Daily Times

“You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques, or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion; cast or creed this has nothing to do with the business of the state. You will find that in the course of time, Hindus will 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.” – Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (11th August,1947)

Despite being reminiscent of this speech of Pakistan’s founding father in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, some self-righteous Muslims in Pakistan have started considering it as their moral and religious duty to amplify their protest against the construction of the maiden temple for the Hindus, the representatives of the white part in our national flag, in the country’s capital. Ironically, these same individuals sang paeans for Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, because of her heartening response to the Christ church attack at a Muslim mosque in New Zealand. However, they are livid at our government for doing something for our religious minorities to which the latter are entitled under the law of the country. Not surprisingly, a great deal of such individuals remain tight-lipped on forced conversions of minor Hindu girls which has been perennially highlighted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Some even consider this as a threat to their monotheistic beliefs. Rather than strengthening their own faith, the only feasible solution for them is to eliminate any simulacrum of polytheism from this land of pure. This leitmotif of ‘Islam is in danger’ seems to have no end. Political use of Islam by the ruling elite for decades has transmogrified our attitudes towards the religious minorities of our country.

Today, several Hindu officers and soldiers are serving in the armed forces of Pakistan. Hindus are also serving at important positions in the civil departments of the state and are straining every nerve for the betterment of Pakistan

The real problem is that such self-righteous individuals are themselves oblivious to the teachings of Islam. Their putative claim of knowing Islam in toto doesn’t contain even an iota of veracity. Anything that is antipodal to their hodgepodge and myopic understanding of ‘Islam’ becomes un-Islamic for them. Surah Kafiroon is the best example of co-existence in Quran. Karen Armstrong writes in the biography of Holy Prophet (PBUH), ” After Muhammad’s death, Jews and Christians were never required to convert to Islam but were allowed to practice their religion freely in the Islamic empire… It has never been a problem for Muslims to coexist with people of other religions.” Unfortunately, this tolerance has vanished today.

Former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa was spot on in his judgement of Asia Maseeh’s case to quote the “Charter of Rights” granted by Holy Prophet (PBUH) to the delegation of St Catherine’s Monastery – world’s oldest monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt – when they came to Holy Prophet (pbuh) to request him for protection to which he responded by granting them a charter of rights which is also known in history as ‘The Promise to St. Catherine.’ It provided:

“No one is to force them (Christians) to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

It is incumbent upon Muslims to conform to the covenants entered into by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) till the Day of Judgement.

Those opposing the construction of the Hindu temple should be asked that how will they respond if the same happens in non-Muslim states with them. This oxymoronic behaviour of demanding one thing for ourselves and another thing for others should end now. Minorities in Pakistan are relatively scant, but arithmetically they are still greater than the entire population of Toronto.

Quaid-e-Azam’s vision for the minorities of Pakistan deserves a special mention. He said: “I am going to constitute myself as the Protector-General of the Hindu minority in Pakistan.” Pakistan’s first law minister, Jogendra Nath Mandal, was also a Hindu.

Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed writes in his granular tome “The PUNJAB BLOODIED, PARTITIONED AND CLEANSED” that the All-India Muslim League assiduously campaigned for an undivided Punjab. Same was the case in Bengal. If these demands of the Muslim League would have been fulfilled, today there would have been a significant percentage – more than 40% – of non-Muslims (Hindus and Sikhs) living in Pakistan. Our hostile attitude towards Hindus would have pushed Pakistan in an interminable vortex of violence.

Today, several Hindu officers and soldiers are serving in the armed forces of Pakistan. Hindus are also serving at important positions in the civil departments of the state and are straining every nerve for the betterment of Pakistan.

History is also witness to the fact that Hussaini Brahmins had fought valiantly alongside Imam Hussain, the grandson of our beloved Prophet Muhammad PBUH, in the battle of Karbala against the tyrant ruler Yazid. We, the Muslims, must treat their descendants respectfully and honour this historical relationship.

If Muslims can receive medical treatment from the hospital built by the great philanthropist Sir Ganga Ram in Lahore, then why should his community be treated like pariahs? The edifice of the Ojha campus of Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi also stands on the land donated by Deep Chand Ojha. Does their community not even deserve a temple constructed by the state?

Moreover, if Sikhs have been endowed with the picturesque Kartarpur Corridor then why should the Hindus be left out in the cold? Are they lesser citizens of the state? Even the Objective Resolution of 1949 allows the minorities to freely profess and practice their religion in Pakistan.

Pakistan is in a perpetual state of conflict with India since the time of its creation. Rather than seeing it as a territorial conflict, we the Muslims, have started viewing Pakistan’s Hindus from an “Us Vs. Them” lens. Our attitudes need to change. We cannot afford to proliferate more fissures in our already highly polarised society. A milieu that is congenial and hospitable for all the ethnic and religious minorities has to be created and promoted for the peace and prosperity of Pakistan. We, the citizens of Pakistan, must welcome this positive development by the state. This will be a step in the right direction.

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Karach