Daily Times

Sir: A peaceful demonstration named ‘Stop Persecution of Religious Minorities in Pakistan’ took place at the Lahore Press Club, in commemoration of Minorities Day on August 11, to express citizens’ concern over growing religious discrimination. The demonstrators declared that the rising intolerance is against the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

They condemned the trend of hate, discrimination and violence which created threats to the lives, properties, businesses and places of worship of Pakistan’s minority communities. They pointed to the closure of Ahmadi places of worship and the demolition of their graves, the demolition of Gosha-e-Aman in Lahore, the attack on a Church in Karachi, the abduction and forced conversion of Hindus and girls belonging to religious minorities and killing of members of the Shia and Ahmadi communities.

Because of the increasing hate crimes against non-Muslims and minority sects, and this country’s otherwise shoddy human rights record, this Independence Day can only be celebrated with extreme sorrow. Instead of engaging in meaningless jingoism, true patriots must make a sincere effort to highlight the problems that the Pakistani state and society has succumbed to. It has recently taken a step back from its self-destructive doctrine of strategic depth after it became convinced that its current policy might push the world into declaring it a rogue state. Yet, we still have a long way to go — not forwards but backwards — if we are to truly fulfil the Quaid-e Azam’s vision.

TUBA AHMED

Karachi

Published in Daily Times, August 12^th 2018.