Perils of intolerance
LAST week’s case of Sindhi Hindu families travelling to India should be a wake-up call for all those in positions of power in Pakistan. They will continue their present policies towards minorities at grave peril to themselves and the state.
The official response to reports that Hindu Pakistanis were emigrating was unbecoming of a responsible authority. The Indian High Commission was unnecessarily, and imprudently, criticised for issuing a couple of hundred visas. This was contrary not only to diplomatic propriety but also to the citizens’ right to leave the country and return to it as they wish.
Much noise was made about the procedure that requires Pakistanis wanting to walk across the Wagah border in a group to obtain clearance from the interior ministry. The practice for travellers without resources is that ministry officials sit on their applications for no-objection certificates for days under the stock excuse that clearance by the intelligence agencies is awaited.
The process clearly violates one of the people’s basic rights, the right to travel. It also appears to be contrary to the immigration law that requires the authorities to bar a citizen from going abroad only after informing him of the restriction placed on him and after giving him an opportunity to challenge it. One hopes the proposal of making the NOC condition mandatory for non-Muslim citizens will soon be expunged from official memory, as the idea is simply preposterous.
But the real issue is not travel restrictions for minorities, it is the trend among them of giving up on Pakistan. The inconclusive debate on whether last week’s travellers wanted to leave the country for good should not prevent anyone from accepting the fact that the rate of emigration by minority families has been rising for quite some time.
Reports that a good number of Hindu families from Ghotki, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Jacobabad have migrated to India cannot be discounted. Nor can reports of similar emigration from Balochistan be denied. Nobody should be surprised to learn that some Hindu activists have started knocking at the doors of foreign missions. The idea of appealing to the world outside is catching on.
While all minorities including Ahmedis, Shias (the Hazaras in particular) and Christians, too, are suffering as a result of the majority community’s creed of intolerance and the state’s negligence, at the moment we are concerned with the plight of Hindu citizens, though the practical steps suggested here will embrace all minorities.
While the more vocal among their leaders have consistently protested against the discriminatory provisions in the constitution and the law, Pakistani Hindus have, by and large, displayed great qualities of forbearance by resigning themselves to their status as second-class citizens as long as they are allowed to pursue their vocations and live with some vestiges of dignity. It is the inability to realise even these modest expectations that has driven them to despair.
Of the numerous Hindu grievances one need pick out only a few. They were hurt when their shrines and the attached properties were seized by the state or influential members of the majority community. Their needs were ignored while new housing colonies were planned and their right to buy plots in officially sponsored colonies was denied. Members of scheduled castes were either driven off the lands they had been cultivating for decades, maybe centuries, or turned into bonded labour. They put up with discrimination in access to state employment and educational opportunities in the hope of being left free to run their private businesses. This too has become increasingly difficult.
Worse, they began to be targeted for abduction for ransom, threats to their lives and property became more common, and the forced conversions and marriages of their girls took the form of campaigns organised by well-known clerics and political figures. On top of everything they got the feeling that the state did not even listen to their grievances.
What has perhaps deepened the frustration of non-Muslim citizens is the realisation that no good can be expected of a government that did not have the courage to condemn the killers of its governor and minister or those responsible for the massacres of Shias in Balochistan, Kurram Agency and Gilgit-Baltistan. They are not the only ones to believe that at the speed with which religious extremists are encroaching on public space and gaining acceptability by the elite, Pakistan could become unliveable not only for minorities but for a great many Muslims too.
Notice may also be taken of the view that stories of Hindu emigration are being played up with a view to increasing their fears and thus accelerating their exodus. This only increases the media’s responsibility to be careful in reporting minority affairs.
In any case the situation is indeed far graver than it has ever been presented in the media or elsewhere. The time for dealing with it through sermons or flat denials is past. Nothing will be gained by running news on TV to the effect that Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are buying national flags as enthusiastically as patriotic Muslims, though it may well be true. The time has come for the state to undertake a thorough reappraisal of whatever is amiss in law and social practice with regard to the right of minorities to be treated as equal citizens of Pakistan.
While their day-to-day concerns should be addressed by the administration, a high-powered commission must be set up for a two-track inquiry. Firstly, the commission should travel across the country to meet members of minority communities and gather their testimonies on all possible reasons for dissatisfaction.
The other task of the commission should be to find answers to the following: how many killers of minorities have been caught and punished? How many victims of abductions for ransom have won freedom through official efforts? What action has been taken against hate-preachers and those who have called for murder and arson? What steps have been taken to free executive officers and police forces of their communal biases?
What is the answer to involuntary conversions and forced marriages? Why have redress mechanisms, from the so-called Minorities Commission to district committees on minorities, failed to deliver? And to what extent have political parties and other civil society elements defended minorities’ rights?
If the proposed commission starts functioning soon and is seen to be proceeding honestly and diligently, minorities may be persuaded to suspend their judgment on the incorrigibility of Pakistan’s officialdom. But their final judgment will depend on the degree of the commission’s efficiency, its impartiality and its courage in upholding the truth and justice.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is complete failure.Take the case of shias, Ahmadis, Hindus, Christians. Their conditions getting worse day by day. Exploitation of farm bonded labour and ineffective laws to protect factory works against contract system in factories. Is it not the duty of Commission to protect over seas workers against inhuman exploitation and insulting treatments in the middle east. What has commission done for inhuman treatment( by the governments of Pakistan and India) of visa seekers of divided families.
Human right commission should give explanation
India must allow any Hindu, Christian or Sikh Pakistani to come to India – when they are being pushed out systematically. As for Shias / Ahmedias, they were also among those who wanted an Islamic country – and they got one – what they deserved. Cannot have much sympathy for people who choose their own demise. They need to change the system they themselves created.
