amina.jilani@tribune.com.pk
This sentence was penned by Saroop Ijaz in a column published on these pages shortly after the bombing and killing at the Peshawar church. The ‘sewerage workers’ are the Christians of Pakistan, plying their ‘traditional’ jobs (as said the PTI chief minister of K-P).
The sentence is a terrible indictment of the national mindset and of the hopes and aspirations of a segment of Pakistan’s population. It is also a glaring indication of the total negation of what is still known by a few as Jinnah’s Pakistan, which in actual fact, if we go by his much quoted August 11, 1947 address to the Constituent Assembly, has never existed and is now way out of reach. His one year in power was fraught by the aftermath of Partition, with non-Muslims fleeing for their lives, successfully or unsuccessfully. Thereafter, the rot set in, firming itself up, year after dreary year.
Jinnah, in the speech, made a reference to the “angularities of the majority and minority communities”, clearly spelling out that “no matter what be a citizen’s colour, caste or creed he is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights ... ”.
Thought: in a democratic state, where equal rights apply, should there be a ‘minority’? The white stripe on the national flag, with a pole up its middle, tells us, in our case, ‘yes’.
Six months after Jinnah’s death, his trusted lieutenant and prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, introduced into the assembly the Objectives Resolution, now sanctified by the Constitution. It shattered Jinnah’s vision and firmly put the minorities, the non-Muslims, in what was deemed their rightful place and there, with very few exceptions, they have remained for 64 years. Any redemption is now beyond the pale.
Every single non-Muslim member of the assembly opposed the Resolution and gave due warning of things to come. Sri Chandra Chattopadhyay, representing 25 per cent of the then East Pakistan population, was prophetic, but no one was listening:
“ ... What I hear in this Resolution is not the voice of the great creator of Pakistan, the Quaid-e-Azam (may his soul rest in peace), nor even that of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Honourable Mr Liaquat Ali Khan but of the ulemas of the land.
“This Resolution, in its present form, epitomises that spirit of reaction. That spirit will not remain confined to the precincts of this House. It will send its waves to the countryside as well. I have been passing sleepless nights pondering what shall I now tell my people whom I have so long been advising to stick to the land of their birth?
“And on the top of this all, by this Resolution you condemn them to a perpetual state of inferiority. A thick curtain is drawn against all rays of hope, all prospects of an honourable life. After this what advice shall I tender? What heart can I have to persuade the people to maintain a stout heart?
But I feel it is useless bewailing before you, it is useless reasoning with you. You show yourselves incapable of humility that either victory or religion ought to generate. You then go your way, I have best wishes for you.”
The ‘sewerage workers’ and their co-religionists are not alone in their predicament. Whether close to a hundred were murdered in Peshawar last month because they were Christians is not known. The murderers murder at will, with impunity, fellow Muslims are murdered indiscriminately, as the numbers tell us. Carnage is the militants’ trade. Perhaps, they were merely on a killing spree and the church was an easy target. Unacceptable about that particular incident was the attitude of and certain remarks made by representatives of the state, which serve to embolden the militants and further foster the prevailing culture of violence and intolerance.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (18)
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The only option for minorities is to leave. Infact anyone who can leave this place should do so. .India should help on a humanatarian basis, for people who would like to leave. Pakistan is unbearable.
@Feroz: It was not even the Muslims of present day Pakistan who demanded the partition.It was the upper class Muslims of present day Uttar Pradesh or the old Central provinces as it was then known who wanted Pakistan to grab plum post, perks and land.They are now Mohajjirs.
@shahid: Ask your Pappy if you know one or your mama if you have one then speak or JUST SHUT UP.
When our leaders and responsible shut their mouth and plan to do something for our country then i surely say Pakistan could be safe.
Ms. Amina Jilani : You stated : It shattered Jinnah’s vision and firmly put the minorities, the non-Muslims, in what was deemed their rightful place and there, with very few exceptions, they have remained for 64 years. . Jinnah's Vision i.e. The 11th August 1947 speech in the Constitutional Assembly was just a measure to Ensure the Safety of Muslims who had opted to stay in India. . Jinnah did not make any Effort to stop the Slaughter of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains - as recorded on 06th-07th March 1947 - and I refer you to the Letter by Ishtiaq Ahmed in the Daily Times : . Punjab Holocaust in the Daily Times 22-11-2004 . http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story22-11-2004pg3_8 . In addition I refer you to the Article Punjab’s ‘cleansing’- by Ajmal Kamal : In the Express Tribune of July 6, 2012 as per following URL : . http://tribune.com.pk/story/404683/punjabs-cleansing/ . Now that there are no Jains and hardly any Hindus and Sikhs left in Pakistan its "NON-STATE ACTORS" are slaughtering the Ahmedis, Christians and Shias. . Then there will nobody left to say anything to SAVE YOU. . Mods : All the Information - Reference is from Pakistani Media - as such please Post my above "POST" . Cheers
Suhrawardy was the architect of the Direct Action day violence against Hindus. He was the Chief Minister of Muslim majority Bengal, a Modi before Modi was ever born!
He was Jinnah's 3rd in command.
Liaquat who stood idly when Pakistan being named Islamic Republic, even defended it, was Jinnah's 3rd in command.
So if Jinnah didn't agree with them, why did he collaborate with them?
Pamphlets were distributed across the Mosques of Calcutta and Bengal before Direct Action day, basically calling for Jihad(against whom? British? of course not - Hindus), when Jinnah was President. Jinnah calls Direct Action day the next day and 4000 people die in a span of 1 week. More die when the Hindu mobs attack back, resulting in an orgy of violence.
