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Are we not Pakistanis?
Minorities have no proper representation in parliament - the main reason why minorities are deprived of their rights.
ISLAMABAD: The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted Pakistan to be a moderate secular state. The Constitution of Pakistan provides for fundamental rights, which include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the right to bear arms.
I belong to the Christian community of Pakistan — and we make up around 1.5 per cent of the population of our beloved homeland. When she was prime minister, Benazir Bhutto tried to change the blasphemy law because it was being used to terrorise religious minorities, but she couldn’t succeed. She was able to make the existing law more moderate but those changes were reversed by the government of Nawaz Sharif who came after her. The current PPP-led government should do the same and try and honour Bhutto’s vision in this regard.
Also, I have one other point. On Eid, the power companies make it a point to have no loadshedding, but sadly that doesn’t happen on Christmas Day. Why this discrimination against the minorities of Pakistan? Why are minorities treated as second-class citizens of Pakistan? Are we not Pakistanis?
I believe parliament is the most supreme of all institutions of the state. But we have no proper representation in it and that is the main reason why minorities are deprived of their rights.
Any member of parliament care to respond to my letter?
Ameen Khokhar
Member, Pakistan Masiha Millat Party
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2011.
Reader Comments (4)
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Mr. Khokkar,
I wish you a heartily MERRY CHRISTMAS! Although I reside in Europe but my Soul lingers around the church of my beloved school, Cathedral Church of Resurrection, Lahore. What a blessing and what beautiful memories to commute ten years in two peaceful worlds of Humanist Sufis and Humanist Christians!
It is very sad to observe, how minorities and weak are being persecuted and oppressed all over in Pakistan from the majority where some have one or two loose nuts, for instance the man who wanted to ban the word Jesus! Unbelievable and beyond words!
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Sir, I share your grief and the sense of loss.
But I have to say that you are factually incorrect when you say,
“The Constitution of Pakistan provides for fundamental rights, which include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the right to bear arms.”
Ahmediyas are person non grata (so much for freedom of religion), the blashphemy law (so much for freedom of speech) add to it ‘no hindu or christian can become president or prime minister of pakistan.Recommend
The Author is living in dreamland. Jinnah did make a few liberal speeches but no one knows his true motivations. If Jinnah had even hinted that he wanted a pure Islamic state that would destroy minorities Pakistan may not have come into existence and no nation would have recognized it. Author must read the Constitution again, what right is given to a citizen in one section is taken away with an amendment in another section. The idea is to create enough legal confusion so a Judge can interpret Law based on his ideological leanings. The Pakistani Constitution should be a case study in leading Law schools on how not to make a Constitution.
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@Mr Khokhar
Sir, I beg to differ. There was no loadshedding in Korangi on 25 December (at least).
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