Minority rights

Letter May 31, 2023
Minority rights

KARACHI:

The entire struggle to carve out an independent Muslim state out of British India was aimed at providing Muslims with an enabling environment to profess religious rituals without any threat from the majority Hindus. Muslims, being in minority, had lived under oppressive clutches of Congress Ministries formed as a result of 1939 elections. This had provided a major impetus to the independence movement. Being exposed to the repression of majority rule without any regard of rights of minorities, Quaid-e-Azam stressed on protection of the rights of minorities after the creation of an independent Muslim state. In his first speech as Pakistan’s Governor General, he emphasised that people from all faiths would enjoy equality to exercise their religious practices.

However, successive rulers used Islam to consolidate their support base and political careers. This gave sufficient space to hardliners and ultraconservative elements to strengthen their roots. When the Objective Resolution was passed in 1949 dissenting voices and just demands of minorities were ignored. Radical elements found further traction in 1953 when violent protests surfaced in Lahore against a minority group. The unabated usage of religion for political mileage has significantly reduced space for minority groups to lead an independent life.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has pointed to the erosion of minority rights in Pakistan. Even though Pakistan is a signatory to various human rights conventions to ensure people of all faiths enjoy equality in social and political affairs, there has been an increase in the maltreatment of religious minorities. The rising incidents of curtailment of religious freedom have earned the country a bad image globally.

Asad Aziz

Khushab

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2023.

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