Caste away
Scheduled caste Hindus in Sindh are facing floods as well as discrimination
By Zulfiqar Shah
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2010-weekly/nos-19-09-2010/dia.htm#2
Prithvi Raj Bhel, 40, a farmer from Sujawal Tehsil in Thatta District, looks devastated. He and his
Makli is full of tents, makeshift thatched huts, water tanks and canopies to shelter displaced people. Inadequate arrangements by the state machinery and non-governmental organisations have put the lives of these people in great danger.
Situation in Makli is pathetic and that of Prithvi Raj is worst. While other displaced people can get cooked food from the government and NGOs, Raj and his family cannot. Government officials are in the process of registering internally displaced persons (IDPs), but Raj and family have been denied registration.
The only difference between other hundreds of thousands of IDPs and Raj is that he is a scheduled caste Hindu, generally considered lower caste or 'Dalits'. Even though there is apparent discrimination against minorities, the situation of scheduled caste people is miserable.
"We are literally singled out here. First we were denied a place in the common relief camp and now people come with food for distribution, but they do not give us any," complains Prithvi Raj while talking to TNS.
Prithvi Raj is not the only person who is complaining about discrimination on the basis of caste and descent. A visit to half a dozen camps of IDPs in Sindh — from Karachi to Hyderabad via Thatta — shows that scheduled caste people are facing the worst kind of discrimination at all these places.
Scheduled caste Hindus such as Bagri, Bhell, Kolhi, Menghwar and Oadd make a tiny population of Sindh. According to official figures, they are only 300,000, but Dalit activists challenge these figures and claim that the actual number of Dalits is 2 million in Sindh alone.
The ongoing floods in Sindh has affected millions of people as 17 out of 23 districts of Sindh have been badly affected. As per latest official figures, 7 million people have been rendered homeless, while 2.2 million acres of agriculture crop has been damaged. In monetary terms, the province has suffered losses of Rs446 billions.
According to Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network (PDSN), the number of scheduled castes affected by flood is between 300,000 to 500,000. "This is a big disaster for Sindh and people have suffered a lot, but scheduled castes are facing different kinds of problems," says Convenor of PDSN Malji Rathore, an alliance of several civil society organisations working for protection of the rights of scheduled castes. "It's unfortunate that the discrimination we face goes on even in times of disaster."
A two-year old research study on the status of scheduled castes in Pakistan titled "Long Behind Schedule" has revealed the scheduled caste communities face severe discrimination in Pakistan, both in public and private spheres. They live in segregated housing and their children are discriminated against in schools. They are poorest of the poor and are victims of double discrimination — first as Hindus in a majority Muslim country and second as the lowest caste among Hindus.
According to a report, scheduled caste Hindus were even denied shelter and food at a Dharmshala in Larkana where local management had made arrangements for 500 upper caste Hindus displaced due to floods from upper Sindh and Balochistan.
Nisar Khokhar, a BBC correspondent from Larkana, says that arrangements at Dharmshala were very impressive, but unfortunately there was no place for scheduled castes. "Milk and other food items were available in huge quantity, but the entry of scheduled caste Hindus inside Dharmshala was banned," he tells TNS.
He says that he was impressed by the efforts of local Hindu Panchayat, which did not take money from the government and was managing flood relief facility inside the Dharmshala on self-help basis. But, unfortunately, those who were in the most need were denied access to the facility just because they belonged to lower caste.
The attitude of government officials is no different. In Makli, Prithvi Raj and other scheduled castes are denied registration as displaced persons. This registration will entitle them for government aid in cash and kind. The government had already started distribution of cash (Rs20,000) through "Watan" card scheme.
"DCO office in Thatta has refused our registration and told us to go to Hyderabad because our NIC is from Hyderabad," complains Pirthvi Raj. "Yes, we have NIC from Hyderabad, but when flood came we were settled in Thatta District," he argues.
The official plea that they should go and register themselves in Hyderabad will deny these poor people compensation because Hyderabad is not included in the list of affected districts.
"We have received nothing, be it ration or cooked food," says Sono Bagri at Sabzi Mandi Camp in Hyderabad city. "When we try to reach them, we are told to go away because we are 'Bagri' schedule caste".
An NGO activist tells TNS she has been asked by her boss not to focus on Bagris because they are not affectees, but beggars. Even provincial ministers are on record saying that Bagris and other schedule castes are beggars and have gathered in and around camps to receive aid.
"Discrimination against Dalits is a general phenomena in disasters and aid particularly in South Asia," says Rikke Nohrlind, head of International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), a Copenhagen-based organisation. "It happened during Tsunami, and now we are receiving reports during current floods in Pakistan." She regrets that discrimination on the basis of religion, caste and creed continues even in this modern era and in times of disaster.
United Nations has recently adopted guidelines for elimination of discrimination based on caste and creed. These guidelines urge governments to take special measures to ensure equality.
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