The dual-coloured flag denotes the plurality of Pakistan, but the fundamental duty to safeguard the rights of non-Muslims seems to have been lost in decades of anti-non-Muslim repression that has assumed the status of blatant discrimination and persecution. In a predominantly Muslim (and that too Sunni) Pakistan, the lines are clearly delineated, with non-Muslims, and even some ‘undesirable’ Muslims on a list that relegates them to pariah status in, ironically, what is their country as much as anyone else’s. What used to be scattered incidents of persecution of ‘minorities’ (the word in itself is discriminatory) now appears to have widened into an ugly mass of full-blown movements to target, harass and persecute, sometimes ending in violent outcomes. If the incoming government does not address the relentless targeting of minorities and legislate to make this a non-bailable offence, as well as declaring to the entire nation that all living on the soil of Pakistan have equal rights as citizens, notwithstanding their religious affinities, the scenario will only coarsen, and that too very rapidly. How the persecuted communities, the number of which is in millions, have reacted in response to the ongoing acts of covert and overt acts of ‘terrorism’ against them is manifested in their varied responses. While the Christians of Joseph Colony in Lahore have promised their votes to the PML-N and PPP for their assistance in rehabilitation after the very tragic torching of the locality on March 11, it is also a testimony of their belief, albeit shaky, in parties that at least pay lip service to upholding the rights of minorities in an increasingly radicalised Pakistan where all faiths other than the dominant one are open for persecution. Christians have been the most abused by the blasphemy law that is taken out of context to torture many for a myriad reasons unrelated to matters spiritual. In the case of Ahmedis, the very fact that their sixth boycott of elections in a row comes as a result of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s separate list for the beleaguered community is a painful reminder, in addition to the desecration of their religious places and graveyards, of how they are marked as outsiders in their own homeland. The 1974 second amendment under Bhutto’s watch declaring Ahmedis as non-Muslims sealed their fate as constant targets of persecution. Not to forget our other harassed community of Hindus, who migrated to India in large numbers last year for varied reasons, one of them being the forced marriages of their daughters to Muslims after being kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. Even Shia Muslims have been targeted brutally all over Pakistan, denigrating them to the level of almost ‘non-Muslims’. It is time the leaders of Pakistan woke up to the ugly repercussions of the widespread extremism ravaging the very premise of this country: that all faiths will be allowed to co-exist in peace. To judge people on the basis of faith and then to dehumanise them using the same, suggests it is time to prevent Pakistan from becoming a hotbed of intolerance and bigotry, bordering on mad brutality, in violation of all social, ethical and religious mores. *