Young Hindu girl joins police in Umer Kot

[PWFI]

Fewww, after 70 years, something to show for proving "Secular" state.

don't give a damn to secularism---we are not wana be indian

 

[Kamikaze Pilot]

Hot dusky beauty!!

 

[haviZsultan]

I hope this is not the first time. It should have happened much earlier.

 

[Flynn Swagmire]

Fewww, after 70 years, something to show for proving "Secular" state.

When Pakistan is an Islamic Republic why they need to show Secularism???

 

[schoolboy]

I find the ease with which Pakistan has gotten rid of its minorities astonishing. From 24% in 1947 to about less than 4% as per the 2011 census. I'm sure plenty of dictators would love to know the secret.

The plight of Scheduled castes in Pakistan is a wretched one. At least in India there is some basis for blaming upper caste hindus for this state of affairs - though the mandal reforms in early 90s ensured that they have got political power today - between 20-30% of chief ministers and central ministers as well as MPs/MLAs are from that group.

In Pakistan where such castes account for 80%+ of the tiny hindu population and which has no upper caste hindu majority to continue such practices it must take some special discrimination to ensure these scheduled castes remain so miserable. No prizes for guessing what that is.

The trend started quite early. Jinnah solicited support from scheduled caste leaders with his promise of fair treatment in Pakistan. His first cabinet, in fact, had Jogendra Nath Mandal - a dalit leader as a federal minister. Ironically despite being the law minister, in an unprecedented manner he fled the country in 1950, returning to India from where he sent this his resignation letter to Liaquat Ali Khan (then PM). Here are a few portions from that letter.

ANTI-HINDU POLICY
10. When the question of partition of Bengal arose, the Scheduled Caste people were alarmed at the anticipated dangerous result of partition. Representation on their behalf were made to Mr. Suhrawardy, the then Chief Minister of Bengal who was pleased to issue a statement to the press declaring that none of the rights and privileges hitherto enjoyed by the Scheduled Caste People would be curtailed after partition and that they would not only continue to enjoy the existing rights and privileges but also receive additional advantages. This assurance was given by Mr. Suhrawardy not only in his personal capacity but also in his capacity as the Chief Minister of the League Ministry. To my utter regret it is to be stated that after partition, particularly after the death of Qaid-e-Azam, the Scheduled Castes have not received a fair deal in any matter. You will recollect that from time to time I brought the grievances of the Scheduled Castes to your notice. I explained to you on several occasions the nature of inefficient administration in East Bengal. I made serious charges against the police administration. I brought to your notice incidents of barbarous atrocities perpetrated by the police on frivolous grounds. I did not hesitate to bring to your notice the anti-Hindu policy pursued by the East Bengal Government especially the police administration and a section of Muslim League leaders.

GOVERNMENT PLAN TO SQUEEZE OUT HINDUS
27. I would like to reiterate in this connection my firm conviction that East Bengal Govt. is still following the well-planned policy of squeezing Hindus out of the Province. in my discussion with you on more than one occasion, I gave expression to this view of mine. I must say that this policy of driving out Hindus from Pakistan has succeeded completely in West Pakistan and is nearing completion in East Pakistan too. The appointment of D.N.Barari as a Minister and the East Bengal Government's unceremonious objection to my recommendation in this regard strictly conform to name of what they call an Islamic State. Pakistan has not given the Hindus entire satisfaction and a full sense of security. They now want to get rid of the Hindu intelligentsia so that the political, economic and social life of Pakistan may not in any way be influenced by them.

been forcibly converted to Islam.

