Daily Times

The deteriorating situation of minorities in Pakistan demands a strong initiative to address their grievances of collective social discrimination. They have been demanding recognition as equal citizens of the state as a result. Their wanton vandalism, constitutional discrimination, non-entities in the mainstream politics, forced conversions to Islam, abuse of blasphemy laws and hate content against minorities in school books are some of the issues that lead to systematic social hatred chain that began seventy years ago.

The Objective’s Resolution of 1949 was a blow to non-Muslims for they lost their share in the national cohesion and the status they lost was never revived, however, after partition, the Christian community was privileged to continue grooming the nation through its institutions like Murray College, Sialkot; Forman Christian College, Lahore; Kinnaird College for Women Lahore; and Edward College, Peshawar, Gordon College Rawalpindi and CMS School, Karachi.

The role of missionary schools can be traced by knowing the fact that the founder of Pakistan had a stable time in the CMS School as compared to other schools when he was a child. There are numerous Christian institutions alumnus playing leading roles even in today’s Pakistan. In the background of Christian educational institutions, the ideology of the Christian clergy was operating. It believed in patriotism based on equality, not theocracy. The tradition continued till the prevailing culture of jingoism dominated the entire country and the clergy could not secure itself against the aggression of right-wing vehemence, and therefore found refuge in their palaces erecting walls around them.

The Church is the only cohesive force to glue the Christian minorities to a narrative and the Christian clergy can play a pivotal role to unite everyone

These unseen social barricades left the poor community in the deserts of unknown destinations. Many people went astray and now according to Jinnah Institute, Pakistan report released in 2016, it is said that, “During the period, 2012-2014 at least 351 incidents of faith-based violence were reported across Pakistan. 43 attacks of varying intensity targeted the Christian community; seven churches were damaged, and 14 people were charged with blasphemy”.

The Human Rights Watch, international, in its 2017 report mentioned, “At least 19 people remained on death row after being convicted under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy law and hundreds awaited trial. Most of those facing blasphemy are members of religious minorities, often victimised by these charges due to personal disputes. In March, at least 74 people were killed and 338 others injured in a suicide bombing in a public park in Lahore. The primary target of the attack was Christians celebrating Easter”.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has designated Pakistan as a country of particular concern. In these circumstances, only highlighting persecution on minorities may not help. To find solutions to their problems, a fresh narrative is required. From time to time, we recall the contribution of Christian leaders who supported Quaid-e-Azam in the making of Pakistan.

Time and again, the reference of 11th August speech of the founder is quoted to remind the nation about the blueprint of minorities’ treatment promised by the founder. But in the last seven decades, nothing has worked. Instead, the pace of persecution of minorities kept growing. With regard to the political allegiance, minorities in Pakistan have been divided into groups of classroom size and unfortunately, they are not prepared to recognise the damage done to them.

Among Christians, every fifth Facebook account belongs to a Christian political party whereas seven parties have been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan. The irony of the situation is that from these registered Christian parties, no one was able to secure a parliamentary seat but all those individuals who proved their personal loyalty to the leaders of master political parties earned nominations.

This happened because constitutionally, minorities have been denied active political participation in the country’s political system. In these circumstances, the Church is the only cohesive force to glue the Christian minorities to a narrative and the Christian clergy can play a pivotal role to unite everyone at a platform. The Church being part of the collective society has been badly influenced by the politics and corruption, therefore, a strong ‘vision’ is required for internal cleansing.

Some Christian religious leaders, especially from the Church of Pakistan, are involved in human trafficking; they are after US and European citizenship for themselves and their families. Many have established their personal businesses in different parts of the world. Their family members and relatives have started NGO’s to receive international funding in the name of their poor communities. The honesty of the purpose is the first thing we all need to analyse. Pakistani Christians as well as other minorities have been ignored by the government.

Before and after partition, the Church had a role to develop their own communities and those of other minorities. Still, the Church has potential to provide leadership and biblically, the Christian clergy is a ‘shepherd’ to take care of its sheep. Even though over the years the institution of the Church has been affected by constitutional amendments and social discrimination, it still has sufficient resources, capabilities, and potential to start its role again.

The history of seventy years as an independent country has proved that minorities were never independent. When small social groups, communities or tribes find no external help they have to realise their own potential to come out of the social mess. In the 90s when the government of Pakistan intended to include the religious identity column in the National Identity Card, two major religious figures, The Rt. Revd. Alexander John Malik of the Lahore Diocese, Church of Pakistan and The Rt Revd John Joseph of Faisalabad Diocese of Catholic Church led a movement against the decision and Christians from all denominations came together in the protest against that discriminatory recommendation.

After peaceful protests by the Christian community throughout Punjab, the government was compelled to change its decision. Again, this is a time for the Church to revise its jurisdiction of service to their respective communities. If the Christian clergy believes it is chosen by God, then this is its social as well religious duty to help their communities.

The writer can be reached at kaleem.dean@mail.com3

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2017.