In his maiden speech following the independence of Pakistan whose architect he was, Mohd. Ali Jinha made one very great and important statement which reads as: “Henceforth every Pakistani in this country will be identified as a Pakistani citizen and not as Pakistani Muslim or Pakistaani Hindu or Pakistani Christian”. This means religious tag will not be affixed to any Pakistani citizen. This further means there will not be discrimination in Pakistan on the basis of one’s religion.
What is happening now in Pakistan is sickening. The latest news of demolition of a Hindu Temple in Karachi is not a good sign and it is just an antithesis of what Jinnah said. When Ayodhya Muslim Masjid was demolished by the Hindu zealots 20 years back, the secularism of India was also demolished and in Pakistan there were more vociferous voices against this demolition. But demolition of Hindu Temple in Karachi put Pakistan into shame just as Ayodhya Masjid demolition put India into shame.
In Pakistan minorities are not safe, Christians are also facing lot of persecution and unnecessarily made victims of blasphemy laws. For being Christians they are humiliated and denied certain privileges. In order to humiliate Christians Gen. Zia’s government selected one Christian hangman named Tara Mashie to tighten the noose around the neck of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 33 years back.
According to Islam a Muslim is not a Muslim unless he believes in all the prophets including Moses, Abraham, Noah and Jesus Christ. Islam accepts Jesus Christ as one of the Prophets. If this is the case then according to the logic, Muslim should also accept Christians as the followers of the religion of Jesus Christ. Harassing Christians and discriminating against them is going against the teaching and belief of Islam. It is a sort of Apartheid practiced by the Jews in Israel against Arabs. Just as Jews feel they are superior to Arabs comprising Muslims and Christians in Israel the same way it is happening officially in Pakistan and clandestinely in India. Because of such discriminations Apartheid regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia failed and collapsed. Similarly India, Pakistan and Israel will also fail and collapse as nations because their structures as nations are collapsing due to religious strife there internally.
All the religious communities are having in its fold innumerable persons males and females, they are all children of ONE SAME GOD. By practicing discrimination against them on the basis of their religious belief is wrong and offence to God. If we believe in one God then we should treat every human being as our brother and sister irrespective of his religious affiliation.
According to me no one can say only his religion is a right religion to attain Heavenly bliss. For this reasons we must have religious tolerance in our societies and not intolerance. Then only we can have peace in our midst. The countries that practices religious discriminations sooner or later will just disappear from this planet as God's punishment. And that punishment is not very far. Which are these countries? Only time will tell.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
