Conversion of Hindu Boy Telecast Live on Pakistani TV Media

It is a fact that Hindus in Pakistan are venerable to forceful conversion, but this plight became more dreadful when a Hindu Boy was converted to Islam and the whole proceeding was live telecasted on a national TV. Pakistani TV show ‘Ramazan chat’ broadcasted live a Hindu boy converting to Islam in a studio packed with audience on Wednesday.

In just five minutes, the 20-year-old introduced as Sunil officially changed his religion under a cleric’s guidance. It is a clear indication of forced conversion which is becoming the latest weapon of Islamic extremists in Pakistan.

The show has been slammed by a leading daily Dawn, which claimed in its editorial that it sent “a clear signal that other religions don’t enjoy the same status in Pakistan as Islam does”.

An editorial in the Dawn on Friday observed, “In yet another example of how the industry’s commercial goals trump ethics, open-mindedness and common sense, on Tuesday a television show broadcast an imam leading a Hindu boy through a live conversion to Islam carried out in the studio as part of the show, complete with the audience joining in to suggest Muslim names for the new convert.”

The editorial said that the joy with which the conversion was welcomed sent a clear signal that other religions don’t enjoy the same status in Pakistan as Islam does.

The editorial also raised the question on how the move will affect country’s minorities. “In a country where minorities are already treated as second-class citizens in many ways, this served to marginalise them even further,” it maintained.

“There is no reason to think the boy was not converting of his own free will, but the whole event had the distinct air of being carried out to give viewers something new and different to watch, even if that meant dragging an intensely personal and spiritual experience into public view,” the daily said.

The write-up also held the Pakistani media responsible on how it will go to with what ‘seems like exciting content’ to spice things up saying “religion is now fair game too”. The editorial said, “More disturbingly, what the channel obviously didn’t stop to consider is the message this broadcast would send to the country’s minorities”.

The daily observed that the problem with Pakistani media is that “it is missing a responsibility chip, hurtling ahead with what seems like exciting content without stopping to consider the ethical implications or appropriateness of its programming, or the message it will send to all Pakistanis, not just those it considers the mainstream”.

Talat Hussain, who hosts a political show on Dawn News, also warned against turning religion into mass entertainment.

“Think about how Muslims would feel when Buddhists in Burma show similarly a Muslim being converted in a live TV show,” he told AFP.

Ramesh Kumar, a leader of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told AFP that the programme would encourage intolerance.

“We are already intimidated. The government gives little heed to the kidnapping of Hindus and forced faith conversion of our girls. Please don’t do things that make us more alienated,” he told AFP.

Earlier News Bharati highlighted how Hindu girl Rinkle Kumari was abducted and forcefully married to Muslim boy and named Faryal Bibi Shah. The incident created outraged among Hindus in Pakistan. Unfortunately Zardari government did not take appropriate steps to curb such Islamic extremists. Now Pakistani media, which is suppose to highlight atrocities on Hindus have joined hands with Islamic extremists who are using media as a promotion tool to promote evil act. Pakistani media has clearly ignored its social responsibility and consequences of such TV show broadcast on other religions in the country. Source: News Bharati

You can watch the live Islamic conversion on Pakistani Media here: