Charity distributes free rations among poor Hindus

Amid the coronavirus crisis, Maulana Saifullah Rabbani, a religious scholar, has found a new way to promote interfaith harmony.

Amid unconfirmed reports that some members of non-Muslim communities in Karachi were denied free rations during relief activities, he started the distribution of rations and the provision of financial assistance to only non-Muslim communities, particularly the Hindu community members belonging to the scheduled caste, living in the outskirts of the city.

“Most of the members of Bheel, Baghri and Kohli communities living in the outskirts of the city have been ignored by the government and charity organisations because they live far from the city,” said Rabbani, a religious scholar at the Jamia Binoria Al-Alamia seminary.

However, Rabbani, who is the patron-in-chief of the Siqah Foundation, a charity, said his team had been focusing on them in their relief activities. “They [Bheel, Baghri and Kohli communities] live near the Hub Dam, the Lyari and the Ibrahim Hadiri neighbourhoods, and mostly in makeshift houses. Because of the lockdown, they are badly affected,” he said. “They are the most deprived, living in a pitiable state.”

He said these people “live like gypsies. They do not have permanent villages and migrate from one place to another in search of livelihood and it is the reason that they did not enrol in the government’s free ration programmes, such as the Ehsaas emergency cash programme,” he said. Rabbani said his charity had been providing free rations to them quietly. He was concerned about the unconfirmed reports that some charities allegedly had refused to provide free rations to non-Muslims.

“I am not aware about the authenticity of the reports but Islam does not allow such discrimination,” said Rabbani. He said that during the coronavirus crisis, charities linked with the Islamic religious parties, including the Jammat-e-Islami, had been spraying the disinfectants not only in mosques but also in churches, temples and gurdwaras throughout the country. “The coronavirus spread has provided a great opportunity to bring the members of various faiths together to promote interfaith harmony and jointly fight the pandemic.”