The stranglehold of powerful religious lobby and its alliance with civil-military elite not only deprived non-Muslim citizens of their rights but also weakened the sate itself.
This was the crux of a consultative workshop organised by PATTAN Development Organisation in which PATTAN’s national coordinator presented highlights of a study.
One of its findings revealed “more than 80% of the participants of the study agreed that blasphemy laws have tremendously aggravated insecurity of non-Muslim citizens in Pakistan.”
The study was conducted in Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore and Islamabad during the months of November and December 2014. More than 70% participants of the focus group discussions consisted of Muslims, while 30% belonged to various non-Muslim communities.
The study also revealed that three fundamental articles (20, 22 and 33) of the Constitution that guaranteed rights of religious minorities have been violated with complete impunity. Sadly, the state actors were also found to be part of this violation, the study disclosed, adding that most of the findings corroborated with the Supreme Court’s June 18 order. The study also revealed that the government has no policy to deal with faith-based discrimination.
A large number of representatives and leaders of minority communities and Islamic scholars participated in the workshop along with female members of the Punjab Assembly.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) assembly member Rahila Khadim said we have to think as human beings and not as Muslim. Allama Tahir Ashrafi said the state seemed to be still making differentiation between good and bad terrorists and this would be disastrous for the country. He also observed that in order to bring peace in the country, the nation needs to fight ideological battle with bigots. He further noted that the citizens paid taxes and sacrifice blood for the state but were not provided security.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Dr Nosheen said most MPs have not been serious about solving issues of minorities.
Renowned activist and writer Peter Jacob said stereotypes were being built which made minorities vulnerable to attack. Amar Nath said we can hate India as she was our enemy but we could not hate Hindus. a Leading Hindu leader Munawar Chand said seats for Muslims had been increased from 207 to 342 but seats for non-Muslims remained the same. As a result, the percentage of minorities in assemblies had dropped, he added.
