Walls within walls

When Sahib Khan Oad, a journalist working with the state-owned news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), was asked by some of his Muslim colleagues to use separate crockery, he decided to fight against the untouchability imposed upon him.

Oad found instant countrywide support, particularly from media and rights activists who have found a rallying ground on social media platforms. His tormentors had no option but to beat a quick retreat.

In South Asian societies, structures of exclusion are like a labyrinth, meant to break the spirit of the communities and individuals trapped within. Sahib Khan, for example, is not only a Hindu but also belongs to a scheduled caste. His low-caste identity might have been enough to keep him mired in poverty and powerlessness. However, the world is changing and he has been able to join the ranks of professional middle class – only to find that there are many more walls to surmount.

On August 11, Pakistan celebrated its National Minorities Day, to mark Quaid-e-Azam’s address to the Constituent Assembly made on that day in 1947. During that speech the Quaid had famously declared: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place 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.”

A month earlier on July 13, 1947, Quaid-e-Azam had given a solemn promise to minorities while addressing a press conference at his house. He had said, “The minorities to whichever community they may belong, will be safeguarded. Their religion, or their faith or their belief will be protected in every way possible. Their life and property will be secure.

“There will be no interference of any kind with their freedom of worship. They will have their protection with regard to their religion, their faith, their life, their property, their culture. They will be in all respects citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or colour, religion or creed.”

Sixty-nine years later, Jinnah’s Pakistan is one of the most unsafe countries for religious minorities in the world. According to one international index, Pakistan is the eighth most dangerous country for minorities. The state’s discriminatory policies have permeated into society, exacerbating already existing forms of exclusion and making members of minority communities fear their neighbours.

For example, accusations of blasphemy have resulted in a series of incidents of mob violence against minority communities in Punjab and Sindh, resulting in dozens of deaths and destruction of property and places of worship. These incidents include mob violence against Christians in Shanti Nagar (1997), Sangla Hill (2005), Gojra (2009) and more recently (July 2016) against Hindus in Ghotki.

While terrorism has affected all Pakistanis, it has disproportionally ravaged the lives of minorities who were already under attack from religious extremists. Terrorists have attacked their properties, religious congregations, places of worship and community leaders, forcing thousands to leave their homes and relocate to safer places. This has increased their ghettoisation and made their localities even more insecure. An increasing trend of migration to other countries has also been witnessed.

The Hindus in Sindh, who had chosen to stay in the country during the mayhem of Partition in 1947, are flocking in droves to India. According to a statement made by a Hindu member of the National Assembly in May 2014, an estimated 5,000 Hindus have been migrating to India every year over the last few years.

One major reason for a deep sense of insecurity among Hindus in Sindh is the bizarre trend of ‘conversion’ of Hindu girls, who ‘elope’ with Muslim boys and marry them. According to Hindu leaders, like Lal Malhi, MNA, young girls are kidnapped and produced in courts two or three months later, while during this period they are threatened, sexually abused and brainwashed.

The Hindu leaders accuse prominent religious cum political leaders like Mian Mithoo from Ghotki and Peer Sarhandi from Umerkot of running conversion centres under the guise of seminaries. The state has so far failed to find a solution to this problem and reassure the Hindu families.

It will be unfair not to mention recent positive developments. During the last few years, federal and political governments and leading political parties have shown increasingly solidarity with religious minorities. The prime minister and other political leaders have joined their religious festivals and Holi has been declared an official holiday in the Sindh province where most Hindu Pakistanis are located.

Many historic places of worship have been restored and opened for worship. For example, an ancient Sikh temple, Bhai Beba Singh Gurdwara, in Peshawar, which remained non-functional for 70 years, has been opened up for worship.

Some solid steps, in the form of much-needed legislation and affirmative action have also been taken. The long-awaited Hindu marriage law has been passed in Sindh and a five percent job quota for minorities is being implemented, though unevenly. This can ensure a career in government to youth belonging to minority communities.

However, the integration of religious minorities requires a lot more. The state must show its commitment to the safety of minority communities by ensuring their personal security and protection of their properties and places of worship. Forced conversions must end and people like Mian Mithoo must be restrained. The hate material embedded in textbooks must be replaced with messages of pluralism and diversity.

In our part of the world, the boundaries between religion, caste and class can often merge, worsening the plight of the followers of minority religions – many of whom also face discrimination for reasons of caste or class. The popular narrative in Pakistan denies the existence of untouchability in the country because ‘Islam is an egalitarian region and does not differentiate among people on grounds of caste’.

However, this is not how Pakistanis behave, particularly on the Western side of Indus. Untouchability is practised not only against minorities but against Muslims of scheduled castes as well.

Affirmative action cannot be effective without analysing the different forms of exclusion that are practised in Pakistani society, and their implication for different social and religious groups. Activists of a scheduled caste movement that is taking shape among the Hindus of Pakistan claim that discrimination against them is rooted in the centuries-old caste system and has less to do with their status as a minority.

However, both walls of discrimination are part of the same prison of exclusion and both must go for them to enjoy their status as equal citizens of the country; this was promised to them by the founder of the nation. The battle for minority rights is a battle for the soul of Pakistan. It is one battle that we cannot afford to lose.

The writer is a social anthropologist and development professional.

Email: zaighamkhan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @zaighamkhan