Declaration on the Rights of PersonsBelonging to National or Ethnic, Religiousor Linguistic Minorities; the Council ofEurope’s Framework Convention on theProtection of National Minorities; theOslo Recommendations Regarding theLinguistic Rights of National Minorities;The Hague Recommendations regardingthe Education Rights of NationalMinorities; and the LundRecommendations on the EffectiveParticipation of National Minorities inPublic Life. In view of their ordeals many citizens

belonging to the minorities in Pakistanhave either resorted to exodus to foreignlands or religious conversion. This hasaltered the country’s religiousdemography beyond recognition . In theundivided British India’s PakistanMuslims, who constituted 70 per centthen, included Sunnis, Shias, Ahmadisand others in different schools of Islam.Non-Muslims were 30 per cent . Theyincluded Hindus, Sikhs, Christians,Bahai's, Parsis and all others outside Islam.Hindus accounted for 24 per cent inPakistan then. In Karachi they were even amajority 51 per cent.

of the ordeals they face for beingminorities in their respective lands . According to a study , in Mauritania

some 600,000 black Africans , 20 per centof the country’s population , are still slaves.Mauritania uses Sharia to a racist systemand people are taught in religious schoolsthat slaves are the masters’ properties tobe passed along as inheritance andwomen slaves must submit their bodies totheir masters.The state of Pakistan happens to

conform to this pattern of behaviour only.

Volumes have already been written toshow that ever since Pakistan came intoexistence, it has been one of the worstoppressors of humanity. Its minorities --Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, the Baha’is,Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Ahmadis, Shiasand Mohajirs -- non Muslims and non-Sunni Muslims both – have suffered most.According to authentic studies, thesuccessive regimes in Islamabad havethrown to the winds the minority rightsstandards enshrined in the UN

Pakistan---- a land of its finest syncretistic traditions since ancient times ---- is in a badshape today. The state that came into existence to represent it in 1947 has been oneof the worst oppressors of its own citizens. Its treatment of minorities is still worse.The country's parochial rulers and allies have been the root cause of this malaise .Genuinely liberal and progressives forces must invoke the land’s original values and

sideline the political crooks in the system . The upcoming parliamentary election offers them thebest opportunity to push forward their progressive agenda, contends Jagdish N Singh

Philosophers, political scientistsand statesmen have defined themodern state as a positive entityfostering the multi-faceted

development of all its citizens . One ,however, finds few states in the modernworld still care for their citizens. Most ofthem continue to deny their citizens eventhe essential freedoms of life. Theirtreatment of minorities is still worse. Asknon-Wahabbis in Saudi Arabia; Shias andKurds in Turkey ; Azeris, Kurds, Balouch,Ahwazi Arabs, Lurs, the Jews, the Baha’is

and Zoroastrians in Iran; Christians inIraq, Indonesia, the Gaza Strip, Egypt,Sudan and Nigeria; Kurds in Syria; theBerber/Amazigh peoples in Morocco andAlgeria; Hindus in Bangladesh and India’sKashmir; Tibetans in China ; Tamils in SriLanka; Catholics in Northern Ireland;Basques in Spain; , Corsicans in France;Muslims in the Philippines ; Albanians inMacedonia or Yugoslavia ; Abkhazis inGeorgia; black Africans in Mauritania ;and so on. And all of them would tell you

Time to sideline political crooks Minorities in PakistanMay 2013 Power Politics

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Shias facing genocide in Pakistan today

Ahmadis protest against discrimination

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population 6.6 per cent ). In its populationof 17, 56, 46,000, Sunnis constitute 77 per

cent and Shias 20 per cent. Various reports and studies confirm

the worsening plight of the minorities inPakistan today . One could have a look atthe reports of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees, the U SCommission on Freedom, the PakistanHuman Rights Commission, the JinnahInstitute and the Society for the

Protections of the Rights of Child. Some ofthe observations of the Pakistan SupremeCourt, too, have confirmed the truth inthe matter. Such studies have alsosuggested measures to address the on-going rights violations in the country. ButIslamabad has cared a fig.

Historic diagnosisThe root cause of the Pakistani

predicament has been the lack ofenlightened political leadership in thecountry . After about a decade of Pakistancoming into existence the great Indiannationalist leader, freedom fighter andthen Education Minister Maulana AbulKalam Azad wrote : “ Pakistan was thecreation of the Muslim League ..TheLeague had hardly any members who hadfought for the independence of thecountry. They had neither made anysacrifice nor gone through the disciplineof a struggle. They were either retired

On Independence Pakistan came tohave Muslims 86 per cent and non-

Muslims 14 per cent , albeit concentratedmainly in East Bengal. In Pakistan todaynon-Muslims --Hindus, Christians andothers -- are just about three per cent(Hindus 1.6 per cent; Hindus in Sindh

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Minorities in Pakistan May 2013 Power Politics

A recent Christian demonstration against torching of their homes in Lahore.

