Empowering minorities

There have been questions for a long time over what we can do, apart from combating extremism, to empower the minorities – mainly religious and sometimes also ethnic – in our country. Too often these groups have faced discrimination and terrible violence in various ways, simply because the majority community refuses to accept them as equal citizens of the country. Now there is a suggestion of how we can lead the way towards empowering minority groups and giving them more ability to fight for their own rights. Manisha Ropeta, a 26-year-old from Jacobabad, has become the first Hindu woman to pass the Sindh Public Service exam and be appointed DSP. She has explained that she chose the police force, after abandoning an earlier quest to become a doctor, because she wanted to do something ‘unusual’.

But Manisha’s presence in the police force at a senior level will achieve more than ‘something different’ just for herself. Her rise to this position will hopefully inevitably encourage others from her community to follow the same route to success and to the privileged positions that are held by only a few in our society. If more minorities were able to move into these positions, it may be far more possible to fight discrimination and for victimised persons to approach them and seek a more just outcome to their problems. In Sindh the issue of Hindu girls who are possibly converted and married to Muslims is one we have been hearing about for years. Even so, nothing has been done to combat the problem. The presence of police officers who are themselves not only Hindus but also women could in itself help cope with the issue if it is expanded.

The presence of people like Manisha in public service represents a goal that others can try and achieve. They can recognise that when one woman from a community that is not privileged and, as Manisha says herself, lacks knowledge and ability to give public service exams as she did, can reach the top, so can others. This in itself is inspirational – and we need inspiration if minority groups are to reach beyond where they stand at the moment and try and achieve more in society so they can occupy positions which hold power. Over the years, they have been pushed away from these. They need to reclaim their place and thereby create a model which could lead to a more equitable society for all groups who live within it.