In a desperate video message posted on X, a minority rights activist from Pakistan has said his life is under imminent threat after receiving death threats from an Islamist group for speaking out against the forced conversion of Hindu girls. He alleged that the state has remained a silent spectator and warned that the government should be held responsible if any harm comes to him or his family.
Shiva Kachhi, founder and chairman of minority rights organisation Darawar Itehad, said clerics linked to the Sarhindi faction of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have issued fatwa-like calls for his killing. Despite repeatedly approaching the authorities, he claimed there has been “complete inaction” by the federal and Sindh governments, as well as the police.
Kachhi, who has documented several cases of abduction and forced religious conversion of underage Hindu girls and married women in Sindh, said he is now being labelled “anti-Islam” and “anti-state” — accusations frequently used in Pakistan to justify violence against activists and dissenters.
His appeal has once again highlighted Pakistan’s troubling minority rights record, where Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis continue to face systemic discrimination. Rights groups say such cases rarely find space in Pakistan’s mainstream media, while hardline Islamist groups wield both street power and political influence.
‘Urgent appeal to the international community’
On January 18, posting from Umerkot district in Sindh, Kachhi issued what he described as an “urgent appeal to the international community”, warning that threats against him had escalated.
“Despite open death threats and fatwa-style calls for my killing by the religious extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (Sarhindi Group), there has been complete silence and inaction from the Federal Government of Pakistan, the Sindh Government and the Sindh Police,” he wrote, tagging the United Nations, the US government and several international rights organisations.
Calling the situation a case of “state failure and criminal complicity”, Kachhi said his only offence was standing up against forced conversions and religious extremism.
“I am a peaceful human rights defender and minority rights activist. My only crime is speaking against religious extremism, forced conversions and injustice. If extremists can openly issue murder threats while the state looks away, then no citizen in Pakistan is safe,” he said.
He directly warned the authorities, adding: “If any harm comes to me or my family, the responsibility will lie squarely with the State of Pakistan.”
Kachhi appealed to the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the US State Department, seeking immediate protection and action against those issuing threats.
“Silence today will embolden extremists tomorrow. Protection delayed is protection denied,” he wrote, demanding an end to what he described as “fatwa politics and religious terrorism” in Pakistan.
Context of threats in Sindh
Nearly 94 per cent of Pakistan’s estimated 4–5 million Hindus live in Sindh. Umerkot, from where Kachhi posted his appeal, is the only Hindu-majority district in the country, with Hindus forming around 52 per cent of its population, according to the 2023 Pakistan census.
The Sarhindi group, an extremist faction associated with the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, is believed to operate mainly in Sindh and follows a hardline Barelvi Islamist ideology. Human rights activists have repeatedly accused the group of involvement in the abduction and forced conversion of Hindu girls. Despite TLP’s official ban in October 2025, the Sarhindi faction continues to be active, rights groups say.
‘My only crime is raising my voice’
This is not the first time Kachhi has raised the alarm. On December 2, 2025, he said his life was in danger after he helped rescue and reunite abducted Hindu girls with their families.
“My life is in danger. Those involved in forcibly converting Hindu girls — the Sarhindi group — are falsely accusing me of being anti-Islam and anti-state. They want to have me killed just like Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar,” he wrote.
Shahnawaz Kumbhar, a 36-year-old Muslim doctor working at a government hospital in Umerkot, was arrested in September 2024 over blasphemy allegations and later killed in what was described as a staged police encounter. His body was subsequently desecrated by a mob, according to media reports.
Kachhi said he has helped reunite dozens of abducted girls with their families and has consistently raised the issue of forced conversions at both national and international platforms.
“State institutions, the Sindh government and the federal government must take immediate notice and ensure justice,” he said.
Rights activists say Kachhi’s case reflects a broader and deeply entrenched problem in Pakistan, where minorities continue to face violence, social exclusion and weak legal protection. Forced conversions, particularly in Sindh, have been repeatedly documented, but convictions remain rare.
Kachhi’s SOS underscores a grim reality: in Pakistan, speaking up for minority rights can be a life-threatening act — and silence, as he warned, only strengthens the extremists.