Hindu girl Rinkle Kumari : a face offorcible conversion

The annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan lays out just how low we havedescended as a nation. There are a number of unenviable records we hold, from the number ofjournalists killed to having more deaths by breast cancer than any other country in the region. Yet,if there is one aspect of the report which stands out, it is the deplorable way that minorities havebeen treated in the country. The report reveals that in 2012 alone 1,000 Hazara Shias were killed inQuetta ,20 Ahmadis in religious violence and six churches burned down in Karachi. The report isnecessary reading for those who are in denial about the state of the country today. In the endlessdebate over whether Pakistan is a failed state, there is one point that is never made. We may or maynot be a failed state but this is a state that has failed its citizens. Were it not for organisations likethe HRCP, the suffering of our fellow countrymen may never have been heard--

The Express Tribune, April 8, 2013.

A Hazara protest in Oslo

The state has failed its citizens

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all its inhabitants. The tradition of theprogressives has to be adhered to andadvanced in the interest of humanity.Famous Austro-British philosopher KarlPopper aptly observed :“ If we think history progresses , or that

we are bound to progress, we commit thesame mistake as those who believe thathistory has a meaning that can bediscovered in it and need not be given toit. For to progress is to move towardssome kind of end, towards an end whichexists for us as human beings. 'History'cannot do that; only we, the humanindividuals, can do it; we can do it bydefending and strengthening thosedemocratic institutions upon whichfreedom, and with it progress, depends.And we shall do it much better as webecome more fully aware of the fact thatprogress rests with us, with ourwatchfulness, with our efforts, with theclarity of our conception of our ends, andwith the realism of their choice. Instead ofposing as prophets, we must be themakers of our fate. We must learn to dothings as well as we can, and to look outfor our mistakes. "

Recently, famous human rights lawyer andactivist Asma Jahangir has suggested thatthe people and the media could help puthuman rights issues on the electionagenda. The liberals could act accordingly.Fortunabely , time is still on their side. TheIslamists like Wahabism ---the Deobandseminary, Tablighi Jamaat, Ahle Hadithand the Jamaat-e-Islami have little socialbase in the country. Pakistan has the AhleSunnat wal Jamaat represented by theBarelvi creed with the largest following.The masses in Pakistan have had a strongsyncretistic tradition derived from thecurious amalgamation of Islam and theregion’s indigenous religions. Theprogressives --- including in the media,academics and legal fraternity--- couldactivate and use this social base inreplacing their parochial rulers and vestedinterests with such elements as would begenuinely committed to democracy,pluralism and human rights.Needless to add, history does not

move forward automatically. Liberal,progressive forces have consistentlyworked hard in its positive evolution. Intheir long journey --- beginning withMagna Carta and travelling throughRenaissance and Reformation in Europe,the War of Independence in America, theFrench Revolution and various freedomstruggles in Afro- Asian and LatinAmerican nations--- they have come todefine the modern state as the custodianand defender of the rights and liberties of

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Minorities in PakistanMay 2013 Power Politics

officials or men who had been broughtinto public life under British patronage.The result was when the new state wasformed, power came into the hands ofpeople who had no record service orsacrifice. Many of the rulers of the newstate were selfish people who had comeinto public life only for the sake ofpersonal interest. A majority of theleaders of the new state came from UP,Bihar and Bombay . In most cases theycould not even speak the language of theareas which now formed Pakistan. Therewas a gulf between the rulers and theruled in the new State .”Things have changed little since then.

As a result of this continuing leadershipcrisis, a notorious Deobandi Sunni streamof the puritanical Wahabi-Salafi order,equipped with a distorted version ofIslam, has come to expand its social basein Pakistan . In order to capture or retainpolitical power the politicians of all hues –including its ambitious Army, have soughtto cultivate or keep in good humour thisIslamist social base by accommodating itsagenda at the cost of the interests of allother segments of Pakistani society.It is high time liberal, progressive forces

in Pakistan intervene and sideline thepolitical crooks in the system. The currentwave for democracy in Pakistan and itsupcoming parliamentary elections offerthe liberals the best opportunity to pushforward their progressive agenda.

Human rights activist AsmaJahangir: the people and themedia must come forward anddefine the new election agenda.

Pakistan has the AhleSunnat wal Jamaat

represented by the Barelvicreed with the largest

following. The masses inPakistan have had a strongsyncretistic tradition derived

from the curiousamalgamation of Islam andthe region’s indigenous

religions. The progressives --- including in the media,academics and legal

fraternity--- could activateand use this social base inreplacing their parochialrulers and vested interests

with such elements as wouldbe genuinely committed todemocracy and pluralism in

the country.

The legendary freedom fighterMaulana Abul Kalam Azad rightlydignosed that rulers of Pakistan wereselfish. Will the liberals in Pakistanchange them now?

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