KARACHI:
Nearly 62 per cent of Hindu and Christian women fear that a majority of Muslims would not come to their aid if they were being discriminated against.
This was one of the findings of the study “Life on the Margins,” which was released by the National Commission for Justice and Peace at the Pakistan Medical Association House on Tuesday. The study is based on interviews of 1,000 women in 26 districts of Punjab and Sindh from 2010 and 2011.
Forty-three per cent of the women surveyed complained that they faced religious discrimination at either their workplace, educational institution or neighbourhood, while 27 per cent of them faced difficulties in gaining admissions to educational institutions. A majority of non-Muslim children polled said that they were forced to study Islamiat in school. Of the working women, 76 per cent said that they had to deal with sexual harassment.
The report points out that the literacy rate of these women is 47 per cent, which is below the 57 per cent national literacy rate. The infant mortality rate among minority communities turned out to be 314 infant deaths for every 3,050 live births, or 10.30 per cent, which is higher when compared with the World Health Organisation’s figure of the 8.7 per cent national infant mortality rate. Nearly 20 per cent of women were earning less than the minimum wage, 15 per cent of them lived in mud houses and 12 per cent in semi-brick ones.
While speaking at the occasion, the newly ordained Archbishop of Karachi, Joseph Coutts, emphasised action and support. “These issues will not be resolved unless the silent majority accepts that they exist in society,” he said. He compared the current state of denial of these issues to the one that once existed about Aids when people would not even talk about it. He called for a documentation of cases of kidnappings, forced marriages and conversions within minority communities.
Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi declined to comment about the controversy surrounding Rinkle Kumari’s conversion as the case was in court. However, she tried to raise the morale of members of the minority communities by saying that most of the people in the country were standing with them. “A majority of our population is not biased. It is just a small population of maulvis who spread hatred.”
Nearly 80 per cent of Pakistanis live on the margin, as they do not have access to justice and resources, and that the problems faced by women of minority communities were similar to those faced by Muslim women in the country. Nearly 66 per cent of non-Muslim women were not allowed to marry of their own free will, according to the report, and Rizvi said that a majority of Muslim women were also forced into marriage.
Mangla Sharma, who is the chairperson of the Pak-Hindu Welfare Association, said that minority women felt alienated from the country’s politics because they are not currently represented in parliament, and called for a quota to be established to resolve the discrepancy. Sharma also claimed that Rinkle Kumari was brainwashed and forcibly converted, and said that when a man claims to convert a woman, his religious background should be checked.
MPA Saleem Khokhar lauded the commission’s efforts for presenting a report on such a topic while extremism and injustice are on the rise. He said that blasphemy laws were being misused in the country, and referred to the deaths of a governor and a federal minister when they sympathised with Aasia Bibi.
The commission’s Peter Jacob called for a body to be set up to look into cases of forced conversions of non-Muslim women. The definition of the word “discrimination” should also be established, to include restrictions on the basis of religion as well.
Nazish Brohi, who contributed to the study, said that that women of minority communities face “double jeopardy,” as they have to face discrimination on two accounts: because of their sex and their religion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2012.
COMMENTS (17)
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Those blaming ET for highlighting this issue needs to put themselves in the minority shoes. Imagine your sister being abducted and forcibly converted to other religion. Try to relive the pain and agony of their parents. Try once taking your dumb & brainwashed head from the sand and see what is happening to minorities in your godforsaken country.
People who converted for economic and other life threatening exigencies have to create or overhaul their identity. Please google how Sir Iqbal's grand-dad one Mr. Sapru, a Kashmiri Pandit, converted, took new Arabic name and moved to Sialkot to save his life when caught red-handed in embezzlement of state funds. Similarly our dear Quide's grand-dad, a Bhatia Rajput, converted to do business of tannery and get new contracts. No wonder Quide was not a practicing Muslim. But the same apparently liberal people cause immense problems by their divisive politics. No alien religion has caused conversion for the spiritual reasons. It has been always under life and economic threats. Today our leaders are converting to Bushism which asks the new converts to answer if "they are either with us or against us." Their answer is the new Kalma. Same thing happened when whole of Iran got converted to Arabism. Natives of Iran, Iraq & Syria tried to save their culture and language by creating Shia-ism. I see in the world only Boudha, Yoga & Meditation spreading without asking the natives to give up their native identity. That is why today in Japan & China we find native with native names and at the same is Taoist, Confucian and Boudh. Until we have such spirituality where a native Sawati can name his daughter as Saraswati and not Sara and who does 5 times Namaz as meditation facing the northern mountain, we will go on dividing people for petty politics and cause immense harm to urselves and our progeny.
