ISLAMABAD:
The state of minorities in India and Pakistan is no better than it was 30 years ago. In fact, it has worsened.
Alienated for a long time, Muslims in India are warming up to the idea of modern knowledge, yet equality is still a far-fetched idea for them.
In Pakistan too, minorities, in particular Hindus, continue to face alienation. They are constitutionally forbidden to become Prime Minister or President of the country, nor can they climb up the top slots in civil services.
These sentiments were shared on Tuesday by scholars and minorities’ representatives from Pakistan and India at day 1 of a regional conference on the “Rights of Religious Minorities in South Asia: Learning from Mutual Experiences” organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) and Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) of Germany.
“India’s secular constitution, which exhorts affirmative action to safeguard the minorities had all along struggled against the forces of Hindutva led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” said Indian scholar Prof. Dr Ram Puniyami.
He described the condition of Muslims in India as “dismal”, saying that the situation of minority rights in India have suffered over the past three decades.
Sangh Parivar, he said, typecasts Muslims as terrorists and emphasises their otherness to persecute them. Christians, too, are targeted by extremist Hindu elements over accusations that they forcefully convert low-caste Hindus.
The communalism in South Asia is of a competitive nature, as persecution of Muslims in India spurs negative sentiments in Pakistan and vice versa, said Puniyami.
“Violation of human rights anywhere should be treated as a violation everywhere,” said the Indian scholar, adding that there were many men and women in India who had devoted their lives to fighting the menace of communalism and evolving a polity that was truly secular.
Prof. Puniyami advocated reservations in jobs for Muslims to bring them up to a threshold of economic and social survival. But it will be a long and hard fight, he said.
Former federal minister and minority rights activist J Salik said that minorities in Pakistan do not enjoy equal rights as no member of the minority community could become the head of the state or the chief executive.
“Minorities should be safer in Pakistan than elsewhere as this was the only country which was created by a minority,” said Salik.
Pandit Channa Lal, a senior representative of the Hindu community in Pakistan, said his community faced no problems in the observance and celebration of religious rites and festivals. However the children do not feel as if they are a part of the mainstream, he added.
“Hindus can not climb to the top in service careers. There are no foreign office jobs for them and the doors of the presidency and the PM House are closed on them,” said Lal. He said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is no longer a liberal party as it used to be in the times of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.
Professor Imtiaz Ahmad from Bangladesh said that the polity in Bengal is more tolerant as public reasoning there is enriched with the Sufi tradition and the influence of the Hanafi school of thought, which tends to separate religion from politics.
Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo from Sri Lanka spoke on his country’s war on terror and Muslims’ sufferings in it.
Dr Maqsudul Hassan Nuri, acting president of IPRI, said now is an “age of rage” and there has been marked rise in religiosity in South Asia over the years.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2012.
COMMENTS (32)
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There is no need to compare both countries bz we cant equalize both countries.India is a good country for minorities, Govt of india done many measures like giving specified percentage of job for muslims by central govt and also by state govt.Scholarship for all minority student not only 10 like pakistan.Same law for every one.Freedom to speach and also giving free trips to muslims every year 5000 muslims to mecca and many more.Yes its true some political revolts happnd last for 2 ,3days only .after thagt all will end. Put In PAKISTAN ATTACK ON minorities ,attacking,raping ,sharia law ,no freedom to speach no law support for minorities and many more on daily basis non stop.
I want to say ,those person that how u people will face judgement. God dont need humans help, if he was powerful . If god wants to kill people, he can kill by earth quake,sicknes or any other way. And if god want only muslims in this world,he can stop all birth of non muslims.For a second is enough for him. When god allows a person to live in this world,what problem you people have to disturb other people.when u r doing so, u r doing against god law. I want to say atlast, You people doing all activities only for ur religion,which created by humans ,not for god.
Near my house in the Cochin area is a Salafi mosque which makes its presence felt several times a day. Its sponsors are people of the neighbourhood and are, as far as I know, nice people. In the state of Kerala there are lots of Muslims everywhere (about 25% of the state's population) and there is no tension as far as I know. In the major southern cities, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, there are very large Muslim communities. Same in other cities like Mumbai. This is India. We are all living together, mostly peacefully and are, by and large, progressing. I wonder how many Pakistanis are aware of this reality.
Those who are talking about killings of muslims in India, please answer what was the population of Minorities in Pakistan in 1947 and what %age is today? Where they disappeared? Dont say that they converted to Islam on their own will, because if it was true we would have seen a similar trend in India too.
@Hanif: No but there is systematic daily slaughter for which my family is a proof!!!!! Enough said. If you count the number of shias and hazaras and ahmadis killed this year? you will need to go to school to learn mathematics. Just keeping quiet will atleast get right to survive on this earth.It is height of delusions that YOU ask about plight of Indian muslims when you have eradicated every minority community in Pakistan on a DAILY basis for the last sixty years. Let us not count those numbers for we will lose the right to ask for respect!!!
