A testament to the country’s indifference and bigotry both at official as well as private level is summed up in the treatment of Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate, Dr Abdus Salam. The professor had won accolades all over the world for his groundbreaking research in theoretical physics: the ‘God particle’ — one of the greatest achievements in science for the last 100 years — but as the world went into overdrive, we largely remained hushed up because he was a ‘heretic’, an Ahmedi by faith. The hatred for him runs so deep that locals are still fighting to have any nuance with him wiped from in and around his home town of Jhang. In 1989, even Benazir Bhutto refused to meet him for fear of a public backlash when the professor travelled all the way from Italy to give the lady a few tips on science.
The blasphemy law is the culmination of the sojourn the nation set upon itself in 1949. Jinnah wanted to make Pakistan a secular state but the country lost direction following his untimely death. Upon Pakistan’s declaration as an Islamic republic, the rights of religious minorities, particularly Hindus, Christians, and the Ahmadiyya community, diminished. These minorities live under the constant fear of threat to their lives and property, desecration of their places of worship, and the Blasphemy Act that carries the death penalty if proved.
It was not that long ago when Gojra, a small city in the heartland of Punjab, witnessed frenzied mob attacks on Christian neighbourhoods, which killed nine. The attacks were triggered by reports of desecration of the Holy Quran by three local Christians on the eve of a marriage ceremony. Before the tragic attack in Gojra, mosques were used to make announcements provoking the attack. Locals were urged to “make mincemeat of the Christians.” In November 2005, hundreds of militants attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in the Punjab province and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih.
A young Hindu labourer was beaten black and blue by his own colleagues in Karachi on the pretext of using derogatory language against the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The victim died on the spot; his family could not dare to lodge a complaint in the local police station and the police arrested no one. The incident happened in broad daylight at a construction site in Karachi. The family of the deceased disappeared from its native abode for fear of further persecution by the locals
What is needed is a paradigm realignment of the country; unless Pakistan is declared a secular state there will not be any tangible development on the human rights front. According to the Minority Rights Group International, Pakistan had the world’s highest increase of threats against minorities and ranked the sixth most dangerous country for minorities overall. Pakistan was ranked after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Almost 98 percent of the people in Pakistan are Muslim, yet they remain insecure and intolerant to the two percent minority. Will Pakistan continue to be a country where Sikhs are prevented from praying, Ahmadis and Shias are slaughtered in and en route to places of worship, shrines of patron saints are destroyed by suicide bombers, or where foreign aid workers are abducted for ransom? Or will it be a country where religious pluralism, as was envisioned by Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding father, would flourish?
Symbolism serves more potently than on ground actions sometimes and we need some type of symbolism badly to show the world remedial measures are still not a distant reality. A unique unity walk was held on the eve of the eighth anniversary of 9/11 in the US and Pakistan could also do the same. The 9/11 Unity Walk took in its stride every church, synagogue, mosque and temple along Washington DC’s ‘Embassy Row’; all places of workshop opened doors, and people of different faiths and cultures came together to build bridges of respect and peace.
Participants of the walk were addressed by faith leaders, observing a moment of silence for all victims of religious prejudice and violence. The most memorable experiences of the walk included hearing the Azaan (call to prayer) at a synagogue, and being served a meal by the Sikh community. Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Evangelical churches opened their doors, showcasing the practices, art and music of their traditions for the participants of the walk. The Buddhist Temple welcomed visitors while a mantra meditation was led at the Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden. The Islamic Centre arranged for the Jewish shofar and a children’s gospel choir sang on the steps of the mosque. Though we do not have a Jewish or Buddhist community in Pakistan, we desperately need non-violent, reciprocal and radical acts of hospitality between faiths in order to offset the wave of fanaticism that has gripped the country for the past some years.
(Concluded)
The writer can be reached at e-mail:[email protected]