Hindus in Pak happy after girl's statement in SC

The Hindu community in Pakistan's Sindh province have expressed happiness that their claims about a teenaged Hindu girl, Rinkle Kumari had been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam, gained credence during a Supreme Court hearing into the case on Monday.

"The fact that she told the judge that she wanted to go with her parents has vindicated our stance," Ramesh Kumar the chief patron of the Pakistan Hindu Council said.

The kidnapping and forced conversion case of Rinkle Kumari has served as a catylst to unite the Hindu community in Pakistan with the loudest protests coming from Sindh and its capital city, Karachi which have the largest Hindu population in Pakistan.

The court after the hearing was adjourned ordered that Rinkle be sent to the Darul Aman (women shelter) and announced April 18 as the next date of hearing.

Rinkle was allegedly kidnapped from the small town of Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki district a month ago by a Muslim landlord's son backed by a group of religious leaders.

The statement Rinkle registered in front of the court has brought the exchange of salvos between the Hindu community and what one Hindu leader called "society at large" to an end.

Rinkle's maternal uncle Raj Kumar said even the girl was first afraid she would not get justice in a Muslim country.

Amarnath Motumal of the Pakistan Hindu Panchiyat said the Rinkle case was a very important one as cases of kidnapping and forced conversions of Hindu girls was common in the Sindh province.

He said Rinkle had shown courage in telling the truth and exposing those behind the whole episode.

"She was crying when she was being taken away to the Darul Aman in the police van and kept on repeating she wanted to go with her parents. But we undertstand that the court has sent her to the Darul Aman for security reasons," he said.