Why wouldn't they give up and go? They can't change it, and they can't accept it …what other choice is there?
A voice of reason in an intolerant period in Pakistan's existence. One does not realize the courage it takes folks like Mr. IA Rehman to write such columns but it is a sign of the intolerance levels in Pakistan that mere defense of minorities can bring terror to their doorstep. Kudos to Dawn for publishing this article.
Humam beings are not pawns for the politicians to play with . Let the poor miserable suffering Hindus and also other minorities migrate to India with dignity. That is the only solution as Pakistan will not change ,probably will get worse for the minorities
please allow the hindus,Sikhs to migrate to India.
" LAST week’s case of Sindhi Hindu families traveling to India should be a wake-up call.
SHOULD BE OR MUST BE?
If the State of Pakistan can not protect the Hindus and Sikhs there,better they be allowed to migrate to India peacefully and similarly those Muslims who are not happy in India should go to Pakistan.Let the unfinished agenda of partition be complete and every body live where he feels secure and safe.
Not only Hindus and Sikhs but anyone who wants a peaceful life, be it Sunnis or Shias, Hazaras or Ahmedis, India should welcome them. We have a history of welcoming people and we should do it with open arms.
No , PSB sahib, in itself * MIGRATION* is not the answer. That agenda of 1947 was on the wrong track !! The real solution is that all nations should consider it their bounden , active duty to look after their minorities in a meaningful manner.
Its * INCLUSIVENESS* that minorities seek~~~~equality with the majority in all respects.
I request the givernment of Pakistan to allow the Hindus to migrate to India or any other of their choice. That will the best way to help the Hindus.
Why only Hindus. Let people of all religions, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs come to India if they feel safer here.
Why only Hindu !. Remember, India is a secular country. Christians and other minorities who feel unsafe to stay there should also be allowed to migrate.
It is a horror story happening to non Muslims in Pakistan. I salute those non Muslims, who have the means to migrate but are still living in Pakistan.
Papers and politicians wake up now? Where were they when Hindu's were systematically cleansed or converted in past 60 years? How did Pakistan Hindu proportion reach less than 2%?? Did they all drown in sea, converted or left country? Each possibility is shameful – and shows how Pakistani society has failed them. To think Pakistan wants same fate for Kashmiri Hindus!!
Dear Mr Rehman, Good to see that there are people in Pakistan who are peaceful. We in India have the impression that everybody in Pakistan are evil.
Maybe it is people like you who think everybody in pakistan is evil, please do not generalize.
do you think is there any other country , wher so much evidence of evil exists.
I agree with PTI's stance on the issue that the foremost and important step in addressing the concerns of minorities is to strengthen law enforcement and lower judiciary to ensure that they get economic / political / social / educational justice. For this first step, we don't even need changes in the legal framework, just much better de-politicized management of institutions. Second step in the medium term should be re-evaluate the laws that are discriminatory against minorities.
Mr Rehman, I agree with you but is any one in authority going to give any consideration to this article? They are deaf, dumb and blind to any thing the world says. All they want is power, power and more power.
" To some generations much is given. Of other generation much is expected. This generation of Americans have a rendezvous with destiny."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The next generation of Pakistanis have a rendezvous with destiny.
When the Sunis,Shia and Ahmedi [all muslims] cannot live in peace in their own country, what can the fate of the minority non muslims be?
You are right my friend – they are each seeking place in heaven and seeking to be better muslim than other. Minorities and non-muslims have no rights in heaven?
Dear Mr. Rahman, too late now, even for this article.
I commend dawn for even printing this material. I know my comment won't be posted so this is for you dear moderator. Consider this: Pakistani hindus comprised 20% of the population in 1950 and today they're about 1%. That's a decimation rate of .3% an year, after adjustment for birth rate. Astonishing!
In order to preserve themselves,pakistani hindus have converted to Islam or Chritianity in large numbers.
Meanwhile, Indian Muslims that were 6% of India post partition are 15% today. So much for the atrocious living conditions for muslims in India.
I wish the 2 goverments would cooperate and allow those left in pakistan to migrate to india.
I would also plead Pakistan to let minoroties migrate to India peacefully!
not correct. Pakistan also has people who may be a minority but believe that human rights trump religion and that other communities need protection in Pakistan. They and the govt need to ensure reversal of this trend. I'm sure very soon the govt will make real announcements on this issue and start a trend to improve inter faith equity for the remaining non Islamic people.
20% Hindus in 1950 is misleading because it included relatively large population of Hindus in then East Pakistan. Real percent of Decline of Hindu population can be figured only if percent Hindu population in then West Pakistan is available.
Valid point. I can't seem to find that number either. Peace.
west pakistan belongs to pashtuns… pashtun are tribal people out of over 160 tribe only 1 tribe is shi'a muslims "turri" tribe rest are sunny muslims and they been muslims since about 1400 years about the start of islam or the first 3 kalifat. lastly as a pashtun I know and seen hindus live in Quatta pakistan, kandahar afghanustan, Khost afghanistan, and TIrah Pakistan (seen mostly sikhs live here) I've also heard there was a big hindu community in Kabul (didn't see it though).
Its so ironical, that for a overwhelming majority its not even an issue. Purging an entire community, this is worst than the medieval ages. Religion is the captor of our country, and the people are suffering mass stockholm syndrome by a sustained tweaking of perception.
Pardon my crudeness, but absolutely nothing is going to change for the Hindus of Pakistan.
As an Indian Hindu, I can't even think of visiting Pakistan safely.
You are right my friend. As a Pakistani Muslim I and my family can't think of visiting Pakistan safely.
I am sure no one in govt reads Dawn and they will continue on doing what they are doing or not doing.
Very soon they will be reading the writing on the wall.