@TPA: No doubt it is extremely regrettable that in today’s India there are people who live by their extreme politics. Even Sikhs have their political party based on their religion. However communal riots don’t occur everyday in India and yet all of her citizen have to live their daily life everyday. It is also true that very large numbers of her citizens of every community want to live a good trouble free life minding their own business and without indulging in so called communal politics. Therefore it is all the more important that national resources such as opportunities for education, employment, social justice, etc are equally available to all citizen irrespective of language , religion, language, sex etc . And as per my experience to a very large extent this is so in modern India. BTW I am fearful of extreme politics and I desire my children and grand children must have decent opportunities whatever may be their religion or language or region they choose to adopt.
@Hanif: Most people donot like fighting and killings between comunities (religious or otherwise), Yes most people in India donot like because such things are really scary and mostly innocent of any community suffer and normal life of general people get lot of beatings . Having said that it is important that national resources all type should be accessible to all citizens of the country equally, irrespective of their religion ,language, color, sex and whatever. And my experience is that, it is largly true in modern India as I have noted in my other response. I even know two christian very specialized surgeons working the same department in a premier Govt Hospitals in northern India.
@Pakistani Hindu: Mr kalam was not the only muslim president of India since independence
I have 4 friends Muslims friend who are qualified engineers and employed in Public Sector Undertaking (govt of india) and are living quite decent life and raising their children in upper middle class environment. One of them is Director i.e next to the chief of that Govt company. Muslim engineers of Kashmir valleys were offered jobs in the same PSU, and the list is on and on. Muslims , Christians , Sikhs holding govt jobs and posts are like everyday DAL/ROTI in India. Ameer Khan enthrall Indian through prime time TV programme and his countryman all go ga ga for him. General people run after Kalam in social sites, to select him to be the nth President of India. India's ruling political party plan to nominate Hamid Ansari as VP for second time. Khurshid is federal law minister at Delhi . One Christian gentleman is presently opposing the Presidential candidate of the ruling congress party, and making lots of noise throughout the width and breadth of the country. Christian even became chief of Army. Yes some people do make nonsense, but in general minorities can easily prosper if they try hard in govt jobs and posts .
Muslims in india are still awaiting justice for the massacrs committed in Bhagalpur, Meerut , Mellie (80s), Mumbai / other parts of India (92), not to mention the infamous Gujarat carnage. The sikhs too await justice for 84. All of these massacres were accompanied by the most brutal of acts against women, little girls and even infants. In many cases, women were paraded naked, then raped and burnt. Most of these perpetrators have gone scot free, everytime. Not a single person was sentenced for the massacres in Mumbai that claimed over a 1500 lives. In fact, Bal Thackeray openly claimed responsibility for the mumbai massacres and walks scot free. Incidentally, the Muslims who carried out reprisal bomb attacks were sentenced to death! Similarly, muslims accused of Godhra were held for 9 years and sentenced to death, while people like Babu Bajrangi, who boasted of the killings on candid camera, roam free! The law and order machinery (including the judiciary) have found ingenious ways to shield the guilty, that not only include organizers like Narendra Modi and the RSS leadership, but also their foot soldiers. And I'm only talking of riots that claimed at least a 1000+, not"smaller" "riots" like Surat in 82 which were again accompanied by horrific crimes against Muslim women.
Minorities in India ,(particularly Muslims, and in 84, the sikhs) have been subjected to the most barbaric of crimes that the world has ever seen in recent years. The entire machinery has worked overtime to ensure the culprits go free everytime. As an Indian myself, I wonder what right the Hindu nationalists have to point fingers at others
If there is widespread discrimination in India against minorties, can anyone explain why we have a Sikh PM, a Roman Catholic heading the ruling party and a muslim Vice-President. We have also had several muslim Presidents in the past!! There are muslim judges, election commision heads, MPs, MLAs federal and state ministers etc.. etc...
Bollywood which is not under Governament control is fully dominated by muslims. In cricket we have had muslim captains (Pataudi was one of the youngest, Azharuddin was one of the longest). You can't find a cricket team at any level in India without minorties (of course as long they are cabpable).
Yes. A large section of muslim suffer with poverty but that is due their religious backwardness. In UK, muslims particularly those from Pakistan and B'desh are at the lowest socioeconomic strata. Same in USA, Canada etc. Are you going to blame all those countries.
Gujarat was a different issue and dont forget it was started by muslims. Can you tell me what will happen in pakistan if a bunch of hindu men set fire to a muslim relgious gathering????
I will accept if you compare India and Pakistan on issues like corrution and poverty but not on treatment of minorties. There is immense difference.
