A US-based prominent Hindu group has condemned the forced expulsion of Hindu families from their homes in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
In a statement, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) demanded that Pakistan take appropriate steps to protect Hindu community in the country.
"Assurances and statements are not enough. We want government officials to take swift action to bring the responsible parties to justice," said Prof Ramesh Rao, HAF's Human Rights Coordinator.
"Only then can the Hindus and other minorities of Pakistan be assured of their and the future generation's safety," he said.
The HAF said the event occurred as witnesses claimed a Hindu boy, Dinesh, was caught drinking from a water cooler at a nearby mosque.
"Several members of the Hindu community of Memon Goth were severely beaten and hospitalized. Sixty men, women and children of the community were forced to leave their homes and possessions by landlords and have taken refuge in a kraal," it said.
Despite assurances from local and federal officials for protection, the Hindu community of Memon Goth is fearful of further persecution and
violence, the HAF said.
According to Abdul Hai, Human Rights Commissioner of Pakistan, members of this community have long been persecuted and are subjected to performing menial labor for the landlords who are driving them out, the HAF said.
These acts of harassment continue to form the established pattern of driving minority communities out of Pakistan, as has been noted in HAF's annual human rights report.
The Hindu population in Pakistan, which was between 15 and 24 per cent in 1947, at the time of partition of India, has now been reduced to less than two per cent, it said.