A test case for justice

Zohra Yusuf

Updated Nov 17, 2014 08:15am

The writer is chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The horrifying case of the killing and burning of a young Christian couple, Shama and Sajjad, by a mob in a village in Kasur could become a test case for the government to demonstrate — for once — its commitment to the rule of law in incidents where the vulnerable are attacked.

For the first time, the state has become a petitioner in the case and appointed a minister, Kamran Michael, to be the focal person on the case.

However, we cannot hold our breath expecting justice to be miraculously delivered. Going by past instances, it is members of minority communities who are persecuted — and prosecuted — while perpetrators are set free. The administration and the judiciary are responsible for this unjust state of affairs.

Read: 50 villagers held over burning of Christian couple to death

Meanwhile, the family of Shama has already rejected the government’s decision and has decided to be plaintiffs themselves, demonstrating a lack of trust in the government.

The greatest challenge in the current situation is one of impunity. Since the addition of Sections B and C to PPC 295 (commonly known as blasphemy laws) by the government of Gen Ziaul Haq in 1986, over 60 people have been killed — either by enraged mobs or individuals (including policemen) in prisons.

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Since the killing of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, calls for the repeal of blasphemy laws have died.

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The first case to come to public attention was that of Naimat Ahmar in 1992, a 45-year-old Christian school teacher in Faisalabad who was stabbed to death by a student. According to subsequent reports, he was targeted for refusing to be transferred to another town; his position in the government school was desired by a Muslim teacher. Following wall chalking accusing Ahmar of blasphemy, a 20-year-old student, Farooq, killed him.

Since then the toll has risen. Manzoor Masih, accused of blasphemy, was killed at a bus stop in Lahore in April 1994. A deeply religious man and homeopathic doctor, Farooq, was lynched and burnt to death in Gujranwala in 1994. Samuel Masih was killed by a policeman assigned to guard him in hospital in 2003.

In April 2008, a factory worker in Karachi, Jagdish Kumar, was lynched by fellow workers. And so the list goes on.

Also read| Kot Radha Kishan: ‘There was nothing left to bury’

Whether it’s a matter of targeting an individual or a community, personal enmity or an eye on property has almost always been a factor. Shantinagar in 1997, Gojra in 2009 and Joseph Colony (Lahore), and Francis Colony (Gujranwala) in 2013 are examples where crowds have been instigated to attack entire neighbourhoods of Christians allegedly by property grabbers. In July this year, four members of the Ahmadi community were killed in Gujranwala when their home was attacked by a mob on the pretext of a member having committed blasphemy.

In all the above cases, no one was convicted. The course of ‘justice’ in each case reveals the painful reality that non-Muslims cannot place hope in either the administrative or legal system. Credibility is stretched when in each case, we are informed that the Christian community, after incurring deaths and damage to property, has ‘forgiven’ the perpetrators — the Muslim majority.

This happened in the case of Gojra when seven Christians were burnt alive and four shot dead while many homes were damaged because a Christian man had allegedly desecrated pages of the Quran. The Punjab government proudly spoke of ‘reconciliation’ achieved through its efforts. Although many homes were reconstructed, the acute sense of injustice the community continues to feel is understandable.

In the case of Joseph Colony, those arrested for destroying over 160 Christian homes were quickly released on bail with no further progress reported on their trial. The sole Christian charged, Sawan Masih, whose alleged blasphemy had been used to instigate mobs, was given the death sentence in a rare display of speedy justice.

From Shantinagar to Gojra and to Francis and Joseph colonies, the role of the Punjab police needs special investigation.

Again it stretches credibility when we see the Punjab police showing helplessness in controlling a charged mob attacking non-Muslims, while its brutality is evident when it’s a matter of dealing with protesters — whether it’s killing 14 Minhajul Quran workers in Model Town, Lahore, or raining blows on unarmed workers of OGDC in Islamabad.

It seems that elements in the Punjab police have become radicalised and this is an aspect that needs to be probed by the provincial government. The Ahmadi community has made many complaints regarding the Punjab police’s role in instigating violence against its members.

Since the killing of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in January 2011, calls for the repeal of blasphemy laws have died.

Debate itself has been stifled. Those defending the law claim that it is meant to prevent people from taking the law into their hands. However, this is precisely what the additional clauses have provoked. It must be remembered that hardly any cases of blasphemy surfaced when the punishment was milder (maximum 10 years’ imprisonment) and applied to all faiths, instead of being Islam-specific. Have people suddenly become irrational in deliberately committing blasphemy since the introduction of these clauses?

Also read: Qadri confesses killing Taseer, says he acted alone

The assassination of Taseer, followed by that of minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, demonstrated that even criticism of the blasphemy laws is being considered a blasphemy offence. The weak response of the then government to the two high-profile killings of leaders who also happened to belong to the ruling party emboldened bigots. And with the two deaths, it appears the few voices of opposition also died.

An attempt by then PPP MNA Sherry Rehman to introduce reforms was disowned by her own party.

Also read: Blasphemy case registered against Sherry Rehman: report

The stifling of criticism ensures that the pattern of persecution continues unchallenged: make an allegation against someone you have a grudge against (preferably a non-Muslim), have announcements made against the person through mosques, collect a mob and surround the person or community.

Mission accomplished and few questions asked. Let the Shama-Shahzad case restore a semblance of justice.

The writer is chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2014

An open letter to the PM

Published in Daily Times

Sir: Your Excellency,

Salaam from the entire Christian community of Mirpurkhas.

We, the Christian community of Mirpurkhas, are writing to you with great concern regarding the consequences of the Law of Blasphemy (295 B and C). Already, many innocent people — Muslims, Christians and even Hindus — have lost their lives and many others continue to suffer in prisons across the country. In the latest incident related to blasphemy, we all sorrowfully recall how Mr Shahzad Masih, his wife Shama Bibi and their unborn child were burnt alive in a brick kiln. We appreciate the arrest of some of the culprits and the compensation paid by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to the victims’ children. He has also taken up the responsibility of educating these children. These are good gestures on the part of the government but these are certainly not the solutions that we need.

We fear that more such incidents will occur. More innocent people will either lose their lives or get arrested for a crime they have not committed. We also fear that the courts will not be able to provide justice as judges and lawyers who are involved in defending blasphemy accused persons are afraid to lose their lives and, out of fear, will either not represent their clients or will let them be sentenced to death. The late Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti lost their lives just because they showed sympathy towards a blasphemy victim and also spoke against the misuse of the blasphemy laws. The government may not have hanged the charged victims but there is always the chance that we might see that unfortunate day as well or they will be killed either in their jail cell or somewhere outside.

Why is this intolerance increasing? The real reason is the misuse of the blasphemy law. As long as there exists this law, we are bound to have more and more tragic incidents like this. We all know the origin of these laws. It was the dictator Ziaul Haq who brought forward these laws and it was your government that got them passed in the Assembly, and now we are facing the music. The kind of Islam the dictator imposed on this country was only for his benefit, to control the poor masses, the marginalised and the minorities. This has made the people, especially some of the illiterate Muslims, so irrational that they kill, burn property and loot in the name of Islam, which is not actually Islam.

In London, you signed a Charter of Democracy with Benazir Bhutto. In that charter you categorically agreed that military dictatorship is wrong and undemocratic. Your document states: “Noting the most devastating and traumatic experiences that our nation experienced under military dictatorships that played havoc with the nation’s destiny and created conditions disallowing the progress of our people and the flowering of democracy.” Again the document states: “We shall not join a military regime or any military sponsored government. No party shall solicit the support of military to come into power or to dislodge a democratic government.”

Through the charter we see a development in your approach. You once served under a dictator and, after suffering the consequences from another dictator, you have realised that military rule is not favourable at all for the country. I now only request you to accept the fact that the dictator you served was also cruel. So cruel that we are still suffering from what he introduced. His policies only addressed a part of the Pakistani population. We request that you abolish all that the dictator Ziaul Haq introduced in the name of Islam, especially 295 B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code and work on policies that will benefit every Pakistani regardless of his or her creed and culture just as you and Benazir Bhutto promised in the Charter of Democracy.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Mirpurkhas

the original post available at

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/letters/26-Nov-2014/an-open-letter-to-the-pm

Grappling with sectarian intolerance

By Syed Mohammad Ali

Published: November 25, 2014

The writer is a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University

Amidst heightened security, the commemoration of Muharram this year has passed without major incidents of violence. However, sectarian violence remains a lingering problem indicative of the religious myopia plaguing our society.

Sectarian identity has become politicised as a result of both domestic and international factors. Sectarianism in Pakistan escalated due to the proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and post-revolution Iran, further fuelled by the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad, which was supported and financed by not only Saudi Arabia, but the US as well. The Pakistan government’s own ambiguous relationship with sectarian groups has further served to exacerbate the problem.

Sectarian conflicts have been growing in frequency over the past three decades, with an average of more than 1,000 people killed or injured in sectarian attacks annually between 2009 and 2013, with the Shias suffering the brunt of this violence. These figures are cited in a new special report published by the US Institute of Peace, titled “Religious Authority and the Promotion of Sectarian Tolerance in Pakistan”.

The above-mentioned report includes a survey of more than 1,500 men in Punjab and another 800 in Quetta, aiming to directly assess prospects for sectarian harmony. For this purpose, the survey asked respondent questions like “To what extent do you believe that a politician of a different sect can represent your concerns or solve the problems you and your community face?”, “To what extent do you agree with the statement that parents should not punish their children for marrying members of different sects … ?”, and “To what extent do you agree with the statement that, if violence arises between Shia and Sunni communities, you should support the other sect if your group initiated the violence?”

The survey found in both Punjab and Quetta that individuals concerned about extremist religious groups operating in society, were themselves likely to express tolerant sectarian views. Shia respondents to the survey consistently endorsed the need for tolerance more than Sunni respondents. Interestingly, Shias in both Quetta and Punjab were also more likely to express tolerant views of Ahmadis than Sunni respondents. Perhaps, the Shias’ status in Pakistan has now made them more sensitive to the dangers of sectarian intolerance.

However, this survey’s findings contradict conventional wisdom about intolerance and its relationship to educational background and economic status. High-income individuals were surprisingly less open to the idea of politicians of another sect representing their interests, and they were also less likely to hold their own sect accountable for use of violence. Moreover, attending madrassas was not found to be a predictor either, since these individuals were no more or less likely to express agreement to the above questions compared with other survey respondents.

There have been some recent positive steps taken to combat sectarianism in the country. Earlier this year, the Pakistan Ulema Council issued a statement saying that no one belonging to an Islamic sect could be declared an infidel. Some months ago, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform also hosted a roundtable conference on interfaith harmony. There have been grass-roots efforts to combat sectarian intolerance through cross-sectarian religious forums, such as the establishment of a sect-free mosque in Islamabad last year. Such initiatives are encouraging signs of attempts to actively confront sectarian intolerance, which merit recognition as well as wider replication.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.

In the name Religion

The Express Tribune

By Dr Farzana Bari

Published: November 24, 2014

The writer is a human rights activists and director of the Gender Studies Center. She tweets @drfarzanabari

The most horrifying of incidents, of a mob lynching and incinerating the bodies of a Christian couple accused of committing blasphemy, deeply shocked and saddened the nation. This was followed by another heart-breaking incident of rape and killing of a six-year-old child from the Hazara community in Quetta. In another incident, a man accused of blasphemy in prison was shot at by a prison guard, who was apparently under the ideological influence of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. In addition, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Wagah border, killing around 60 people and injuring many. Most of these crimes against humanity were committed by invoking religion as a pretext.

Therefore, it is imperative that these incidents of brutality should not be seen and condemned as isolated incidents. Such violence and vigilantism is the result of the jihadist policy that the state has followed. A radicalised mindset has been systematically created and supported in order to pursue political interests within the country and in the region. Thus, the state is equally responsible for this mob mentality and the violation of human rights in Pakistan.

We are now trapped. The monstrosity that was funded for decades is now challenging the state’s writ. Increasing intolerance in society is posing a serious existential threat to minority communities.

All such communities across Pakistan are at risk, due to increasing militancy and extremism, however, the nature of their oppression varies from area to area. They live in constant fear. Their lives and properties are often threatened. Due to growing intolerance and the inability of the government to protect them, they are often forced to leave the country. The size of the non-Muslim population at the time of independence was little over 15 per cent, which has now been reduced to just three per cent.

Forced conversions, and kidnapping of Hindu girls and marrying them to Muslim men forcibly are common in Sindh. The Hindu community faces backlash from the Muslim majority in case of any incident of discrimination that takes place in India against Muslims. The demolition of the Babri Masjid led to the burning and destruction of Hindu temples in Pakistan. The patriotism of non-Muslims is often doubted. According to Dr Ramesh Kumar, a PML-N legislator, 5,000 Hindus are migrating from Pakistan on a daily basis.

Similarly, the Christian community often comes under attack through accusations of having committed blasphemy, which leads to mob violence, not only against the accused, but the entire Christian community. Shantinagar, Gojra and Joseph Colony incidents are examples of this.

The Ahmadi community is also persecuted. Hate campaigns by extremists have been carried out through speeches and hate literature, including pamphlets, stickers, wall-chalkings. People are incited to kill Ahamdis and destroy their places of worship. They live in a constant state of fear and are not safe even in death as there have been cases of their graves being desecrated.

Such violence does not only targets non-Muslim Pakistanis. Sectarian outfits that operate under state patronage with complete impunity, like the Lashkar-e-Jahangvi, have been involved in the killings of Hazaras. Despite claiming responsibility of staging attacks on Hazaras, no action has been taken against them.

What makes Pakistan the most dangerous place for minorities is the inability and unwillingness of the state to punish the culprits. A culture of impunity exists for those engaged in mob violence, vigilantism, accusing and killing people for committing blasphemy even if they are found innocent after court proceedings. The pseudo-concern shown by the government through paying monetary compensation to the families of deceased is meaningless. It needs to take a holistic approach and institute substantive measure to stop this madness.

First of all, the state must treat all its citizens as equals, irrespective of their religious affiliation. The government should take the initiative by moving a bill in parliament to remove all constitutional provisions that discriminate against non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan. Secondly, it should encourage the Council of Islamic Ideology to work with parliament in ensuring that there is no scope left for misusing the blasphemy law. It should also ban and take stern action against all those sectarian organisations that are promoting hatred and inciting violence.

The government needs to strictly monitor sermons given in religious congregations in mosques and elsewhere, and should take firm action against those promoting violence through them. All madrassas should be under the control of the provincial education departments and ministries. Hate material against minorities should be removed from the curriculum and respect for all world religions should be promoted in our textbooks.

Currently, 1,100 cases of blasphemy are registered in the country, the majority of them against Muslims. All these cases should be decided within the next six months and those found innocent must be released. Speedy justice and severe punishment must be given to those who were involved in mob violence in Joseph Colony and in the Kot Radha Kishan incidents. This could help give a sense of security to minorities. The government must compensate the victims of mob violence and beef up security in areas where minorities reside in large numbers. If it wants to show the people in the country and abroad that it is serious in protecting the rights of minorities, it must take steps to eliminate violence perpetrated in the name of religion and institute measures to alter the radical mindset of our society.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.

the original post available at:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/796478/in-the-name-of-religion-3/

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Salam: the scientist inspired by God

Daily Times

Although Salam’s contribution to science and human development were acclaimed globally, his motherland betrayed him

• Mohammad Ahmad
• November 22, 2014
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Yesterday, November 21, was the death anniversary of Dr Abdus Salam, the first Nobel Laureate of Pakistan and a man who lived a purposeful life to explore, theorise and predict the laws of nature. Though belonging to a select group of top scientists — a category of people for whom belief in God is not in fashion — Salam believed that the laws of nature and God are in harmony. Though his beliefs were prosecuted in his country, he drew inspiration for his research from the words of God and quoted extensively from the Holy Quran in the numerous addresses he delivered the world over. The believer that he was, his rich and busy life was an endless quest for symmetry that he pursued in the physical laws of the universe created not out of some random probability but by design. 
In his address at the Nobel banquet ceremony in 1979, he stated: “The creation of physics is the shared heritage of all mankind. East and west, north and south have equally participated in it. In the Holy Book of Islam, Allah says, ‘Thou seest not, in the creation of all-Merciful any imperfection, return thy gaze, seest thou any fissure. Then return thy gaze, again and again. Thy gaze, come back to you dazzled aweary.’ This in effect is the faith of all physicists, the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze.”
Salam always wanted the developing world and the Muslim world to contribute their part in scientific development. An excerpt from his 1975 Book, Ideals and Realities, points to this agony: “It is good to recall that three centuries ago, around the year 1660, two of the greatest monuments of modern history were erected, one in the west and one in the east, St Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Between them, the two symbolise, perhaps better than words can describe, the comparative level of architectural technology, the comparative level of craftsmanship and the comparative level of affluence and sophistication the two cultures had attained at that epoch of history. But about the same time there was also created — and this time only in the west — a third monument, a monument still greater in its eventual import for humanity. This was Newton’s Principia, published in 1687. Newton’s work had no counterpart in the India of the Mughals.”
In the early 1960s, Salam proposed the setting up of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Pakistan. The proposal was rejected by Ayub Khan’s finance minister, as “an underhand attempt to set up an international five-star hotel for the entertainment of the elite of the world scientific community”! His home country threw away an invaluable opportunity that Italy seized and, in 1964, Salam founded in Trieste, Italy, the ICTP with a mandate to advance scientific expertise and skills in the developing world. 
While Salam’s prime motivation for research was, in his own words, “because of the underlying understanding it provides of the world around us of the immutable laws and of Allah’s design”, he wanted the Muslim world to contribute its share in scientific development to pay back the debt for the benefits they were deriving from the research of others. The paper titled, ‘The future of science in Islamic countries’ prepared by Salam for inclusion in a volume presented to the Islamic Summit held in Kuwait in January 1987 abounds with this desire. Salam says: “Why am I so passionately advocating our engaging in the enterprise of science and of creating scientific knowledge? This is not just because Allah has endowed us with the urge to know, this is not just because in the conditions of today this knowledge is power and science in application, the major instrument of material progress and meaningful defence; it is also that as self-respecting members of the international world community, we must discharge our responsibility and pay back our debt for the benefits we derive from the research stock of contempt for us — unspoken, but certainly there — of those who create knowledge.” 
“As I have emphasised, science is important because of the underlying understanding it provides of the world around us, of the immutable laws and of Allah’s design. It could be a vehicle of cooperation for all mankind and in particular for the Islamic nations. We owe a debt to international science, which, in all self-respect, we must discharge. As Allah has promised, He does not let the efforts of those who strive, go to waste. Let me end with the following prayer: Let no future historian record that in the 15th century of the Hijra, ‘Muslim scientific talent was there but there was a dearth of statesmen to marshal and nurture it.’” 
However deeply he felt for a scientific renaissance in the Muslim world, in stark contrast to Salam’s achievements as a scientist, he failed miserably in bringing science back to the religion he proclaimed. It was not for lack of effort. The Islamic Science Foundation, his grand scheme for scientific advancement, with an endowment of one billion dollars collected from oil-rich countries, came to nothing after he was banned from ever setting foot in Saudi Arabia. Kuwait and Iran did give some money to support their scientists at the ICTP, the institute he had founded for training physicists from developing countries, but it was trivial. The grand promises by kings, princes and emirs remained unkept. Yet, whatever he could do he did and donated his entire Nobel prize money towards establishing a fund for Pakistani students of science to pursue higher studies abroad. 
Sadly, though Pakistan is blessed with scientific talent, the statesmen who could marshal and nurture it are absent. Our emphasis on education was reflected in the 2013-14 budgetary allocation at a skimpy 1.9 percent of our GDP. 
Although Salam’s contribution to science and human development were acclaimed globally, his motherland betrayed him by not publicly acknowledging his unmatched contributions towards the development of science and the strategic weapons programme of Pakistan. Not many know that he was instrumental in setting up the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) and the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and was a board member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) for a long time. Few among those receiving higher education in sciences in Pakistan know that Salam was instrumental in sending about 500 Pakistani scientists and engineers to the best universities in the west for higher education in nuclear science and technology. These very men were to later become the backbone of the programme. Few know that, in December 1972, he helped in the setting up of a theoretical physics group in the PAEC when two theoretical physicists, Dr Riazuddin and Dr Masud, then working at the ICTP in Italy, were sent to Pakistan and asked to meet Munir Ahmad Khan who had that very year become the chairman of the PAEC. This theoretical physics group developed the designs for Pakistan’s strategic weapons. The tragedy of this maltreatment is unique: there is disquiet and perhaps even fear in accepting him as the national hero that he is. He, being an Ahmedi, was always marked as tabooed. Yet Salam kept loving his motherland. People wonder why he kept on working for Pakistan’s interests despite the mistreatment meted out to him and his faith. The answer lies in his love for God and his commitment to the saying of the Holy Prophet (PBUH): “Love for the country is part of faith.” 
Pakistanis are not thankless people. One day, when the mist of propaganda clears, we will remember him as he deserves to be remembered.  


The writer can be reached at thelogicalguy@yahoo.com 

Hindu sites need protection!

1,400 Hindus sites in dire need to Governmental protection, says Pakistan Hindu Council

Karachi / Islamabad (Nov 22, 2014): Patron-in-chief of Pakistan Hindu Council and Member National Assembly, Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, has strongly condemned the torching of Hanuman temple in Tando Mohammad Khan, a small city located at 40 kilometer distance from Hyderabad, Sindh. According to a statement issued on Saturday, Pakistan Hindu Council requested Government of Pakistan for the provision of security of Hindu worship places at national level, adding that around 1,400 Hindus religious sites across the country were in dire need to be protected by the Government.

Dr Ramesh also regretted the burning of Holy Books Geeta and Ramayan during the tragic incident. He emphasized that if the Supreme Court Orders regarding protection of Minorities Rights was strongly implemented then such incidents could be avoided. He further questioned that why innocent minorities were left at the mercy of anarchists.

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ملک بھر کو 1400 ہندو مندروں کو فوری طور پر سرکاری سیکیورٹی فراہم کی جائے، پاکستان ہندوکونسل کا حکومتِ پاکستان سے مطالبہ، سپریم کورٹ کے احکامات برائے تحفظِ حقوق اقلیتوں پر عملدرآمد نہ ہونا تشویشناک ہے، ڈاکٹر رمیش کمار ونکوانی کا ٹنڈو محمد خان میں ہنومان مندر نظرِ آتش کیے جانے پر غم و غصے کا اظہار

کراچی /اسلام آباد (22نومبر2014): پاکستان ہندو کونسل کے سرپرست اعلیٰ اور ممبر قومی اسمبلی ڈاکٹر رمیش کمار ونکوانی نے ٹنڈو محمد خان میں ہنومان مندر نظرآتش کیے جانے پر سخت غم و غصے کا اظہار کرتے ہوئے حکومتِ پاکستان سے ملک بھر میں مذہبی مقامات بالخصوص اقلیتی عبادت گاہوں کو سرکاری سطع پر سیکیورٹی فراہم کرنے کا مطالبہ کیا ہے۔ڈاکٹر رمیش نے اپنے بیان میں سندھ کے شہر حیدرآباد سے چالیس کلومیٹر کے فاصلے پر واقعے ٹنڈومحمد خان شہر میں واقع ہندو مندر کو نظرآتش کیے جانے کی وجہ سے دومقدس مورتیاں اور مذہبی کتابیں گیتا اور رامائن جلائے جانے پر افسوس کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ اگر سپریم کورٹ کے تحفظِ حقوق اقلیتوں کے حوالے سے جاری کردہ احکامات پر عملدرآمد پر کیا جائے تو ایسے افسوسناک واقعات سے بچاجاسکتا ہے۔ انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ جب ملک بھر کے مقدس مقامات ومذہبی تقریبات کو سرکاری سطع پر تحفظ حاصل ہے تو نہتے مظلوم ہندوؤں کو کیونکر شرپسندوں کے رحم و کرم پر چھوڑ دیا گیا ہے، پاکستان ہندوکونسل کے مطابق ملک بھر میں لگ بھگ چودہ سو مندروں کو فوری طور پر سیکورٹی مہیا کیے جانے کی اشد ضرورت ہے۔ 

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For further details, please contact:

Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, MNA

Patron-in-Chief, Pakistan Hindu Council
0333-2277370

Honouring a women’s rights activist

By Carol Khan

Published: November 21, 2014

The writer is a Peshawar-based writer and contributing editor at OK! Pakistan

With Malala Yousufzai’s global popularity before and after her Nobel win, it seems that the international media has left behind countless Pakistani women, who paved the way for Malala’s brave will. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting Khawar Mumtaz, herself a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2006, in her office at the National Commission on the Status of Women located in a leafy district of Islamabad. Mumtaz serves as the chairperson of this organisation. She was dressed in a full-sleeved shalwar kameez in red, tan and blue print, with a white embroidered dupatta draped across her shoulders. Her jewellery — silver and gold rings and turquoise bangles on her left wrist — was neither ostentatious nor modest, but elegant. To her left, near the window, hung a framed image of Benazir Bhutto peering skywards in front of clouds of rising smoke. In an age where the English-speaking media is so often focused on a few select stories, it seems prudent to remember the youth of a pioneering Pakistani women’s rights activist like Mumtaz.

