Since the last three months, the Kashmir issue has remained the only major issue for the Pakistani mainstream media. As soon as Article 370 and Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution were abrogated by the Modi government, the Pakistani government, military establishment, and Media all began focusing only on this issue. Everyone was talking against human rights violations in Indian Jammu & Kashmir. Likewise, recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan, the spokesperson of the military establishment, and the opposition political leadership demanded a right of self-determination for the people of Indian held Kashmir. Unfortunately, the concerned authorities did not even bother what had been happening in Pakistan in terms of the human rights violation since decades. Hence, rather focusing on and resolving issues prevailing at home, the powers that matter only deal with Kashmir issue and the human rights violations committed by the BJP government. Though the Kashmir issue is a burning one and it requires a fair consideration by the Pakistan government and the state institutions, it does not mean that similar problems, which prevail in our own country, be ignored.
Muslims in India constitute a minority and they form nearly 15 per cent of the population of the country. Having observed their miseries in India, everyone in Pakistan demanded the Indian political authorities that the Muslims, especially the people of Indian held Kashmir, must be treated as equal citizens of India because the Indian Constitution guarantees all minorities a fair and equal treatment. The Hindu majority enjoys life in the country accordingly. People in Pakistan and the world over were already noticing the misconduct of the BJP government against the Muslims of Jammu & Kashmir, but recently an anti-Muslim Bill, The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, passed from the Rajya Sabha, has initiated a new debate.
According to a news report of The Economic Times, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 is all set to become a law after the Rajya Sabha cleared the hotly debated and polarising legislation by 125-99 votes. The Bill seeks to amend the definition of an illegal immigrant for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who have lived in India without documentation. They will be granted fast-track Indian citizenship in six years. So far 12 years of residence have been the standard eligibility requirements. The legislation applies to those who were “forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion.”
This amendment bill is being mainly criticised because it excludes the Muslims from its domain to give them citizenship. But, in my opinion, this is not only a matter of ignoring the Muslims in particular about giving citizenship. Yet, the major issue is that India is walking towards polarisation, which was known and appreciated for the most populous democracy in the world. At the same time, it was considered a secular country. In reality, since the BJP has become the ruling party, the country is going away from the ethos of secularism and democracy. The worst example in the history of India is that the BJP-led government has set religious identity criteria for citizenship, which directly violates the secular traditions of the country.
The major logic behind passing this bill is supposed to be that the BJP wanted to gain the votes of these new citizens of India. As the exclusion of Muslims is concerned, this is obvious that the BJP has remained the most unpopular party among the Muslims of India, specifically since anti-Muslim riots in Gujrat under BJP provincial/state government took place. Hence, the party leadership is quite sure that despite accepting Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, still, the BJP would not get their (Muslims) votes until it surrenders its RSS, religious extremist mentality.
Likewise, if we talk about the status of the religious minorities in Pakistan, the Constitution of Pakistan also guarantees to safeguard the interests of the minorities living in the country. In this regard, Article 36 of the constitution guarantees minority rights, which states, “The State shall safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minorities, including their due representation in the Federal and Provincial services.”
However, it is clear that unlike India, Pakistan came into being on religious lines. Although the very famous speech of Muhammad Ali Jinnah of August 11, 1947, clearly stated that Pakistan did not mean a country only for the Muslims. But, as Jinnah stated, “You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State … Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”
This vividly depicted a picture of a country where everyone, without any difference of religion, caste or creed, would live his/her life as an equal citizen of the country.
India is walking towards polarisation, which was known and appreciated for the most populous democracy in the world
In spite of Jinnah’s definition of a country, this cannot be denied that the discourse of religion was an actual driving force behind the inception of Pakistan. Still, as stated by Jinnah as well as the guarantee given by the Constitution of Pakistan that the minority rights would be protected by the state, this has not become a reality. The plight of religious minorities, especially Hindus and Christians, is in front of all of us. Hundreds of Hindu girls have been abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in Sindh. Hindu traders, merchants and moneylenders have also been suffering at the hands of bandits and other criminals. Simultaneously, temples in Sindh are also under attack. Like Sindhi Hindus, the Christan community of Punjab is also not safe. Unlike Sindhi Hindus who are, at least, not being belittled at the hands of the majority population. Also, they are being considered as Sindhis, equal citizens of the province, rather a religious minority by the intelligentsia and the civil society of Sindh. The Christians of Punjab are not treated well and they mostly indulge themselves in the profession of sweeper to survive.
Apart from not treating the minorities equally in this country, the blasphemy law has also been violated. The blasphemy law has mostly been used against religious minorities like Hindus and Sikhs. According to an estimate, around 1,549 blasphemy cases have been registered between 1987 and 2017. Hence, whether this be Asia Bibi in Punjab, who was freed and allowed to leave Pakistan by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in October 2018, or Notan Lal, the principal of a private school in Ghotki, Sindh, who was alleged by his Muslim student that Notan Lal had committed the blasphemy.
After such a revelation by an innocent student, instead of investigating the matter properly, a mob gathered and damaged some parts of the Hindu temple situated in Ghotki. Surprisingly, everyone was condemning the principal without any evidence that he was involved in the heinous crime of blasphemy, but no one bothered the blasphemy against the Hindu religion committed by a mob while destroying the temple!
However, this is quite clear that whenever religion has been inducted in state matters, people have only witnessed violence and bloodshed. A vivid example in this regard can be quoted from India. After the deadly partition of India on the religious grounds, the BJP, while following the RSS ideology, once again led to bloodshed in Gujrat due to religious riots.
Hence, no doubt, religion is the most important aspect in the life of every individual, which should remain a private matter of all individuals and the state should not discriminate against anyone based on religious identity. This is the best solution for both India and Pakistan: maintain peace and avoid hatred against minorities inside these countries. This factor can lead both countries to a friendly relationship and maintaining a peaceful environment.
The writer has a PhD in Global Studies from the College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, China