Minorities Day: ‘Implement SC verdict on rights’

Minority community representatives seek inclusion of Quaid-i-Azam’s August 11, 1947 speech in Constitution

LAHORE: Representatives of minority religious communities have sought inclusion of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s August 11, 1947 speech in the constitution and sought an end to discrimination against them on the basis of their religious beliefs.

Talking to The Express Tribune on the occasion of National Minorities’ Day on Tuesday, they sought repeal of laws that discriminated against minority communities and demanded that all citizens be considered equal by the state without regard to their religious beliefs. They also urged the federal government to ensure security of life and property of minority communities in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment of June 2014.

The SC had directed the federal government to constitute a task force and ask it to develop a strategy for promotion of values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence in the society. The verdict had sought inclusion of chapters in school curricula for the purpose. Further, it asked the government to take appropriate steps to ensure that hate speech against a particular religious community was discouraged on social media platforms. Other directives in the judgment were for the establishment of a national council for safeguarding rights of minorities and a special police force for protection of minorities’ places of worship.

Advocate Nadeem Anthony said nationality should be the only marker of identity for all citizens of the country. He lamented that in public discourse people belonging to minority communities were identified first and foremost as members of a particular religious community. He said their identity as Pakistanis was not stressed. “We are responsible citizens and are playing our role for the development of this country. The society is still unwilling to consider us equal citizens,” he said.

Referring to a Christian couple’s killing at a brick kiln where they were employed after they were accused of blasphemy, he said use of blasphemy laws against minority communities should be checked. He said that the courts should be extra careful in dealing with blasphemy cases as misuse of the law brought disrepute to the country.

Anthony criticised the format of general elections in the country and said that it had not allowed the minority communities to elect their own representatives.

Amar Nath Randhawa, the Hindu Sudhar Sabha president, sought inclusion of Jinnah’s speech in the constitution. He said that he and his family had decided to stay in Pakistan after the partition. “It’s regrettable that I still need to ask [Pakistani] Muslims to consider me a Pakistani,” he said. He said it was commonplace in the country to hear people say that a Hindu could not be a brother to a Muslim.

Professor Kalian Singh sought implementation in letter and spirit of a five percent quota for minorities in government jobs. He condemned of forced conversions and said that they could be prevented by enacting separate marriage laws for minority communities.

Saleemudin, the Jamat-i-Ahmadia spokesperson, criticised the government for its failure to end targeted killing of Ahmadiyya community members. He said the state had failed to ensure fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution. “Our members have been suffering persecution for over six decades. There is no action taken by the state to provide us security,” he said. He also said that it was incorrect to refer to Ahmediyya as a religious minority.

Saleemudin also criticised the government’s failure to implement the SC judgment.

In 2009, the federal government had designated August 11 as National Minorities Day. It has been observed every year since then.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2015.