@Raj
I agree 100%. If India can accomodate 1 million illegal Bangladeshi (95% muslims) immigrants, it can as well take into it's fold all the minorities from Pakistan including Shias,Ahmadiyas and liberal muslims. Though you have, quite rightly raised the issue of giving up proportionate landmass by Pakistan, I would settle for a complete migration of endengered minorities from Pakistan with or without such transfer of land as well. This benefits Pakistan as well; less no of people with relatively more land per head.
For me , Majida Rizvi's view that a majority of of our people is not biased and and stands with the minorities is a tragic half-truth: it reveals the moral insensitivity and lack of empathy on the part of our majority . Let me narrate a recurring incident . A mob attacks and kills a member of a minority . The victim's family dare not go to the police for fear of more violence . The neighbours and friends of the victim dare not condole with his family for fear of being stigmatised .The police finds safety in assuming the posture that nothing has happened. If a police official dares to take notice , he finds himself and his family under mortal threat If somehow the case reaches the court , no lawyer takes the risk of representing the victim's family. If in some odd case the matter reaches the court , the judge refuses to deal with it . If the judge punishes the perpetrators of murder , he has to seek safety in some foreign land. The minorities at large are terrorised into silent despair . Minorities are suffering ; the decent majority is celebrating the rights granted to the minorities .
I think asking anyone's faith, sect or religion must be banned. People like 'Pakistan politics and Uzair Javaid' are the real hurdles in amending these "kalay qawaneen". I beleive no nation or country can progress where minorities are marginalized.
@Mj: it seems u just read the first line of my comment
@Pakistan politics: So your limited experience is reflective of the attitudes prevalent in the country - specially in less educated areas? Need I remind you of persecution of Ahmedis, vitriol and killings against shias, discrimination against hindus and christians, - to say nothing about apostates. Your community and the community where I live might treat minorities equally, but that does not mean that it is the same everywhere in the country.
ET dont expect us to be a passive media audience, we are watching u closely
@Uzair Javaid: absolutely right
@Mj: i have many Christian friends as i studied in Christian college (FC college lahore), everybody is having such problems be it Muslims or others, all forced conversions are baseless allegations they aren't proved, everybody gets killed even Muslims are being killed more than minorities, nobody complains except the people who wanna create hype and to make issue of nothing, Have u ever heard a word for the bishop of lahore or karachi complaining it except the liberal class?? dont be emotional Punjabi language famous quote describes ur behaviour: "Utoon utoon roiay Vichon Vichon Hasiay"
Ur misguiding the people
@Pakistan politics: @Uzair Javaid: Do you belong to a minority group? Have you ever felt that that if you ever let your beliefs known you could be killed? At least have the decency to empathize with the hundreds of thousands of people who live in the fringes fearing for their lives and safety.
@Pakistan politics: ET is now on an agenda to pick up such baseless issues, we need an overhaul not on religious basis but in every aspect of life here in Pakistan. ET has proud members of SAFMA amongst them now which makes them pick such issues and put them before the local and international audience
@Salim Ansari: Let suppose we make it 100% Islamic state than the war of faith between different Islamic groups break through. So nothing is perfect. Read this article its really really an eye opener http://tribune.com.pk/story/345377/run-for-your-life/ What is the correct version of Islam is?
@Salim - I think after some internal debate India would be ready to provide refuge to all minorities of Pakistan which includes not only Hindus, Christians and Sikhs but also the Shias and the Ahmadiyaas as well as all those moderate Muslims who would like to avoid the fracas created by the Mullahs. The only problem is land as we ourselves have a high population density. Are you guys ready to share the land in proportion with your minority communities with India so that they can be rehabilitated in a better manner? Some of your country men may say that why should Pakistan divide it's land for the minorities. Fair point but then they did support the same argument while curving out two nations out of United India.
Com'on ET even majority is also facing such problems
This persecution of minority hindu women in Pakistan is really sad. World wide, muslim women are kept at arms distance of everybody. This is because they are very sensitive and touchy about muslim women interacting with non-muslim men.
But muslims seems to be not in a mood to reciprocate the honour. This is not the fault of millions on muslim men. I can clearly say this is their religion acting. More moderate muslims do not stop these atrocities. They just blame "those" muslims as not real muslims etc. Is it any surprise the world hates them?
Why keep up pretenses about minorities being considered equals in Islam - send them all to India, and have a 100% Islamic Pakistan. They will be thankful, and maybe they have a bit of gratitude.