third eye
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Once more a mentally challenged child is jailed for blasphemy.An 11-year-old girl named Rimsha was accused of blasphemy, and sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand on Saturday. She was accused of burning 10 pages of an Islamic book. An FIR was lodged against her even though the whole village knew about her mental condition. People gathered for protest and there is a risk of an attack on the village.
This is not the only incident; rather, there is history of similar incidents in which either individuals with psychological disorders or innocent children were blamed for blasphemy, and even sentenced to death. This is simply the misuse of countrys blasphemy laws. The blasphemy law is a source of continuous harassment of minorities.
A Christian preacher named Victor Samuel Masih was kidnapped from Toba Tek Singh. Seven armed men including three in police uniform kidnapped the preacher and took him to an unknown area.
A 13-year-old Christian girl named Asma was kidnapped by three Muslims who entered her house in the absence of her brother and mother. Later it was said, one of the kidnappers named Abdul Ghaffar had married her; the persecutor later showed the marriage papers to the police officers stating that the girl had accepted Islam and had willingly married Abdul Ghaffar, father of two children.
Shifting of Hindus from their motherland, Pakistan to the neighboring country is another alarming fact. It seems as if the white stripe of the flag representing minorities is shrinking day by day. According to a report of Pakistan Commission of Human Rights, more than 36 Hindu families migrated from Pakistan to India from February to first week of July. These pilgrims have not come back. First, they state that they are going to visit their relatives but later on, they get their visas stamped and stay there. On August 12, 115 more Hindus crossed into India. When interviewed they also stated that Pakistan was their homeland and that they would come back after performing religious rites in India. But at the same time many remained silent. It is quite debilitating that a peaceful community had to leave their own homeland. These were the ones who after partition preferred to stay here.
On July 29, three Hindu youngsters were kidnapped while on their way from Khazdar to Kalaat. Veenish Kumar, Seetal Kumar and Ratan Kumar were going to Kalaat along with their family members when armed persons stopped the van, forced people off and took the three Hindus along with them.
The discriminatory laws and prejudices for minorities is a matter of serious concern. I can foresee that minorities would become extinct in a country that was founded on the principle that minorities be protected. The white part of the flag is shrinking day by day as a large number of minorities go abroad after taking political asylum; many have already left in the name of performing religious rites in India and the ones who are left are stricken and harassed. Amiruddin Kidwai, who designed the flag and included a vertical white stripe at the hoist side, never knew what would be the future of minorities in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah in one of his speeches said: You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or 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. It is disheartening that Jinnahs idea has lost and his vision has shattered after 65 years of independence. The culprit, no doubt, is the regime of General Ziaul Haq when religion became a political tool. Since then nefarious elements and extremists were in search of opportunities and had been striving to become stronger and in present era, they have the strength, control and network.
If present alienation of minorities continues, very soon, Pakistan will become a 100 percent Muslim country and the white part representing the minorities will completely diminish from the flag. But the question is whether Pakistan would change into a peaceful land and the Land of the Pure? After removing the peaceful and harmless communities, would Pakistan survive as a peace-loving corner of the continent? Will Muslim ummah be united and be one under a green flag? I doubt that. Harming harmless communities will not end the tussle between Muslim brethren. Sunni community will not stop bothering Shias and vice versa. The intra-ethical issues will continue, rather aggravate. At present, there are various points of conflict among different religious sects, but if minorities cease to exist, new issues will pop up from sects. The problem is not lack of tolerance between two religions but a general intolerance for everyone who is different. The unfortunate illusion is that diversity is perceived as adversity. This misperception divides the nations on different grounds: religious, political, ethnic, cultural, racial and linguistic.
Initiative must be taken not only at mass level but also at small levels. Hatred inducing speeches in classrooms should be avoided; syllabi of Islamiat and Pakistan studies must be carefully designed keeping in mind the objective of reducing distances; mosques must be utilised as counselling centres and guidance institutes and must not only be limited to prayers. At mass levels, government should address this issue at a policy level, thus guaranteeing protection of all communities. I always emphasise that minorities owe to this land as much as majorities do and we must bring all communities together to recover the identity of our homeland.
