Is India becoming a Hindu Pakistan? This is what the critics in India are asking. They are asking this because, under Narendra Modi, the country has seen Hindu extremism. It has seen all kinds of anti-Muslim stuff from Bharatiya Janata Party’ leaders as well as from the Prime Minister himself.
They believe that Modi has shattered India’s liberal, secular and democratic identity. And he has redefined the country as ‘a home for South Asians, who are not Muslims’ by amending the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955. The changes not only the character of the citizenship but also the basis on which it is granted, is moving from secular to favoring specific groups – particularly Hindus.
Well, if it is so. If India is becoming a Hindu Pakistan, then what will happen to Muslim Pakistan? How discrimination against Muslims on the other side of the border will affect Muslims on this side of the border. How Hindu extremism in India will set fire to Muslim extremism in Pakistan. And more importantly, how hatred against a Muslim minority there will make minorities, particularly Hindus, suffer here.
Unfortunately, Pakistan has not been a safe place for minorities as well. This is not my opinion. This is what numbers tell. And they tell that previously Hindus and Christians “used to make up 15 percent of the population of Karachi and Lahore – the biggest cities of the country – but now they account for less than 4 percent.” What caused this reduction, if not extremism?
Pakistan not only failed in protecting its non-Muslim minorities but also Muslims of different sects. It has lost more than 70,000 of its men, women, and children in hundreds of terrorist attacks conducted by right-wing fanatics. It failed in controlling the menace of extremism – both the number and size of the militant organizations in the country
Pakistan not only failed in protecting its non-Muslim minorities but also Muslims of different sects. It has lost more than 70 thousands of its men, women, and children in hundreds of terrorist attacks conducted by right-wing fanatics. It failed in controlling the menace of extremism – both the number and size of the militant organizations in the country. And today, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of religious extremist bands who believe killing infidels, Muslim or non-Muslims, is their sacred duty.
And this all happened when Muslims, by and large, were not discriminated, not at least, legally in India. When they were protected by the Indian Citizenship Act as well as by the country’s liberal and secular values as many believe. In other words, Pakistan failed against Muslim extremists while India in the past has to an extent succeeded against Hindu extremists.
Now, that if India fails too, the situation will only get worse in South Asia. India’s anti-Muslim politics will further flare up religious politics in Pakistan. If combined with the rise of global right-wing populism will make Pakistan a more homogeneous and a less tolerant country.
In a time when democratic countries are seeing authoritarian reversals, theocratic states will only become harder places to live for minorities. And the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is one of them.
However, for a tolerant Asia, Pakistan has to protect its Hindus and Christians. Bangladesh has to safeguard its Atheists and Myanmar its Rohingyas. But most of all, a peaceful South Asia needs a Uyghurs welcoming China and a Muslim loving India.
The writer is a freelance journalist and PhD Scholar at National University of Modern Languages Islamabad
Published in Daily Times, January 26th 2019.