The status of minorities is well defined in Islam. Throughout the Islamic history, starting with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), minorities in an Islamic state were accorded equal status with the Muslims except that they had to pay the jiziya or poll tax for their protection and exemption from war services.
The Meesaq-e-Madinah signed by the Prophet (PBUH) with the residents, including Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims, granted them full freedom to observe their religious practices and enjoy equal civil rights. They were only required to pay poll tax or jiziya for protection and exemption from participation in a war.
It is for this reason that the Quaid-e-Azam always said that Pakistan would be modelled on the pattern of the Islamic State of Madinah. Hence, in his famous speech on 11 August 1947 in front of the first constituent assembly of Pakistan, he said that, You are free to go to your mosques, temples or any other place of worship…
Accordingly, all the three constitutions of 1956, 1962 and 1973 also granted special rights and protection to the minorities and even exempted them from the payment of jiziya.
The sensible Ulema and Mashaikh of Pakistan acknowledge that Islam provides to the minorities rights to practice and preach their religion freely and give them protection against persecution both in public and private. This was the norm all Pakistani governments followed until the 70s and used to punish all, without exception, in case any one inflicted any harm on a member of the minority.
However, the fanatic and extremist elements have started taking the law in their own hands on religious grounds of blasphemy and inflicting bodily harm on members of minority communities. Some of these may be ordinary crimes but governments failure to apprehend and bring the criminals to book creates an impression that it is not serious in fulfilling its legal obligations and does not even care about the writ of the state.
Consequently, killing or kidnapping of any Christian or Hindu leads people in other countries to suspect that the crime was committed on religious grounds rather than was an act of an ordinary criminal. The recent brutal murders of Salmaan Taseer and the Christian Minister, Mr Shehbaz Bhatti, has only strengthened the impression that religious militancy and bigotry is growing in Pakistan.
The religious extremists who opposed the creation of Pakistan and called the founder of Pakistan Kafir-e-Azam have, therefore, no love lost for Pakistan but should have no doubt that persecution of minorities in Pakistan is bound to lead to retaliation by Christians and Hindus against millions of Pakistani Muslims living in their countries. It is human nature to feel sympathy and anger for a wrong done to a fellow believer, irrespective of his nationality, as we ourselves demonstrate this tendency very frequently. Hence, we Pakistanis should understand this phenomenon better than others. Already both Pakistan and Islam have lost all respect abroad because of the activities of Al-Qaeda and TTP, and therefore the killings of people like Salmaan Taseer, Shehbaz Bhatti and others by religious fanatics is only going to create hatred for Pakistan abroad. This is going to drive Pakistan into deeper isolation which it cannot afford in this age of globalisation.
However, the extremists who commit senseless acts of violence in the name of blasphemy seem not to care about the good name of Islam or Pakistan. Consequently, any one holding a Pakistani passport is considered a pariah at immigration counters worldwide even if he holds a valid visa.
Unless these extremists realise their folly and cultivate tolerance for the people of other religions and nationalities, Pakistanis living or visiting abroad will also suffer at the hands of others. But most of all it is the personality of the Prophet (PBUH) which is being insulted with ever greater frequency and ferocity abroad as a result of the misuse of this law by Pakistani fanatics.
The writer is a former Ambassador of Pakistan and can be contacted at [email protected]