@Malatesh: Yes they have constitutional rights but no security which is the most important for SURVIVAL
@Hanif: how many hindus are living in pakistan..... how many times they set on fire peaceful women and children of muslims......
i may sound extremist, but remember that when you live in a country disproportionately dominated by a community, try to carve a niche by competing peacefully, never resort to violence...because the culture of violence is dependent on no. of minds it can brainwash, whereas culture of peace depends on no. of brains it can help open up.
Fall out of the partition!
Just to compare: How many minorities have been Massacred in India and how many religious places of minorities have been Attacked in the last 3 decades? Ans: More than 3000 Muslims and 205 mosques (Only figures of Gujrat riots)
Can somebody kindly give an example of 'collective' massacre of minorities and their religious places in PAKISTAN?? Being a PM or President is not the prob of masses but SURVIVAL is ET shame on you for promoting such propagabada!!!
Prof. Puniyami advocated reservations in jobs for Muslims to bring them up to a threshold of economic and social survival.
This article is a joke! The author wants "Preferential/Special" treatment to Muslims in India, while advocating "Equal" treatment to Hindus in Pakistan.
Sorry Author, India is a secular country, asking for religion based reservations in a secular country is the most bizarre argument
@Author, There is Big difference in Pakistani minorities and Indian minorities.
No doubt that extremists possess some resistance towards minorities on both sides of the border.
But, India has already given equal rights constitutionally to all people. In india achievement is Purely based on ability. No doubt that only few minorities are having ability to achieve so high like Soniya Gandhi(Super PM), Dr APJ(Former President), Dr Hamid Ansari(voice President) many politicians in major political parties like BJP, Congress.. and the list goes on.
But, in Pakistan, constitutionally minorities are not having any rights to achieve high posts even they possess ability.
The concept of a minority in constitutions was powered by the desire to help the unprivileged to obtain a special consideration to cope with the handicap.However,the end achieved is quite reverse.The classification provides the majority to identify the weaker sections and to smother them to further oppression.Is not there any provision in the United Nations Charter that ,based on the history of its application in a country,such provision in a constitution would be declared violation of human rights and can be deemed to be null and void.
Who was Rana Bagwandas? If you ahvent heard the name then let me tell you he was Cheif Justice of Pakistan.... Indeed Prime minister and President cannot be from a minority but we have had a Hindu Chief Justice which is as powerful as the other two posts.
Thank you, Ram Punyani. You are my hero. I have always said that condition of minorities in Pakistan is at least as good as that of minorities in India. So if we don't see Indians crying about the treatment of minorities in India all the time, neither should Pakistanis.
This article does not reflect the true difference in challenges faced by minorities in India vs Pakistan. The minorities in India have been growing in numbers since independence. Minorities have been holding important positions of importance and their role is only growing. Minorities play a very active role during electoral politics. None of this is true in Pakistan. India has still has ways to improve on how it treats it's poor, tribals, women, lower castes and religious minorities. But It is heading in the right direction. On the other hand, Pakistan is heading in the wrong direction on all these factors. I am not a big fan of Ram Puniyami or Arundhati Roy but they are entitled to their opinions and India is capable of introspecting on multiple viewpoints.
Amazing choice of representatives (a Hindu represents minorities of India, and a muslim minorities of Bangladesh), and the content is even more amusing; so the takeaway is that ordinary muslims and christians in India have a terrible time because the RSS is out to get them, while Hindus in Pakistan have a tough time mainly because they cannot become PM or President, (while in Bangladesh everything is just peachie-pie). My suggestion to these people is to ask their respective branches or representatives to conduct an impartial survey to find out (a) How many muslims want to move from India to Pakistan, and how many have moved in the last 3 decades (b) how many Hindus want to move from Pakistan to India, and how many have moved in the last 3 decades - do the same for Bangladesh as well.
This news report comment section will be overrun by brainwashed indian trolls who will come out denying abuses committed by their gov and people.
I agree with sir Puniyami ..
@ S I agree. Maybe one of the Bollywood Khans; APJ or Irfan Phatan.
@S:
They made their careers out of that!
What a joke ! . Pakistan and India painted on the same brush on secularism .In India there are no discrimination if you are christian or muslim and if you are stuck in 10 century and dont adapt then even if you are hindu you are left out and nobody cares. In a developing country this is attributed to evolution "those who dont adapt perish as theorised in evolution science, even if they are the strongest species physically " ,,Also you cannot track all the random quarrels,fights ,riots in some corner in India and term India is bad for minorities . IF Pakistanis want to always compare India and want to feel good by feeling equal ,I would say then pick poverty and corruption which is widespread in India as in Pakistan .
Dr Abdul Kalam was the former President of India. Enough said?
Really, they have Ram Puniyami to speak for minorities in India! I wouldn't touch Puniyami, Arundhati Roy, with a ten ft pole when it comes to understanding India. They should have had an Indian Muslim (or Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh) to speak for the conditions of Indian minorities.