When silence is a crime

As the New Year rings in, I applaud the active role of our upper house of parliament, and especially that of Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, who recently lambasted the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on its atrocious comments regarding the presence of Christians in katchi abadis in Islamabad. Senator Rabbani quoted clauses of the Constitution to demolish the arguments that the CDA had made in the Supreme Court last month in which the body had stated that the presence of Christians in katchi abadis in the capital may affect the Muslim majority of the city.

What was the CDA thinking when it came up with these findings and then submitted a written report to the Supreme Court? This surely is an institutional failure, if ever there was one. The CDA later tried to backtrack from its stance, but the Senate didn’t buy it. And rightly so.

Outraged, angry and embarrassed are some of the words that described my feelings as a citizen of the capital following the CDA’s disgraceful statements in court. But where were the public protests on this issue? Why wasn’t our collective conscience so truly insulted that we took to the streets in protest against the CDA and in solidarity with the Christian community? Why wasn’t Pakistani social media filled with comments and status updates against this? Judging by my Facebook newsfeed, Donald Trump seems to be the one everyone is obsessed with. I’m not going to America anytime soon, but I live in Islamabad. And I ask the people of Islamabad: why didn’t you come up with something meaningful to say to the CDA? This is what all residents of Islamabad should be telling the CDA and all those who display bigotry:

“I do not agree with and am outraged and angry at the report submitted by the CDA to the Supreme Court where it states that ‘it is necessary to identify the fact that most of the katchi abadis are under the occupation of the Christian community who shifted from Narowal, Sheikhupura, Shakargarh, Sialkot, Kasur, Sahiwal and Fasialabad and occupied the government land so boldly as if it has been allotted to them. It seems this pace of occupation of land may affect the Muslim majority of the capital.’ It is utterly disappointing that the CDA did not take into consideration any of our constitutional protections or other laws of the land that clearly protect all its citizens before putting in writing a statement that has embarrassed the citizens of Islamabad. This statement does not reflect my views. I write on behalf of all residents of this city when I say that we welcome a minority of this country and our fellow citizens who have been vulnerable to persecution, to being burnt alive, to being killed in their places of worship and to falsely being accused and tortured for allegedly committing blasphemy. They, like us, want to protect their young and have come to look for a safer place to live. And if we can’t look for examples of kindness within ourselves, maybe we should learn something from Canadians and their warm welcome of a fleeing and frightened community from half way across the world; a community that speaks a different language and comes from a different culture. Silent outrage in a time of moral crisis is not good enough. I will not let the CDA speak vile, religiously intolerant words on my behalf and get away with it.”

Speaking out when wrong is being committed must be one of our New Year resolutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2016.

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