[Source: DAWN 25 December 1999]
A column for Christmas
by Irfan Husain
VERY soon after he took over, General Musharraf spoke out in a
refreshingly direct manner against religious extremism. This unambiguous
statement was reinforced by his publicly stated admiration for modern
secular Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
While many rational Pakistanis here and abroad took some comfort from
the general's straightforward words and waited for action, the religious
right immediately attacked these sentiments. Since then, the general and
his spokesmen have maintained a discreet silence on the matter. When I
mentioned this to a senior member of this government, he repeated the
now-familiar plea for more time. But why does the general need more time
to enunciate his policy on the status of the minorities, for example?
Surely if he can make detailed pronouncements on the state of the
economy, he can tell us how he will safeguard the rights of our
minorities.
If he would like to hear the voice of a member of this threatened
community, let me reproduce below excerpts of an e-mail I received last
month from a Pakistani-American reader who now lives safely in the
United States. His name is J. Philip, and he was a student at St
Patrick's School, General Musharraf's alma mater:
I understand the Chief Executive is from St Pat's... In any case he
wouldn't be a fanatic like Zia and that's the good part. I wonder though
whether he would do away with divisive laws like the separate electorate
laws, something very dear to the hearts of minorities. Also, other laws
like the one on blasphemy is again a life and death issue for
minorities... I sometimes feel the country has abandoned me with all
these laws and I am scared to think about coming back for a visit. This
is true for most other minorities I have talked to here. I sometimes
wonder how the minorities in Kashmir - since about 25% of Kashmiris are
Hindus or Buddhists - would feel about being in a state controlled by
Pakistan.
I guess these questions would not be in the minds of anybody given the
problems the country faces... For the past 50 years the Kashmir issue
has been the issue of supreme importance for which half the country was
lost and the rest [remains] mired in poverty. Isn't it time for a
change?"
I think all of us who belong to the majority Muslim population of this
country should be ashamed that members of the minority should feel so
unsafe in Pakistan that they fear returning to their homes. Even
Pakistanis going to India for a visit don't feel so insecure. This is a
truly damning comment on what we have been reduced to as a nation. While
we blame Zia for virtually disenfranchising the minorities through his
separate electorate ordinance, the fact is that since his death eleven
years ago, no civilian government has moved to undo this divisive law.
To his credit, Farooq Leghari has included the repeal of separate
electorates in his Millat Party's manifesto, but apart from him, no
mainstream politician - even a self-proclaimed liberal like Benazir
Bhutto - has raised his or her voice against it.
What J. Philip has said about Kashmiri non-Muslims is also very
relevant. While beating our pathetic little drum to raise support for
our stance on Kashmir, we fail to consider the fact that given our
terrible track record of dealing with our own minorities, the world is
hardly likely to entrust the fate of millions of non-Muslims to us. If
we can't safeguard the rights of our Christian, Hindu and Ahmadi
citizens, we are clearly incapable of guaranteeing the lives and
property of Kashmiri non-Muslims. As it is, Kashmiri mujahideen groups
are targeting innocent Hindus, apart from attacking Muslims who do not
support them.
Fortunately, bigotry and intolerance are limited to a small number of
highly vocal and well-armed fanatics whose influence far exceeds their
numbers. After years of financial and administrative support from Zia
throughout the Eighties, they have become accustomed to setting the
national agenda. Unfortunately, a succession of supine civilian
governments just could not summon the gumption to face them down, even
though both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had a common interest in
confronting and routing these enemies of democracy.
The question now before us is whether the present military government
has the will to address this problem. I place this issue very high on
any rational set of priorities. Currently, Pakistan is being viewed as a
breeding ground of religious intolerance and an exporter of fanatical
terrorists. Our image abroad is so awful that few foreigners are willing
to risk coming here. When we talk about increasing tourism and foreign
investment, we are totally out of touch with reality. As long as the
perception in the international community is that Pakistan is a haven
for terrorist gangs, only the foolhardy will invest here, or visit these
shores for a holiday.
Scores of non-Muslims are currently languishing in jails across the
country on trumped-up charges under the Blasphemy Act. Under this Act,
it is easy for a couple of people to swear they heard or saw a
non-Muslim blaspheme against the holy Prophet (PBUH). Since the
automatic punishment for such a crime is death, this has become an easy
way to settle old scores or acquire somebody's property. Also, many
Ahmadis have been sentenced for the simple "crime" of saying or writing
"Bismillah ir Rahman ir Rahim." And yet we take great pleasure if a
foreigner manages to recite.
Under such circumstances, it comes as no surprise that J. Philip and his
co-religionists should feel threatened in Pakistan. Growing up in
Karachi, I, too studied at St Patrick's around the same time General
Musharraf did. Apart from Christians, Parsis and Hindus, we even had a
couple of Jews studying with us. Nobody bothered about each other's
faith. We played and fought as boys do, and survived under the
ministrations of tough disciplinarians like Father Tony Lobo. When I
returned to the school a few years ago out of pure nostalgia, I was
shocked to see that there were hardly any non-Muslim names in the class
lists on the notice board.
So despite Mr Jinnah's assurances to the minorities that they would be
treated as equal citizens in Pakistan, the sad fact is that we have not
kept faith with the founder of the nation. But can General Musharraf
undo the harm his uniformed predecessor, General Zia, did not just to
the minorities, but to the whole country? Only time will tell, but
meanwhile, let me wish my Christian readers a very happy Christmas.
Return to: October 1999 - Military Coup in Pakistan: Analysis & Reactions