REHMANI ASHFAQ
mediamanfrompk@gmail.com
The PPP government had declared August 11 as Minorities Day in 2009 through the
efforts of the then minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was assassinated in
the country’s capital in 2011. The day signifies Quaid-e-Azam’s speech to the
Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, in which he said: “You may belong to
any religion, caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the
State.” Pakistan was established as a secular republic at the inception of its
nationhood in 1947. Since 1947, Pakistan has become more and more entrenched in
purist Islamic thought that revolves around the theo-political jurisprudence of
Sharia law. The present government (PML-N) did not seem to be in the mood to
celebrate the Minorities Day. On the other hand, the biggest Christian
country’s head, the US second time elected President Barack Obama, arranged an
iftar party in the White House this year and had proudly announced to support
Muslims all over the world. However, Information Minister Parvez Rasheed
(giving a lame excuse) said that the Day would fall during the Eid holidays.
Though Pakistan is going through a testing time but minorities are on our priority
list, he added.
In the wake of the present
critical situation, a criminal silence and nonchalant attitude of the Christian
leadership in the country are very alarming. Pakistani Christians express their
deep concern for the continuation of peace and harmony, not only in Pakistan
but also in the rest of the world. There have been many wake-up calls but the
Pakistani Christian politicians/religious leaders have gone into a long snooze.
The cases of Bishop John Joseph, Shantinagar, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Aasia Bibi
and Rimsha Masih are some examples of the Christian leaders’ callousness.
During the past week, there are
some invitations from different active Christian political/religious groups
celebrating this day. Some called it Minorities Day, others Equality Day, while
still others called it a black day. These leaders have declared the day
according to their own mindset, thinking of themselves as community leaders. On
the day, those leaders spent huge amounts of money for their vested interests.
It is pathetic that when these so-called leaders are requested to support a
needy person, they will not go for it and rather just present a list of
excuses.
The role of the clergy in the
development sector has left a question mark. Evangelical churches and bishops
are involved in land grabbing. These black sheep must be marked
Some local Christian politicians,
civil rights champions and religious leaders have been making money on the
pretext of safeguarding minority rights, but these financial resources are
being used in getting positions in other political parties and for their vested
interest rather than spending those funds for achieving Christian prosperity
and unity. Some of them, as Christian representatives, have been a part of the
Assembly that approved the blasphemy law and they kept quiet at that time. Now,
we have a few Christian political parties registered to contest general
elections but which have no contact with the Christian community at the
grassroots level. They have not shown any seriousness in guarding Christians’
rights and are rather busy in making deals with major Muslim parties.
Christians are a small minority in Pakistan but
their suffering is tremendous. I have been working actively for a democratic,
tolerant and progressive social order and for socio-economic and political
rights for religious-minorities.
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