PAKISTAN 'ACCURSED' FOR HINDUS
34. Now this being in brief the overall picture of Pakistan so far as the Hindus are concerned, I shall not be unjustified in stating that Hindus of Pakistan have to all intents and purposes been rendered "Stateless" in their own houses. They have no other fault than that they profess the Hindu religion. Declarations are being repeatedly made by Muslim League leaders that Pakistan is and shall be an Islamic State. Islam is being offered as the sovereign remedy for all earthly evils. In the matchless dialectics of capitalism and socialism you present the exhilarating democratic synthesis of Islamic equality and fraternity. In that grand setting of the Shariat Muslims alone are rulers while Hindus and other minorities are zimmies who are entitled to protection at price, and you know more than anybody else Mr.Prime Minister, what that price is. After anxious and prolonged struggle I have come to the conclusion that Pakistan is no place for Hindus to live in and that their future is darkened by the ominous shadow of conversion or liquidation. The bulk of the upper class Hindus and politically conscious scheduled castes have left East Bengal. Those Hindus who will continue to stay accursed in Pakistan will, I am afraid, by gradual stages and in a planned manner be either converted to Islam or completely exterminated. It is really amazing that a man of your education, culture and experience should be an exponent of a doctrine fraught with so great a danger to humanity and subversive of all principles of equality and good sense. I may tell you and your fellow workers that Hindus will allow themselves, whatever the treat or temptation, to be treated as Zimmies in the land of their birth. Today they may, as indeed many of them have already done, abandon their hearths and homes in sorrow but in panic. Tomorrow they strive for their rightful place in the economy of life. Who knows what is in the womb of the future ? When I am convinced that my continuance in office in the Pakistan Central Government is not of any help to Hindus I should not with a clear conscience, create the false impression in the minds of the Hindus of Pakistan and peoples abroad that Hindus can live there with honour and with a sense of security in respect of their life, property and religion. This is about Hindus.

NO CIVIL LIBERTY EVEN FOR MUSLIMS
35. And what about the Muslims who are outside the charmed circle of the League rulers and their corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy ? There is hardly anything called civil liberty in Pakistan . Witness for example, the fate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan than whom a more devout Muslim had not walked this earth for many years and of his gallant patriotic brother Dr. Khan Sahib. A large number of erstwhile League leaders of the Northwest and also of the Eastern belt of Pakistan are in detention without trial. Mr. Suhrawardy to whom is due in a large measure the League's triumph in Bengal is for practical purpose a Pakistani prisoner who has to move under permit and open his lips under orders. Mr. Fazlul Haq, that dearly loved grand old man of Bengal, who was the author of that now famous Lahore resolution, is ploughing his lonely furrow in the precincts of the Dacca High Court of Judicature, and the so called Islamic planning is as ruthless as it is complete. About the East Bengal Muslims general, the less said the better. They were promised of autonomous and sovereign units of the independent State. What have they got instead ? East Bengal has been transformed into a colony of the western belt of Pakistan, although it contained a population which is larger than that of all the units of Pakistan put together. It is a pale ineffective adjunct of Karachi doing the latter's bidding and carrying out its orders. East Bengal Muslims in their enthusiasm wanted bread and they have by the mysterious working of the Islamic State and the Shariat got stone instead from the arid deserts of Sind and the Punjab.

MY OWN SAD AND BITTER EXPERIENCE
36. Leaving aside the overall picture of Pakistan and the callous and cruel injustice done to others, my own personal experience is no less sad, bitter and revealing. You used your position as the Prime Minister and leader of the Parliamentary Party to ask me to issue a statement, which I did on the 8th September last. You know that I was not willing to make a statement containing untruths and half truths, which were worse that untruths. It was not possible for me to reject your request so long as I was there working as a Minister with you and under your leadership. But I can no longer afford to carry this load of false pretensions and untruth on my conscience and I have decided to offer my resignation as your Minister, which I am hereby placing in your hands and which, I hope, you will accept without delay. You are of course at liberty to dispense with that office or dispose of it in such a manner as may suit adequately and effectively the objectives of your Islamic State.

Complete text is available here

http://wikilivres.ca/wiki/Resignation_letter_of_Jogendra_Nath_Mandal

This is something I'm very proud of - to see that despite all the handicaps that being a minority entails, they have done well for themselves and are represented in every sphere of Indian life -to the point where people barely even consider it an exception. A interesting and lesser-known fact of the 1971 war is that India had a Hindu President (Giri), a Parsi-Kashmiri PM (Indira Gandhi), a Parsi army chief (Manekshaw), a Sikh GOC East (Arora) deputy air chief (Latif) and a Jewish chief of staff (Jacob). A Muslim (Zafar Imam) would have been Chief Justice that year though his poor health forced him to retire instead. If that is not an inspiration I dunno what is.