Pakistan: Hindu journo asked to drink from separate glass during Ramzan

Sahib Khan Oad, a senior reporter with Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), has been barred from drinking water from the same glass used by his Muslim colleagues or sharing food utensils.

A Hindu reporter with Pakistan’s state-run news agency was barred from using the same glass and utensils as his Muslim colleagues after found out about his religion, according to a media report on Tuesday.

A Hindu journalist in Pakistan has alleged that hebeen barred from drinking water in the same glass and sharing utensils with other Muslim staff at the office after his colleagues found out his religion. (AP File Photo)

The alleged discrimination against Sahib Khan Oad, a senior reporter with the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) in Karachi, began after his son Raj Kumar visited his office and everyone found out he was a Hindu.

“Actually my name contains the word ‘Khan’ so everyone in the office initially thought I was Muslim,” he was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

“The bureau chief asked me to separate my drinking water glass in the office because some colleagues had reservations.”

Things took a turn for the worse after the Islamic holy month of Ramzan started. He was not allowed to sit at the same table at the time of ‘iftar’, the meal to break the fast, and senior colleagues suggested he should bring his own plates and glasses if he wanted to eat in office.

“I have now bought a separate glass and plate for the office,” Oad said.

Oad hails from Dadu district of Sindh province, which is home to most of Pakistan’s Hindu minority. He completed his master’s from Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad and is now pursuing an MPhil in mass communication from Sindh University.

He was appointed as a reporter in APP in Islamabad and then transferred to Karachi in April.

APP’s Karachi bureau chief, Parvez Aslam, denied the reports of the discrimination.

“He (Oad) was suffering from flu so we suggested he arrange a separate glass,” Aslam said. He described the discrimination charges as “total propaganda”.

“You can come to my office and see how he eats iftar with us,” he said.

APP managing director Masood Malik said an inquiry had been ordered into the matter.

The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), which works for labour rights, has written to federal information minister Pervaiz Rashid about the matter.

“We are really shocked to know that a bureau chief of a government news agency has pressured a reporter to drink in a separate glass because he is Hindu,” wrote Piler executive director Karmat Ali.