Thanks Dawn.com

Two stories caught my eyes in the paper today.

One story
was about a woman born Hindu named S Mangarma 27 in Malaysia .At age of 7 she was placed in a children's home in Penanag state ,where her name was changed to a Muslim name and she was stuck with her Muslim ID .Later on she found out that she was a Hindu and lived her life as a Hindu.She married a Hindu and have two children. Inter religious marriages are not recognised by the Islamic majority Malaysia. She wants to be declared a Hindu and reclaim her status as a Hindu.This has also de legitimised her marriage as well as her children are not recognised as she can not claim to be children of her Hindu Husband .Civil authorities would not recognise her marriage without clearance from Sharia court which run parallel to the civil courts in this society .This makes mockery of the civil law.Minority Chinese and Hindu's are victims of this dual legal process.

Second story

Take the case of Pram Sri Mai, a married Hindu woman, whose application for a computerised national identity card was turned down by the National Database and Registration Authority which even charged her with having an illicit relationship with a man and bearing illegitimate children.

Had it not been for the timely intervention of the Supreme Court, Mai could perhaps have ended up in deep legal trouble. Perhaps Nadra’s position, though wholly unjustified, was based on the fact that nuptials in the Hindu community are not recorded at the time of marriage.

Thanks to Dawn.com for publishing stories which bring the inequalities and injustices of the Pakistani system to light.