Our dear Prime Minister (PM) was seen at a Hindu Temple recently, making some pleasant comments about Pakistani “minorities.” I have repeatedly said here and on Twitter, I have a fundamental issue with this term. In a country, all citizens are equal with equal rights and responsibilities. There is no such thing as majority or minority. Because just with the addition of this term, the division between citizens becomes apparent. You send a wrong message to people, who do not follow the majority’s set of beliefs. Then comes the question of special rights and protections for such a group of people. My pea of a brain is unable to fathom, why? The state is responsible for the protection of every citizen regardless of their cast, creed, core beliefs or sects.
When the state defines a set of rules for one and a different set of rules for the other, it embroils itself into a compromising position. Come to think of it, even our flag with a significantly smaller portion of white than the dominant color of green sends the wrong signals In a true democracy it is supposed to be the majority’s rule, but majority cannot be strictly defined or distinguished by its religion. It should be totally based on ideas. Hence ideas, can emanate from any person or group and so long as people accept or reject the idea, regardless of the belief system of the proponent, only then all citizens feel, being equal and on the level playing field.
Getting back to our dear PM and his wishful thinking of making Pakistan the most “minority friendly” nation, that too in the “near future.” One can only wish that he looks around to see what is happening in reality. All he has to do is ask his close aides to cite him data of this particular segment of the society. Has it increased or decreased since 1947. I am afraid latter would be the case and perhaps he can be educated about what are the glaring reasons for this drastic shrinkage.
Then someone has to remind him that his very able Interior Minister, takes strong exception to the concept of sectarian outfits, by seeking refuge in terminologies and interpretations. The distance between the ugly reality and the flowery dialogues of our PM is quite humongous. While some baby steps have been taken under his watch, the plight of this particular segment is nothing new. The dreamers with a so called liberal tilt, the academics and some mouthpieces on the idiot box are quick to cite Mr. Jinnah and his utopian vision in a Muslim majority state. Mr. Jinnah being an incredible lawyer, made some brilliant statements at various occasions. Some of those statements contradicted his previous arguments, but remember he was a giant of a lawyer.
In my humble opinion, relying on those statements which remained nothing more than statements, that point onwards, is futile. It is time to rethink and reshape according to the demands of the 21st century. In this day and age of information, hoping and wishing that we will be “minority friendly” in future is as insult to the people who are branded as such. The fear expressed by many not openly though is, it will lead to a secular state and it will in essence defy the core argument of “Two Nation Theory.” I humbly disagree with those intellectuals who are mentally stuck in the 1940’s. I would humbly remind them 70 years have elapsed and the social order of the world has changed tremendously. If you want the world to take us seriously, we have to demonstrate the world that we are on in sync with the values of this day and age. The intellectually weak are afraid that if other religions would be able to propagate freely and be respected and revered by all, it may have a negative effect on the majority. I discard such pundits, because these are people who have little faith in their belief system. If your message is true it will shine no matter what.
The talking heads yak about extremism will be eradicated and I smile when such meaningless rhetoric is presented on screen. Extremism is a byproduct of intolerance and intolerance stems from religious inequality and religious inequality is a reflection of the religious distinction between the citizenry. Until or unless you start from the top down to bring the sweeping change, extremism is not a cancer that you can just remove with a magical scalpel.
While we are on this subject, our last hope, the darling of the progressives and general masses, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) celebrated the 6th martyrdom anniversary of Governor Taseer on Jan 4th. The social media tweets, the photo ops and statements aside, nothing much but the usual lip service was demonstrated. I cringe when I hear the party’s frontline leader’s claim that they will keep the legacy of the late Governor alive. Someone ought to remind those champions of civil rights that a lady by the name of Aasiya is still languishing in some prison. The late Governor tried to help her and paid with his dear life. If any of these leaders had a fraction of courage that Mr. Taseer had, he or she would have made it their utmost priority, that a poor down trodden lady gets speedy justice from the bench. Ouch… reality bites, doesn’t it?
The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He can be reached at [email protected]. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar