Pakistan and India, these neighbors
got Independence in the mid August 1947. Today 55 years after the
Independence where do these two major countries of the
subcontinent stand vis-à-vis their religious minorities, is the
question which we need to answer to ensure a better and more
On August 11, 2012, a mob of over
50000, mainly Muslims, assembled in Azad Maidan to protest against
the ill treatment of Muslims in Assam and Myanmar. After some
speeches full of provocation and after display of some provocative
posters, the mob turned violent and vented its ire against the
media for not covering the plight of Assam’s Muslims displaced in
the July violence involving Bodos and Muslims. Needless to say
that in Assam violence nearly 80 people have been killed and over
4 lakh people, mostly Muslims.
Muslims-Bodos, have been displaced, right
under the nose of the ruling government. It burned few OB vans.
Mob also took on the police. Humiliated-molested women police
personnel and beat up other police personnel. While controlling
the violence the police did the firing, which lead to death of two
young men. In the whole scuffle many a police personnel also got
Now, the Raza Academy, the organizers, has issued an
apology saying the meeting was infiltrated by provocateurs. Still
the organizers cannot shun their responsibility from the whole
tragedy. The protest has always to be on democratic lines, non
violent and the speeches in meetings have to be on moderate lines,
the hate speech and inciting the mobs is not excusable on any
In the same week, there is news that
nearly 300 Hindus have crossed over to India from Pakistan.
Ostensibly they have come here for pilgrimage, but many of them
have stated that they will not go back as they don’t feel safe in
Pakistan. Most of these Hindus are from Sind and Baluchistan.
There are reports of forced abduction and conversion of Hindu
girls there and the religious minorities have to live the life of
second class citizens. The religious minorities persecuted in
Pakistan are not just Hindus; Sikhs and Christians but also Shias
Where do we find ourselves nearly
six decades down the line after we committed ourselves to
democracy and secular principles? India came into being as a
secular democratic state and even Pakistan which was formed in the
name of Islam for the Muslim majority areas of British India began
with the secular principles as enunciated in the oft quoted 11th
August 1947 speech of Qaed-e-Azam Jinnah.
In the speech he said
that the state has nothing to do with the religion, people are
free to go to their mosques, temples and churches or whatever, as
it is their personal matter. He also said that the white color in
Pakistan flag represents minorities. Still the logic of
communalism was ‘built-in’ in the whole system.
One can make a
secular speech but the social base which had resulted in formation
of Pakistan, the one of feudal elements was intact. Mere secular
speeches don’t change the social reality. The communalism caught
up in Pakistan in due course of time and in late seventies, with Zia ul Haq-Maulana Maududi duo ruling the roost, the Mullahs came
to the fore-front. The Mullah-Military complex backed up by the
United States, which had a substantial say in the affairs of
Pakistan, violated every letter and the core spirit of the speech
of Mr. Jinnah.
India with Gandhi and Nehru as the major pillars of shaping the
values of Indian national movement, were unshakable in their
commitment to secularism. Gandhi, the devout Hindu and Nehru the
atheist had the vision of a state totally committed to respecting
the people of all religious denominations, while keeping a
distance from those trying to bring in matters related to faith in
the ambit of the policies of state. Nehru while doing this
realized two major handicaps. One that, while our constitution is
secular, the society is in the grip of religiosity, so he found
this as an obstacle in full implementation of secular policies.
The second flaw he saw was that in his party, which was founded on
the grounds of secular values has been infiltrated by communal
elements. There was no one to heed to his warning, and in due
course many an actions of some Congress leaders were
indistinguishable from those of the communal elements, those
forcing the country in the direction of religious nationalism.
The health of democracy in any country has to be gauzed by the
security and equity of minorities in the country. Through the
complicated mechanisms, the influence of communal elements has
risen exponentially during last three decades in particular. The
whole trajectory of these two countries has been very different.
While in Pakistan, there was always a space for communalism to
creep in comfortably, task of communal politics became still
simpler with the country falling in to the grip of Military
dictatorships time and over again. The intervention of United
States and US policies in Afghanistan, in particular, added fuel
to the fire.
In India, the opportunism, the fallacies of electoral system,
first past the poll, the rising anxiety of sections of society,
the successful effort of communal forces to project the fear of
the small minorities to the big majority and the politics around
emotive issues like Ram Temple completed the picture.
roughly while Muslims are 13.4% in population, their percentage
amongst violence victims is 90%. Today they are standing at the
bottom of socio-economic indices. Sachar Committee has
demonstrated it beyond any shadow of doubt.
In Pakistan, the
percentage of Hindu minorities has declined over a period of time
and their security and social status is abominable. The injustices
of minorities in one country are no justification for heaping of
injustices in other country. The reactionary communalism is used
by political forces in their own ways. The communal forces in
India look at the Hindus exiling from Pakistan and the Assam
violence as the attack on Hindus. In Pakistan the atrocities on
Muslims in India give them a handle to further intimidate the
Hindus there. In response to Babri demolition, many a temples were
razed to dust in Pakistan.
All said and done there is a gross contrast between the situation
in Pakistan and India. Despite setbacks, the secular democratic
values are the foundation of Indian system, though very much
compromised in recent decades. In Pakistan on the other hand,
democracy has been a marginal value, there are efforts to root it
in Pakistan but the obstacles are immense. The common factor is
the suffering of minorities though the degree of this suffering is
very different in both these countries.
Where will all this lead us to? The
communal issue is a big brake to the social development of the
countries as a whole. The values of affirmative action for weaker
sections of society, the going an extra mile to protect them and
to bring them up in social area is what is needed.
years after coming out from the yoke of colonialism, it is time we
remember the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the
principles which guided our freedom movement.
In India there is an
urgent need to reform our electoral system to reflect our social
and political needs. Communal violence and discrimination against
minorities is an immense loss to our national ethos and humanism.
Time to check it and reaffirm in practice, those values which made
us India! And for Pakistan high time to come back to the values
outlined in the speech of Jinnah on 11th August 1947, decline in
the percentage of minorities and their exodus from Pakistan is a
great insult to the founder of Pakistan!