This is not the only incident; rather, there is history of similar incidents in which either individuals with psychological disorders or innocent children were blamed for blasphemy, and even sentenced to death. This is simply the misuse of countrys blasphemy laws. The blasphemy law is a source of continuous harassment of minorities.
A Christian preacher named Victor Samuel Masih was kidnapped from Toba Tek Singh. Seven armed men including three in police uniform kidnapped the preacher and took him to an unknown area.
A 13-year-old Christian girl named Asma was kidnapped by three Muslims who entered her house in the absence of her brother and mother. Later it was said, one of the kidnappers named Abdul Ghaffar had married her; the persecutor later showed the marriage papers to the police officers stating that the girl had accepted Islam and had willingly married Abdul Ghaffar, father of two children.
Shifting of Hindus from their motherland, Pakistan to the neighboring country is another alarming fact. It seems as if the white stripe of the flag representing minorities is shrinking day by day. According to a report of Pakistan Commission of Human Rights, more than 36 Hindu families migrated from Pakistan to India from February to first week of July. These pilgrims have not come back. First, they state that they are going to visit their relatives but later on, they get their visas stamped and stay there. On August 12, 115 more Hindus crossed into India. When interviewed they also stated that Pakistan was their homeland and that they would come back after performing religious rites in India. But at the same time many remained silent. It is quite debilitating that a peaceful community had to leave their own homeland. These were the ones who after partition preferred to stay here.
On July 29, three Hindu youngsters were kidnapped while on their way from Khazdar to Kalaat. Veenish Kumar, Seetal Kumar and Ratan Kumar were going to Kalaat along with their family members when armed persons stopped the van, forced people off and took the three Hindus along with them.
The discriminatory laws and prejudices for minorities is a matter of serious concern. I can foresee that minorities would become extinct in a country that was founded on the principle that minorities be protected. The white part of the flag is shrinking day by day as a large number of minorities go abroad after taking political asylum; many have already left in the name of performing religious rites in India and the ones who are left are stricken and harassed. Amiruddin Kidwai, who designed the flag and included a vertical white stripe at the hoist side, never knew what would be the future of minorities in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah in one of his speeches said: You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or 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. It is disheartening that Jinnahs idea has lost and his vision has shattered after 65 years of independence. The culprit, no doubt, is the regime of General Ziaul Haq when religion became a political tool. Since then nefarious elements and extremists were in search of opportunities and had been striving to become stronger and in present era, they have the strength, control and network.
If present alienation of minorities continues, very soon, Pakistan will become a 100 percent Muslim country and the white part representing the minorities will completely diminish from the flag. But the question is whether Pakistan would change into a peaceful land and the Land of the Pure? After removing the peaceful and harmless communities, would Pakistan survive as a peace-loving corner of the continent? Will Muslim ummah be united and be one under a green flag? I doubt that. Harming harmless communities will not end the tussle between Muslim brethren. Sunni community will not stop bothering Shias and vice versa. The intra-ethical issues will continue, rather aggravate. At present, there are various points of conflict among different religious sects, but if minorities cease to exist, new issues will pop up from sects. The problem is not lack of tolerance between two religions but a general intolerance for everyone who is different. The unfortunate illusion is that diversity is perceived as adversity. This misperception divides the nations on different grounds: religious, political, ethnic, cultural, racial and linguistic.
Initiative must be taken not only at mass level but also at small levels. Hatred inducing speeches in classrooms should be avoided; syllabi of Islamiat and Pakistan studies must be carefully designed keeping in mind the objective of reducing distances; mosques must be utilised as counselling centres and guidance institutes and must not only be limited to prayers. At mass levels, government should address this issue at a policy level, thus guaranteeing protection of all communities. I always emphasise that minorities owe to this land as much as majorities do and we must bring all communities together to recover the identity of our homeland.
