Fides: Pakistan- Floods in Sindh: aid denied to Christians and Hindus, the "untouchables" of religious minorities

They struggle for miles through waist-deep waters, small children in their arms. They are a family of southern Pakistan, displaced by a catastrophic flood, trudging slowly towards a refugee camp hastily erected on higher ground. They began in a small group with a few neighbors, but as they near sanctuary their ranks swell, weary voices rise, quicken, and the children are bounced on shoulders- relief is at hand. This family enters with those they have met along the way, but soon they are told to leave: there can be no comfort given to Dalits here. Dalits are the "untouchables" in the Indian caste system, the effects of which are still evident in Pakistan after its separation from India in 1947, and this is their fate, whether they be Christian or Hindu, in Pakistan today, Fides News Agency reports. They must live in the open air, in the midst of a flood, with no support given, no compassion or aid:

Christian and Hindu "Dalits" families, considered the "untouchables", are thrown out of refugee camps set up by the government and do not receive humanitarian aid. This is the complaint which comes from the diocese of Hyderabad and sent to Fides, confirmed by non-governmental organizations engaged in solidarity.

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 "This happens for religious and caste reasons. The victims are mostly tribal, living in 8 out of 16 parishes. In the district of Badin, on the border with India, inhabited by Parkari tribes, a pastor told me that in the two refugee camps set up by the Government, Christians have been rejected because, what is said is, 'Western missionaries think about you'. In addition to religious discrimination, these people are considered 'Dalits', 'untouchable' (for legacy of the Indian system, before the partition, ndr), therefore thrown out," Fr. Samson Shukardin, General Vicar of the diocese of Hyderabad, tells Fides.

Other operators of Pakistani NGOs, working on-site, confirm to Fides that in the district of Badin the Hindus of lower castes were not accepted in public refugee camps, because "the Dalits cannot be next to Muslims".  Thousands of Dalit flood victims live thus still "open", without any shelter, although the heavy rains continue.