Pakistan: Making minorities disappear

By - Yasser Latif Hamdani

There has been a systematic attempt by the state since the 1980s to drive non-Muslim Pakistanis into oblivion

For those of us who are still free of cynicism towards this country of ours and those who believe sincerely in the much battered idea of Jinnah’s Pakistan, it is a solemn duty to ensure that whatever little we can contribute we should work towards that ideal of a humane and inclusive Pakistan for all its citizens.

When I was growing up, one was accustomed to a much more diverse and multicultural Pakistan despite the fact that General Zia’s poison had begun to take effect. Bear in mind that I did not go to a missionary school but a regular private school called Bloomfield Hall in Lahore. Yet my first Islamiat teacher was an extremely learned man by the name of Innocent Joseph. I was taught seventh grade geography by an elegant Christian lady, Mrs Alam. My art teacher was a tall sari clad Hindu lady — I forget her name — who seemed like she was right out of an art film. The stern Mr Joseph Felix taught me Mathematics and it turned out that he was my father’s classmate at Don Bosco High School in Lahore, a fact that made my life hell. Mrs John, who later became the principal of another school chain, taught me English literature in eighth grade. I remember her attending the Khatm-e-Quran event of a fellow student. That she was Christian did not preclude her from being invited but I feel that this may not be possible today. These Pakistani teachers gave me, thankfully, a very different understanding of Pakistan, its history, its founder and its national identity from what I find today. None of them were cynical about the country, a sharp contrast to even those self-styled liberals today who revel in bashing the country and lying about its origins. While the non-Muslim Pakistani teachers drummed in me a sort of humanistic patriotism, Muslim teachers were another story; the less said the better.

The fact of the matter is that these faces and names have receded. You do not see them around anymore. Sure, the missionary schools have them but now it is unheard of for other schools to have non-Muslim teachers. Even if they are there, they are hidden or too scared to speak up. They are too scared to voice opinions. There has been a systematic attempt by the state since the 1980s to drive non-Muslim Pakistanis into oblivion. I was recently approached by a delegation of the Church World Services, Pakistan, who opened my eyes to how systematic this state-driven process of driving minorities into hiding is. Their biggest gripe was the non-implementation of the job quota for minorities in Punjab province. There is a five percent quota in all government jobs that is mandatory by law. Unfortunately, the way the quota takes effect is at the interview stage, which means that very few non-Muslims actually make it past the entry test. The entry test itself is designed to keep non-Muslims out, with questions about Islam and the Holy Quran. So, in any event, the barriers to entry have been kept too high for non-Muslims. However, on top of this, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s ‘Modi-esque’ Punjab government has, through a notification dated March 27, 2010, stated that if the “qualified candidates” were not available for the reserved quota, these would automatically be unreserved and filled “on merit”. This notification is ultra vires the spirit of the constitution of Pakistan and the quota system that has been implemented under it. It is sheer injustice to the minorities and nothing else. No reasonable person, no matter what his political affiliation or ideological bent of mind, can find this ridiculous notification by the Punjab government justifiable.

The tragedy that non-Muslims face is multilayered: first, their numbers are downplayed and were in any event fudged in the 1998 census. This is done to keep the quota question under wraps. A fair census, in my estimate, would show that the total population of non-Muslims in Pakistan far exceeds the four to five percent estimate at present. For example, 500,000 Hindus living in south Punjab are completely absent from this calculation. In Lahore alone, the population of Christians is more than one million according to the most conservative independent estimates. The overall population of Christians in Pakistan may well exceed 15 million. Add to this the Hindu population, close to five million in Sindh and a million more elsewhere, and the total population of non-Muslims begins to cross the 20 million mark. We are, for obvious reasons, not even counting the Ahmedi population because, principally, they reject the minority status forced upon them. There are other smaller minorities like the Sikhs who have historically migrated from the northwest to Punjab. In most cases, they are denied registration and national identity cards. Next the quotas they are given are not implemented as above. Whether federal or provincial, the numbers of non-Muslims decline rapidly as we go from lower pay grades to higher ones. Grade four and above, the percentage of non-Muslims employed falls below one percent. The number of non-Muslims in the higher bureaucracy today can be counted on one’s fingertips. They are all subject to the annual confidential reports, the format of which was amended by General Zia’s illegal regime to include a section on “Islamic Knowledge”.

The woes do not end there. Union councils do not issue marriage certificates to non-Muslims. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) only accepts the certificates of a handful of churches and a select few Gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship). A significant section of the Christian population that follows the Pentecostal tradition and the Episcopal tradition cannot therefore get their spouses registered. Hindus do not even have a marriage act to this date, which pretty much makes their marriage registration impossible! Consequently, the spouse of a Hindu legislator was denied a UK visa recently because she failed to prove her marriage to her husband.

Speaking to Parsis in Quetta after partition, Jinnah famously said that a country founded to safeguard a minority could not be unmindful of minorities in its own midst. Yet that vision has been lost to expediency and the shortsightedness of our rulers. The key to returning to that vision and reclaiming Pakistan lies in the socio-economic empowerment of Pakistani minorities. Too much time has been wasted in raising and fighting ideological battles. Economically empower Pakistani minorities and they will be the greatest soldiers in the cause for a progressive and prosperous Pakistan. Is our ruling elite listening?