KARACHI:
The people of India endured over 200 years of tyrannical British occupation, suffered racism, abuse and discrimination in many places within the subcontinent where it was publicly displayed: “Dogs and Indians not allowed.” It was in 1906 when Muslim League was formed in Dacca and a political awakening took place that the Muslims must have a separate platform to air their grievances against exploitation, not just by the Colonial Raj but also the upper caste Hindus. It was because of this that Bengal’s Hindu Dalit leader Jogendra Nath Mandal openly supported Jinnah.
Discriminatory laws which made criticism of British Colonial elite a crime created unrest and hundreds of thousands were executed and imprisoned, while the natives willing to collaborate with the Raj were showered with lands, titles, etc. It was on Quaid’s promise that Pakistan would be a modern democratic welfare state, ruled by representatives of the people through free and fair elections where all citizens would enjoy equal rights, that people rallied behind him and we achieved our freedom in 1947.
The Quaid promised that no citizen of Pakistan, including paid or elected public-office holders, was to enjoy any exclusive rights, privileges or exemption from public criticism and scrutiny for any acts of omission or commission where the fundamental rights of a citizen are compromised. Respect is earned and cannot be gotten through enactment of laws which by their very nature are discriminatory.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2021.
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