Minorities’ in Pakistan

Minorities’ in Pakistan
By: Afshain Afzal

Minorities are generally neglected section of the society due their difficulty to adjust and live with harmony with other fellow nationals as well as their rejection by small reactionary groups. When these small reactionary groups grow more than their size, either violence erupts or minorities’ rights are violated. Minorities suffer a lot where either justice system is weak or common man is ignorant of his rights. Unfortunately, in the case of Pakistan, despite the passage of 62 years as an independent state, we are unable to agree to our identity. Ironically, some so called educated people in Pakistan talk about secularism, capitalism, socialism or communism, knowing very well that Pakistan was created on the basis of Islamic ideology. The strong western and anti-Pakistan propaganda has in fact disappointed and mislead many of Pakistani nationals. Resultantly, some of the disgruntle elements talk about independent states, some about minority province and some even talk about handing over Pakistan to some international organization or western country so that justice prevails at grass root levels. It is not only the minorities that are sufferers in Pakistan but the plight of majority community i.e. Muslims is even worse. One feels ashamed to quote number of mosques destroyed during the last five year in this Islamic state. On the other hand, during the same period, there were only two or three incidents where churches were dishonored. As regard to Hindu Temples and religious place of other communities like Parsis, Qadianis, Bhais, Kafirs etc there is nil report of any damage or disrespect but still there is much to be done for the minorities’ rights.
According to Minority Rights Group International, a UK-based NGO, Pakistan had the world’s highest increase of threats against minorities last year and was ranked the seventh most dangerous country for minorities overall. Although, this highly exaggerated report is without foundations and include activities associated with attack on foreign forces in connection on going war in Afghanistan but it is our responsibility to ensure that rights and lives of all citizens in Pakistan are protected. The recent incident in Gojra, where seven Christians were killed and a number of Muslims seriously injured, happed despite the facts that Pakistani government tried to take all necessary steps to ensure protection of minorities and run the government on secular lines. We need to investigate why this incident happened so as to ensure that same does not happen in the future. It is a general observation that root cause of violation of rights of ordinary Pakistani citizens revolves around the fact that the system in Pakistan should have been Islamic which emphasizes as an all-embracing code of life standing for non-discriminatory social justice, fair play, democracy, equality of manhood and welfare of masses. It is pertinent to mention here that as regard to the system which Muslims of Indo-Pak subcontinent including Quaid-e-Azam wanted in Pakistan was Islamic. In the same context, during the Allahabad session of the All-India Muslim League in 1942 he was asked as to what type of state Pakistan would be? He replied: “It will be an Islamic state on the pattern of the Medina state with human rights, liberalism, democracy and complete tolerance and freedom of conscience to all citizens without any distinction of colour, creed, language, and race as granted by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (peace be upon him) to Christians, Jews, idol worshippers and all others. Justice, brotherhood, liberty, equality and fraternity will reign supreme.” It is evident from said saying of Pakistan’s founder of nation that in Islamic system of governance in Pakistan can only ensure complete protection of minority rights.
The question arises that what was the pattern of the Medina state referred to by the Quaid-e-Azam? The Medina state was run on the basis of a document known as the Constitution of Medina (Messaq-e-Medina). This document, prepared under the instruction of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), dealt with the rights and obligations of the citizens of Medina including Muslims, Jews and all others. Through this document the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made a friendly agreement especially with the Jews and established them in their religion, property and occupations and declared them as one community. The tolerance and goodwill shown by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in Medina and elsewhere became established as a basic principle of state policy in Muslim countries. Arnold in his book The Preaching of Islam gave the following Charter of Freedom given at the time of conquest of Jerusalem to Christians and others by the Hazrat Umar Bin Al-Khattab: “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is the security which ‘Umar’, the servant of Allah, the commander of the faithful, grants to the people of Elia. Grants to all, whether sick or sound, security for their lives, their possessions, their churches and their crosses, and for all that concerns their religion, their churches shall not be changed into dwelling places, nor destroyed, neither shall they nor their appurtenances be in any way diminished, nor the crosses of the inhabitants nor aught of their possessions, nor shall any constraint be put upon them in the matter of their faith, nor shall any one of them be harmed.”

The non-discriminatory and humane tradition of the Constitution of Medina and Hazrat Umar’s Jerusalem Agreement was literally followed by the Quaid-e-Azam when he addressed Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 thus: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state”. It is interesting to note that three days after this speech, the Quaid-e-Azam spoke again on the inauguration of Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly on 14 August 1947, re-emphasizing the central theme of his speech of 11 August 1947, said “The tolerance and goodwill that the great Emperors showed to all the non-Muslims is not of recent origin. It dates back 13 centuries ago when our Prophet (peace be upon him) not only by word but by deeds treated the Jews and Christians, after he had conquered them, with the utmost tolerance and regard and respect for their faith and beliefs. The whole history of Muslims, wherever they ruled, is replete with those humane and great principles which should be followed and practiced”. It is on the record that on 1 November 1941, there was an Akhand Bharatyia Conference in Jalandhar. Mr. Munshi, a well-known Hindu leader was in the chair. In his presidential address he said, "Do you know what Pakistan is? If you don't, listen! Pakistan means that Muslims can make in one or more parts of India, their homeland, where the system of government would be based on the Al Qura’an with Urdu as their national language. In simple terms, Pakistan will be a Muslim land where the government will be Islamic." Similarly in a meeting of the Pakistan Association of Germany on occasion of the centenary of the Quaid-e-Azam, a German scholar Professor Dr. Kanhan said, "The model before the Quaid was the Al Qura’an." In his speech at the Frontier Muslim League Conference on 21-11-1945 Quaid-e-Azam said, “We have to fight a double-edged battle, one against the Hindu Congress and the other against British Imperialists, both of them being capitalists. The Muslims demand Pakistan where they could rule according to their own code of life and according to their own cultural growth, traditions, and Islamic Laws.” Similarly in a message to N.W.F.P Muslim Students Federation, in April 1943, he said, “You have asked me to give you a message. What message can I give you? We have got the great message in the Al Qura’an for our guidance and enlightenment.”

It is apparent that the Quaid-e-Azam’s speeches of 11 and 14 August 1947 bear close similarity, in both letter and spirit, to the Constitution of Medina. This constitution was neither secular in the prevailing sense of the term as the Islamic State of Medina was not a secular state, nor was it based on the concept of papacy, an institution which does not exist in Islam. Further, it recognized the existence of Muslims and Jews as separate entities, though bound together as citizens with mutually agreed obligations and duties. It is also pertinent to note that the Quaid-e-Azam’s speeches of 11 and 14 August, read along with his pronouncement at the Allahabad Session of All-India Muslim League in 1942, clearly point to the fact that there was remarkable consistency in his pre-independence and post-independence thoughts about the pattern of state in Pakistan. It is high time for the people of Pakistan to forget about notorious concept of secularism and strive to make Quaid-e-Azam’s vision of Pakistan a reality. The preamble of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 clearly spells out that Pakistan would be governed by the Law of Allah given in Al Qura’an and Sunnat of Holy Prophet Muhammad (May Peace be Upon Him). It is only the Islamic law which ensures the protection of minorities’ rights and once this is enforced in Pakistan, the whole society would be benefited; especially the minorities rights would be recognized and protected.