'Untouchable Pak Hindus Being Sexploited'

September 7, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Untouchable_Pak_Hindus_being_sexploited/articleshow/3453558.cms

A new study has found that the Hindus belonging to lower (scheduled) castes are unofficially declared as "untouchables" and are given a second-grade-citizen treatment. Their kids are made to clean the school premises and are forced to sit on back benches.

The study also found that Hindu women belonging to scheduled castes were the most vulnerable and considered "sexually available by men" of Muslim-dominated communities. Since they are economically weaker with no social support or political leverage in the community, their young women were lured into matrimony or abducted and wed through forced conversions.