Fishel Benkhald, is a member of the Jewish community who is leading a campaign to restore Karachi’s Jewish cemetery. He was attacked after agreeing to debate over minority rights.
Benkhald, from his Twitter account @Jew_Pakistani alleged
Fishel Benkhald, while speaking to Arutz Sheva on Thursday said “I was debating over Twitter with a young educated Pakistani Muslim that non-Muslim Pakistanis should be allowed in theory to be elected president according to our constitution,” the discussion was purely theoretical, he noted, given that non-Muslims account for only around 3% of the Pakistani population.
After a back-and-forth “I proposed to debate face to face,” said Benkhald. “He asked for me for my cell phone number and I gave it to him.”
The two agreed to continue a friendly discussion at a restaurant in Karachi. But when he got there, Benkhald soon found himself ambushed.
“I went there alone but he was with his friends, we started the debate in a normal discussion manner but soon it got heated up and cursing started.”
At that point, a “mob” began to gather around him “and two of the guys who were with him started manhandling me – I should have left at that time.
“They started punching me and when I fell they started kicking my head. Someone also tried to snatch away my mobile.”
Benkhald managed to record part of the altercation, including the assault. Arutz Sheva has opted not to include it due to the explicit and violent nature of parts.
At that point police arrived, but instead of arresting his attackers, they detained Benkhald.
“The police came and took me away, they didn’t take the other guys. The police asked me if I am from Israel or from any other country. I told them that I am a Pakistan and am Jewish from (my) mother’s side but registered as a Muslim in Pakistan.”
Blindfolded and cuffed, he was then handed over to Pakistan’s Rangers paramilitary force, who continued questioning him about his ethnic origins, and going through his social media pages after demanding his passwords.
“They beat me, but not much,” claims Benkhald, and accused him of being a spy for either Israel, the US or India.
Eventually he was released after his brother intervened and bailed him out. the ordeal left Benkhald with a swollen eye and bruising.
Bankhald admits that in retrospect his decision to agree to a personal debate in a back-alley restaurant was unwise, and says he will be scaling-down his online activism as well out of fears for his safety.
He says he hopes to travel abroad “to a free country” to study Hebrew and Judaism some day, but that until then he will continue his activism in Pakistan as best he can.
At the start of the twentieth century the area comprising today’s Pakistan was host to a small Jewish community based largely in Karachi, mainly Iraqi and Indian Jews who immigrated over the years to countries where they were not religiously persecuted.
However, after the country’s partition from India in 1947, a steady rise in anti-Semitism and due to general intolerance the community has disappeared, leaving Benkhald as the self-declared “last Jew in Pakistan.”
