Washington, DC [US], March 13 : Former Pakistani cricketer Danish Kaneria has alleged that he faced huge discrimination in Pakistan and his career was destroyed.
Kaneria, who is a Hindu by faith, said he did not get equal values and respect in Pakistan. He had participated in the Congressional Briefing on 'Plight of minorities in Pakistan' on Wednesday (local time).
Speaking to ANI, on the sidelines of the event, Kaneria said, "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...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."
Kaneria had played 61 Tests for Pakistan and is only the second Hindu to feature in the Pakistani cricket team after Anil Dalpat.
Indian-American US Congressman Shri Thanedar also attended the event and urged the US to condemn 'human rights violations' in Pakistan against Hindu minorities and demand quick actions against Pakistan to ensure that these atrocities stop.
Speaking to ANI, Thanedar said that he is attending the conference to support the Hindus amid their struggle against atrocities in Pakistan. He urged the US State Department to impose sanctions against Pakistan until these atrocities stop.
"Hindu Action is having this conference in Rayburn House Office Building of the US Congress and I'm here to support the Hindus and their struggle to get human rights, their struggle to stop the atrocities that are happening in Pakistan on the Hindu minorities. Many girls are being coerced to convert their religion. There has been kidnapping that has happened of Hindu people and I am here to demand that the State Department take action, economic actions, sanctions against Pakistan until these atrocities stop," Thanedar said.
"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," he added.
Zeba Mohammed Arif, who also attended the conference, said, "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."
Meanwhile, former journalist for the Wall Street Journal, Asra Nomani, recalled how her colleague and friend, Daniel Pearl, who she said was "kidnapped, beheaded and cut into pieces" in 2002. She said that minority people in Pakistan are not allowed the rights and freedoms of equal citizens.
"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 said
"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.
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