When that Pamphlet was being distributed Jinnah was the President of the Muslim League and was all powerful.
Are you saying he didn't authorise those pamphlets? Because if he did, that would make him no different than any other Muslim League member, the same members who proclaimed Pakistan is an Islamic Republic.
Yet, Jinnah is said to be secular. I don't understand this twisted logic.
In hindsight the USE of religion in '47 to carve out a country was wrong. Instead of seeing it as a strategic move to achieve a particular end the mistake made was to convert this into an ideology for the new country, a step taken by those who saw the opportunity and literally hijacked this country despite the fact that they had opposed its formation in the first place. Today this is all water under the bridge because without a firm foundation the country has deteriorated into an unstable state being raped of its wealth by every successive ruler and the minorities are of no consequence because now the ' lesser ' Muslim ( for want of a more appropriate term ) is being persecuted by the so called ' better ' Muslim........yes the USE of religion to carve out a country was wrong.
@Feroz: The referendum should be held in Kashmir as to who wants to move over to pok. It is thier promised land without any repression. I support this type of a referendum. The govt of both sides should help the poor, suffering kashmiris who want to move out leave and let the remaining Indian kashmiris live in peace. Geelani should be the first to leave. Rab rakha
@Feroz:
your observations and humility makes me doubt the religion you follow.
All said and done,does Bangladesh actually represents what actually Quaid's dream was, a nation with equal rights everyone including women!
I think minorities rights are very clearly stated in the objective resolution..the Problem with seculars is that they have objection to the clause that " Sovereignty belongs to Allah"..muslims have a strong belief of this and important one...we cannot shun it just for the sake minorities that they dont believe in this...their rights are well elaborated...
Ms. Jilani quotes the PTI CM, KPK as having made that stupid "sewerage worker" comment. What is her source for this quote? I though it was Achakzai who came on record in this vein. Having said that, I must take issue also with the reference, in this context, to utterings of Liaqat Ali Khan. Words are being attributed to Mr. Khan, which, in my rather vague recall, were uttered by Mr. Maudoodi & etc? (Any 'holey' recollections in this crucial context will not do!).
author: "... It is also a glaring indication of the total negation of what is still known by a few as Jinnah’s Pakistan, ... "
I am surprised at the author's angst. Answer this question, please: In an overwhelming Muslim nation can non-Islamic philosophies take precedence over philosophies established by Islam ? No, right ? Secularism did not stand a chance.
Not with-standing the standard pronouncements about Islam, Muslim societies are inherently non-secular. Mr. Jinnah should have known better, and so should have, those who followed him.
Religion was only a tool employed to split the country through Partition. I can understand that some Muslims were insecure at their Economic prospects on Independence, the Hindus being far more focused on Education, Development and Economic progress. If we see India, UK , US or elsewhere the progress of Hindus has eclipsed Muslims --- in a free capitalist USA Indians outclassed every nationality. These are facts that can be verified.
In light of the above we can understand why Pakistan undercut its minorities through regressive legislation and Laws, its Educational curriculum and rendering of History, which slowly affected the mindset, in the process building a narrative of being a victim of conspiracies and foreign machinations. As an ordinary human being it is very difficult for me to admit my failure and incompetence, far easier to play victim. In reality religious discrimination was used only as a fig leaf for what really was a land grab by rich aristocratic Muslims, to demand Partition. That only around 10% of the Muslims moved out of today's geographic India to Pakistan in 1947, punctured the fake narrative. If a referendum to move to Pakistan was held among Indian Muslims today, I doubt even 1% would move. Too hard to stomach, is it not --- I am sorry.
@rashid - agreed. Rather, I would say, it is unfortunate to see the likes of Amina Jilani to quote Jinnah's speech or even constitution of Pakistan to vouch for the equal rights of minorities. There is something called 'conscience' and it tells that all human beings are equal. Regardless whether it is mentioned in a speech/ constitution/ holy texts or not.
It is unfortunate to see the likes of Amina Jilani has to quote Jinnah's August 11, 1947 speech to vouch for the equal rights for minorities in Pakistan rather than quoting the constitution of Pakistan. I wonder what would have been the situation if Mr. Jinnah not had said those "you are free to go........" stuff. The secularist really would have had a hard time to speak out in support of the rights of minorities of Pakistan.......pathetic situation. .
Pakistan movement was led by a strange person. He never spoke a word about the new country that he wanted to create except in one speech on August 11th, 1947. Other than that he kept his mouth shut aid not give a clue as to what he was planning to do. Then he had a whole bunch of others who worked with him throughout those years and really never figured out what he was planning to do and then they turned around and produced out of no where a resolution whose contents we are told were totally against what he wanted to do. Now if he never said anything about what his intentions were, how come what his trusted lieutenants and fellow workers produced was against what he said or wanted to achieve. How does the author know what his intentions were? Also he must be an anomaly in that as soon as he died all of his followers turned against him and produced a resolution which according to the author was not in line with his thinking? He must have been totally incapable leader that all of his close associates ended up undoing all of his work? What kind of a leader he really was? How did he manage to lead such a historical movement without one single one of his follower standing up for what he "REALLY" wanted to do according to the author? How come he approved a flag for Pakistan with white and green areas representing minorities and Muslims and Islam written all over it symbolically? Now I know that this comment may not see the light of the day, but may be the author who will read it can give it some thought.
Hindsight as they say is 20/20!
Similar prophetic sentiments were echoed by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad on what lay ahead for Pakistan - http://tribune.com.pk/story/478297/provinces-promises-and-maulana-azad/
I think your country is now too far down the road to attempt a reversal! So now it will be a contest to see who is a better Muslim...