decades since and until today, we have a crisis in which too many minority people in the nation of Pakistan are not allowed the rights and freedoms of being equal citizens. And so I stood here today to testify to my witness and to my own journalism seeing this injustice that’s happening and that needs to be corrected,” she added.
