The white stripe in the green flag
It is unfortunate that after sixty four years of the creation of Pakistan, minorities have yet to get the basic rights promised to them by the Quaid-e-Azam. Within five years of its creation, the use of religion to achieve political ends landed the country, particularly Punjab, in anti-Ahmadi riots that led to numerous killings of the minority sect’s members. The worst was, however, yet to come.
Soon after launching a military coup, Zia sought legitimacy by projecting himself as the defender of the faith. He introduced laws that militated against the religious minorities. These laws continue to be on the statute book despite the passage of more than thirty years. Some of these laws provide immunity to perpetrators of violence against the minority communities. The discriminatory laws have helped create an environment which is conducive to intolerance, intimidation and violence against Christians, Hindus as well as minority Muslim sects. The HRCP report for the year 2010 indicates that, besides Hindus and Christians, as many as 418 people belonging to minority Muslim sects were killed in acts of violence during the year.
In his address to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, Jinnah had clearly laid down the outlines of the type of state he visualised Pakistan to become. “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” The speech clearly indicated that Pakistan was to be a pluralist society.
During the National Assembly session on Thursday, MNAs paid tributes to Jinnah’s speech. The Speaker read out the paragraph quoted above amidst thumping of desks. Interestingly, neither the prime minister nor other speakers underlined the significance of the founding father’s words. Politicians are so much involved in issues of urgent importance to them, that they find little time to pay attention to the fundamentals. This allows extremist thinking to flourish and the minorities to suffer.