Mumtaz was the first born to her Indian parents. Like many Muslim families now in Pakistan, hers relocated to the country as a toddler shortly after independence in 1947. She has a younger sister as well as two younger brothers. Her father was a banker, so her family moved around all over Pakistan whilst she was growing up as he was opening new branches of his bank in different towns. In retrospect, she finds it great to have lived in different places in all the provinces. She eventually lived in Karachi, where she finished high school, and then Lahore, where she established her own family of three children and now three grandchildren.

Her immediate family is rather bohemian and her maternal grandfather was an Urdu poet. Her husband, Kamil Khan Mumtaz is an architect, who was trained in London during the 1960s and today works in Lahore. Mumtaz’s youngest son, Murad Khan Mumtaz, lives in the state of Virginia where he reads for a PhD and is a miniaturist painter with a New York gallery. Her sister did her PhD in Canada and lives in Karachi where she works with the Aga Khan Medical University in the community health sciences department. One of her brothers is a pilot in the Pakistani Air Force.

As a child and teenager, Mumtaz was very active and into sports. She coordinated team sports such as netball and softball and her sister made many records at district level. She always wanted to sing and swim, but could never really get into these activities because she was too self-conscious as a youngster. She jokingly claimed that the Mediterranean was the only place she could swim. As a teenager, she would have loved to learn dancing, but her father didn’t approve. She remembers that she couldn’t even think of asking his permission in this regard since her father came from a highly conservative family.

Although her mother’s family was more tapped into their creative side, both her mother and father came from the same stock, as it used to be in those days for marriage. Both sides of her family migrated to Pakistan from north India. From her father’s side, Mumtaz was the first woman to go to university, where she shone as a discus thrower following on from her athletic childhood. Apart from sports, she led a very linear academic path in which she studied international relations and specialised in the French language. Mumtaz later also held a French teaching position.

Soon after she did her Master’s, she got married and moved to Lahore. She did not move to Islamabad until she took up the government post of chairperson at the National Commission on the Status of Women in January 2013. In Lahore, she worked as a teacher, researcher and journalist. She was assistant editor of Viewpoint when founder Mazhar Ali Khan was the editor-in-chief and began writing columns for the Herald in 1981. She remembered that theViewpoint office in Lahore was practically a shed at the time. Mumtaz researched for 10 years starting from the 1970s until 1983 at the Centre for South Asian Studies where she focused on foreign policy and India-Pakistan relations.

Mumtaz became a founding member of the working committee of the Women’s Action Forum, also in 1981, during General Ziaul Haq’s military rule, in which she and other women began to challenge gender discriminatory laws for the first time in Pakistani history. Mumtaz and other courageous women like her paved the way for young women like Malala to begin to question authoritative Pakistani legislation and cultural norms. Mumtaz has dedicated more than three decades of her life to fighting for greater women’s rights in Pakistan, which the millennial generation and the media should not forget.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.

Dr Abdus Salam and Faiz

MELBOURNE: Two of Pakistan’s greatest men passed away in November, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Dr Abdus Salam, on November 20 and November 21, respectively. Both were born in British India, and both rose to unprecedented heights in their own fields. Faiz was a social scientist, a poet, an ideologue and a humanist.

Dr Abdus Salam, on the other hand, was a man of unmatched intelligence and a dedicated scientist with a vision to serve mankind. His vision is manifested in his greatest work — the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy. The centre is probably the only one of its kind, providing great opportunities to scientists from the Third World to master their skills in physics. Dr Salam’s name is like a shining star on the horizon of high science. An idealist to the core, he exploited his talents but always kept his values and culture close to his heart, never shedding off his identity as a Pakistani, even though Pakistan disowned him.

The greatest exhibition of this was when he went to Sweden to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in a sherwani and turban. Pioneers set standards, break psychological barriers, pave the way to success for the rest and leave an indelible mark on the face of history. Dr Abdus Salam surely did all of that.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz, in the same vein, stood up for the common man. A great icon of progressive moment in Urdu literature, he liberated Urdu poetry from classical taboos and spoke on the issues that affected the lives of ordinary Pakistanis. His treatise on the foundations of Pakistan, written in the late 1960s, was a great response to the establishment’s forgery in the name of Pakistan’s ideology. Professor Abdus Salam and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were forced to leave their homeland, but both kept their Pakistani citizenship, both won the most of coveted prizes, like the Nobel and Lenin prize, and both, unfortunately, are not given the kind of universal acclaim in their homelands that they deserve and should have been accorded, both during their lifetimes and after their passing away.

