Singling out the minorities

Every non-Muslim member of the assembly had opposed the Objective Resolution, giving due warning of things to come.

“Try imagining a sewerage worker, whose father was also a sewerage worker and who now knows to a moral certainty that his newly born grandson will also be a sewerage worker.”

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 5^th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.