- Need of the hour
Minorities are facing persecution, discrimination and harassment globally. In the United States, copies of the Holy Quran were burnt by extremists like Terry Jones, the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center, a small non-denominational Christian church in Gainesville, Florida. Snatching the hijab from the heads of Muslim women in the US is becoming a pastime along with threatening Muslim communities. Two wrongs do not make a right but the US has remained oblivious to the persecution of Muslims in Palestine and Indian Occupied Kashmir. Muslims in India face oppression and are lynched on the slightest pretext, be it eating beef or indulging in religious rituals. Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have been brutally tortured and even denied citizenship.
In this milieu, Pakistan too has been guilty of discrimination against the minorities. Despite the fact that the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had asked would be legislators of the fledgling state to ensure that the minorities be treated as equal citizens, the sagacious advice has been ignored.
Minorities in Pakistan are deprived of leading the government since according to the constitution, only a Muslim can be elected as head of state. While we may be critical of India in many aspects, Muslims and other members of the minority have been presidents as well as services chiefs. The repressive blasphemy law is used as a whipping tool by people to target minorities or opponents, making it controversial and draconian.
Sahibzada Sir Abdul Qayyum was the founder of Islamia College Peshawar, the Chief Minister NWFP and founding member of Muslim League NWFP. Dr Abdul Salam was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 and is revered in academic institutions the world over
Time and again, the places of worship of Hindus and Christians have been the target of terror attacks. Political leaders like Salman Taseer, former governor of Punjab or Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs, have been assassinated because they stood up for the rights of minorities. Ironically, the killers of the upright politicians have been hailed as heroes.
Naila Inayat’s opinion piece titled ‘Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws deepen feud with US’, carried by The Washington Times, January 16, 2018 quotes Daniel Mark, chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Pakistan continues to harass its religious minorities, has state-sanctioned discrimination against groups such as the Ahmadis, and tolerates extra-judicial violence in the guise of opposing blasphemy,” Mr Mark said in a statement. The State Department announced the designation on January 4, the same day President Trump froze over $200 million in security aid to Pakistan. Critics also say the draconian blasphemy laws reflect how Pakistani leaders have permitted radical Islamic beliefs to infiltrate the judiciary.
In this bleak milieu, a seminar organised in Lahore by Bargad Organisation for Youth Development under umbrella of Paigam-e-Pakistan in collaboration with FC College Lahore, ministry of religious affairs, Council of Islamic Ideology and World Council of Religions is like a whiff of fresh air.
Speakers at the seminar discussed historical aspects of status of minorities along with need to give them equal opportunities in education so that they can fulfill their potential.
Minorities in Pakistan have not only been an essential component of society, but have given their very best in whichever vocation they chose to serve. Renowned educationists, jurists, servicemen, journalists, writers, thinkers, Nobel laureates, sportsmen and artistes have been from the minorities. Barrister Sir Chaudhry Muhammad Zafar Ullah Khan was Pakistan’s first federal minister, first Pakistani Judge of International Court of Justice, first Asian and only Pakistani President UN General Assembly and President International Court of Justice.
Jogendra Nath Mandal was Pakistan’s first law minister. Justice Robert Cornelius was the 4th chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and chief justice of Sind High Court. Rana Bhagwandas served as the chief justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan as well as the Chairman Federal Public Service Commission. His commitment can be gauged from the fact that despite being a devout Hindu, he had obtained a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies.
During the 1965 and 1971 Pak-India wars, Christians in the armed forces fought with valour and many made the supreme sacrifice of their lives and were conferred upon medals for their gallantry. Air Vice Marshal Eric Gordon Hall, Air Commodore Bill Latif, Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry, Wing Commander Leslie Mervyn Middlecoat, Squadron Leaders Peter Christy and William Desmond Harney to name a few.
Air Commodore Marian Turowicz, (April 23, 1908 – November 8, 1980) Sitara-e-Pakistan (M), Sitara-e-Khidmat (M), Tamgha-e-Pakistan (M), Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam [M], Sitara-e-Imtiaz [M], was a prominent and noted Polish-Pakistani military scientist and an aeronautical engineer. He is considered as one of the chief architects of the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan’s space program. Turowicz, an eminent rocket scientist and an aeronautical engineer, was the leading and central figure in Pakistan’s drive to develop high-tech rocket and missile technology of its own.
Sahibzada Sir Abdul Qayyum was the founder of Islamia College Peshawar, the Chief Minister NWFP and founding member of Muslim League NWFP. Dr Abdul Salam was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 and is revered in academic institutions the world over.
There are some Pakistani political parties, who refuse to give general membership to non-Muslims but have created minority wings. Another dichotomy is that additional marks are awarded to Hafiz-e-Quran in appointments and admissions to different departments and institutions, but the same is not done for non-Muslims if they know some chapters of their religious books. This practice affects merit and must be considered for implementation for minorities too.
Let us not forget the Quaid’s famous address to the first constituent assembly of Pakistan, in which he declared:
‘We are starting with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state. No matter what is his colour, caste or creed is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges and obligations…
Pakistan will provide its minorities an ample field for the outlet of their genius and they should come forward and play their role as true citizens in making Pakistan one of the greatest nations…’