Malik Atif Mahmood Majoka

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.

Save minorities, save Pakistan

Daily Times

Punishment against those involved in vigilantism and mob behaviour against minorities has to be in place. Today, if minorities are being targeted, tomorrow there will be targeting based on political beliefs or financial status

• Hussain Nadim
• November 21, 2014
• Comment

 

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“I went to the west and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I went back to the East and saw Muslims but no Islam.” The unfortunate part of Muhammad Abduh’s 18th century observation of the Islamic world is that it holds the exact (if not more) value today in the Muslim world than it did when he first felt such a dichotomy. The curse of colonisation, or the abuse of religion by its guardians — depending upon whom you talk to — is something for which the answer varies. The fact, however, does not change that every day, more minority members suffer and even more minority members take asylum in foreign countries. 
To deal with the minority issue we have to anchor our efforts in the community that suffers the worst form of persecution so that there is a bottom up rights movement. We may refer to the African-American community that faced the worst kind of discrimination in the US but became a domino that brought the civil rights movement to other marginalised groups. 
The general public in Pakistan may have sympathy for minorities but when it comes to the Ahmedi community, our human sympathy tends to fizzle out. It does not matter what level of education or profession one may belong to, the rights of Ahmedis is an issue that even military dictators and so-called revolutionary leaders who talk about “change” and “insaaf” (justice) fall short of discussing. Recently in parliament the question of Ahmedis popped up in relation to the religion section in the passport. The newer and younger parliamentarians, it is reported, tried to argue on the purpose of this section in the passport but were told by the senior lot to remain silent on the subject because “nothing” could be done. As one of the senior MNAs suggested, “While we might not be able to change the status of Ahmedis or other minorities in Pakistan and stop the persecution, we do silently safeguard in our capacity their rights.” 
What may surprise many readers is that whatever little rights Ahmedis or other minorities do have at the moment in Pakistan is because within the upper echelons of the political leadership, civil bureaucracy and the military establishment, sectarianism and anti-Ahmedi sentiment do not wholly prevail. Barely, if ever, have Ahmedis in the police force or bureaucracy faced religious discrimination. Understanding of the Ahmedi question and minority rights is well grounded and debated by intellectuals but what really is the way forward? 
Unfortunately, we have two Pakistans here when it comes to the minority issue: a passive Pakistan that silently observes persecution against minorities and does not do anything, and then there is the active Pakistan that will take the law into its own hands against minorities. 
A two-pronged strategy is thus needed to counter both the passive and active persecution of minorities in the country. As a starter, given the repeated attacks on minorities in Pakistan, a strong and continuous internal (within the party, government and parliament) and external (public at large) communication against minority persecution from a political leader like Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has the muscle within the right conservative block, can be extremely effective. 
Secondly, punishment against those involved in vigilantism and mob behaviour against minorities has to be in place. Today, if minorities are being targeted, tomorrow there will be targeting based on political beliefs or financial status. It does not end anywhere and has to be stopped in its initial stages. 
Third, and most important, is to reform and centralise Friday sermons in mosques. While most of the mosques may not preach hate, there are several that do openly call for the extinction of minorities from Pakistan. Friday sermons must be regulated and monitored, the way it is done in the Middle East. This move will serve to empower the government and it can use the Friday sermons for the purpose of extending its development discourse. 
Lastly, strong legislation and action against any sort of hate speech — political, religious or whatever — must be in place. The recent wave of dharnas (sit-ins) in Pakistan has set a wrong precedent that anyone can defame or malign anyone else using hate speech, and in the process radicalise our massive youth. We must realise that this persecution will not end at minorities. We will be the next targets when there will be no more minorities left. Better end it now or fight against it in our streets and colonies in years to come. 
Delivering on minority rights is not rocket science. What is needed is a strong leader who has clarity on the significance of this issue for the survival of Pakistan. A third world middle-income country that can develop a nuclear bomb, I am certain, has the capacity to protect its own citizens. 


The writer is a freelance columnist 

The original post available at: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/21-Nov-2014/save-minorities-save-pakistan