Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria in Washington on March 12, 2025
| Photo Credit: ANI
Former Pakistani cricketer Danish Kaneria has alleged that he faced huge discrimination in Pakistan and his career was destroyed.
Kaneria, who is a Hindu by faith, said he did not get equal values and respect in Pakistan. He had participated in the Congressional Briefing on ‘Plight of minorities in Pakistan’ on Wednesday (March 12, 2025).
Speaking to ANI, on the sidelines of the event, Kaneria said, “Today, we all gathered here and expressed how we all faced discrimination and raised our voices. I also faced discrimination in Pakistan and my career was destroyed. I did not get equal values, respect in Pakistan…
“All the people who came here spoke against discrimination, on how Pakistan treated them. So, the main aim was to spread awareness among everyone, especially US, on how people suffer and the problems that exist in Pakistan and take action against it.”
Kaneria had played 61 Tests for Pakistan and is only the second Hindu to feature in the Pakistani cricket team after Anil Dalpat.
Congressman demands action
Indian-American U.S. Congressman Shri Thanedar also attended the event and urged the U.S. to condemn ‘human rights violations’ in Pakistan against Hindu minorities and demand quick actions against Pakistan to ensure that these atrocities stop.
Speaking to ANI, Thanedar said that he is attending the conference to support the Hindus amid their struggle against atrocities in Pakistan. He urged the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions against Pakistan until these atrocities stop.
Meanwhile, former journalist for the Wall Street Journal, Asra Nomani, recalled how her colleague and friend, Daniel Pearl, who she said was “kidnapped, beheaded and cut into pieces” in 2002. She said that minority people in Pakistan are not allowed the rights and freedoms of equal citizens.
“I saw on the streets of Karachi, Pakistan, the tragic impact of the sectarianism that is laying claim to too many minorities. My friend and colleague, Daniel Pearl, was the journalist who was kidnapped and then beheaded and cut into pieces in 2002,” Nomani said
“In the decades since and until today, we have a crisis in which too many minority people in the nation of Pakistan are not allowed the rights and freedoms of being equal citizens. And so I stood here today to testify to my witness and to my own journalism seeing this injustice that’s happening and that needs to be corrected,” she added.
Published – March 13, 2025 04:45 pm IST
Content Source: www.thehindu.com