Daily Times

Amidst all the noise and hoopla of protests against drone attacks, the tragic events in Rawalpindi on Ashura have almost disappeared from the media and public consciousness. Those who are protesting against the drone attacks may have valid reasons but it is events like the Rawalpindi tragedy that define us as a nation; they speak about what kind of people we are, how we treat each other, whether we are capable of living with each other in peace and harmony and whether we will leave tolerance and love for our next generation or a country riddled with conflict, anger, and hatred. They will also determine our future. After all, this country was created because followers of one faith felt they were being left out of the national discourse and were discriminated against. Thus, Pakistan was carved out of the land called India. Then, in 1971, Bangladesh was carved out of the land called Pakistan because the people living in that part of the country believed they were being left out of the national discourse and were discriminated against based on their ethnicity. Thus Pakistanis, more than anyone else in the world, should know what happens when people are discriminated against based on faith, ethnicity, language, etc. We should have no doubt that once there is hatred and anger, no power on earth can keep people together. These seeds of hatred, which were sown a few decades ago, were nurtured by powerful vested interests. Now it is up to the people to uproot the seedlings before they become strong trees and we reach a point of no return. So, we have to do what Theseus did.

In the Greek myth, Theseus was able to get out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur because he could retrace his steps with the help of the golden thread given to him by Ariadne. Without that he would have perished in that labyrinth. Similarly, we have to retrace our steps or risk perishing by a replay of the partition of India and partition of Pakistan, with all the human suffering that go with such events. Those who think this cannot happen are living in a make believe world.

These seeds of hatred were sown the day the Objectives Resolution was passed when the decision was made that the state of Pakistan would only be for people of a certain faith and those who do not belong or conform to that faith will be outsiders and treated as second-class citizens. Then the state was given the power to decide who belonged within that circle of believers and who was outside by declaring Ahmedis as non-believers. Worse yet, violence against a group of human beings simply because their faith deviated from the accepted norms, was made not only legitimate but desirable and society was conditioned to believe that it was the right and pious thing to do. This legitimised all violence based on faith whether against Christians, Shias, Hindus or those Sunnis who object to the blasphemy laws and Hudood Ordinance. The state’s power, political clout and all the perks that go with it were reserved for those who were within the circle drawn by the state. Now, citizens are required to declare their faith on all official documents. Anyone outside that circle is discriminated against. This has resulted in a tug of war between various groups to grab most of the state’s power and the perks and influence that goes with it. So far, Wahabis seem to be winning.

Once the state got involved in matters of faith, it started promoting its favourite brand of religion through educational and various other state institutions. This division of believers and non-believers kept getting more and more sophisticated so that now, not only do we have Muslims and non-Muslims but various shades and hues of Muslims. Each group is trying to prove that their faith is superior to others. Many groups have declared that others are non-Muslims. One cannot build a mosque in Pakistan unless one declares which firqa (sect) it belongs to. Everyone feels empowered to declare anyone else a non-believer and commit violence against the ‘other’. This situation, combined with abject poverty and hunger, is a fertile ground for vested interests to come in and exploit it.

What is the way forward? The Objectives Resolution has to be made null and void. School curriculums needs to be revised to develop respect, understanding and compassion for all faiths, and tolerance for any differences of opinion on these and other matters needs to take precedence. It has taken a generation to create this divide and will take another to undo the damage. However, the first step towards this journey is for the masses to develop consciousness of this problem, as they are the only ones who can dismantle these walls.

The social contract between citizens and the state has to be on a secular basis. And let us not confuse the secularisation of state with the secularisation of people. The former is doable and desirable, while the latter is none of ours or the state’s business. With all due respect to religion, the solution is not in the state’s increased involvement in religious matters, as that will lead us deeper into the quicksand. The solution is to disengage the state of Pakistan from religion and rewrite the terms of engagement between the state and citizens. The terms have to be on the basis of equality of all people, regardless of their faith. It is not the business of the state to determine who belongs to what faith and then assign them benefits and opportunities. The state’s responsibility is to provide citizens with basic human rights: education, healthcare, job opportunities and freedom of expression, religion, assembly and, above all, the equality of rights and opportunities.

If we want to survive, we have to find our way out of this labyrinth, a way to unite us as equal participants and stakeholders in the state of Pakistan. This idea scares the hell out of the ruling elite because it means equal power sharing and equal right and access to resources by all. They will fight tooth and nail against this. It is up to the people of Pakistan to make this happen. The elite have amassed their wealth outside the country as insurance; they can always buy a one-way ticket out of the country but the average Pakistani has to live on this land and thus has the biggest stake in it.

The author is a practicing physician in Florida, US. She is the founding member of Rise for Pakistan and is also past chairperson of the Human Development Foundation, past member of PAKPAC board and a life member of APPNA