On 28 May 2010, two Ahmadi “places of worship” were attacked simultaneously
during Friday prayers in Lahore. As the siege went on for hours, news
channels across the board were strewn with live footage from the scene
of attack. For the first time in Pakistani history, Ahmadi community,
and the persecution they had faced since the time they were declared
non-Muslim in 1974, started being discussed openly on television. Sane
people watched the drama unfold amidst increasing horror. In the middle
of all this mayhem, a friend at a news channel overheard a colleague
begrudgingly say “its live television, so we can’t do anything about it.
But we will make sure the issue dies by tomorrow.”
It took only
two days for electronic media to shift their focus. The botched attempt
by terrorists to free the only arrested assailant from the hospital got
another day.
It happens in Pakistan. There is so much happening in
rapid succession that sometimes the harshest of news (bomb blasts and
such) have very short cycles. More blasts, target killings, political
drama, omnipotent energy/food crises take its place. Sure enough, within
two days of the 28 May attacks, the outrage and rants had found another
focus: the Gaza-bound flotilla which was intercepted by Israeli forces
and the detainment of Pakistani journalist Talat Hussain.
The uncomfortable
truth in Pakistan is that we (the general population, including the
media) don’t like to talk about minorities. Some English newspapers do
try their best to highlight the issue regularly, but considering the
overall readership, it is primarily preaching to the choir. The very
dominant Urdu press and electronic media, however, are conveniently
inflicted with the ostrich syndrome.
It’s not like we don’t
acknowledge the minorities’ existence. Sure we do. We have the white
portion on our national flag to prove it. We try (and fail) to remain on
the correct side of the fence at least where Christians are concerned.
Every media outlet carries greeting messages on their religious
celebrations; politicians make appropriate statements of solidarity. In
their subconscious it buys them enough room to ignore them for the
remaining year. But the rest of the minorities including Hindus and
Ahmadis are quite easily ignored — that is, when we are not killing
them, imprisoning them under false allegations of blasphemy to serve
personal vendetta, or disparaging them with mindless religious slurs.
Think
I’m painting the picture too dark? Here is the reality check. Last
month the Sikhs of Lahore were barred from holding an annual ceremony at
the Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh to commemorate the martyrdom of
their saint Taru Singh. The reason was that Shab-e-Barat was falling two
nights “after” the Sikh ceremony was supposed to be held and the
Gurdwara technically fell under the “courtyard” of Badshahi mosque. The
officials concerned were convinced by some local men, who according to
some media reports belonged to Jamat-ud-Dawa, and the Sikhs were asked
to postpone their ceremony. Can anyone imagine Muslims in a non-Muslim
country being asked to delay Eid Milad un Nabi?
Unfortunately this
was only one of the numerous incidents which either go unreported or
are so under reported that the purpose of “informing” the public is
lost. How many of us know that a Hindu MLA who resigned from Sindh’s
provincial assembly and migrated to India because he felt too
insecure here? Who cares about the 131 Ahmadis who flew to Thailand in
the hope to appeal to UNHCR in Bangkok for asylum and ended up spending
months in detention under horrific conditions? Who remembers Qamar David, a convict of blasphemy, who
suddenly died of a “heart attack” in a prison?
A few days ago, I
emailed the ever understanding editor of Dawn blogs that I would be
writing my next post on interfaith harmony. But when I sat down to
write, the paragraphs felt a chain of random words bouncing off the
walls of futility. I kept thinking that the people who matter in this
equation are the majority who will never read these words — or if a few
do, they will brush me off as another infidel. This majority is of the
non-English speaking class who routinely uses religious slurs as an
everyday abuse, the middle class small shop owners who put anti-Ahmadi
stickers on their counters, the rural cultivators who do not use the
utensils used by a Christian. These are the majority of this country —
mostly silent but extremely vocal and reactionary when they sense the
risk of being ousted from the circle of Islam.
This constant
paranoia of becoming infidels, of their nikahs (marriage certificates)
getting void, owing to the righteous guardians of the “Islamic fort” has
crippled their intelligence. It has deprived them of the ability for
any kind of productive discourse. The rigid definition of “virtue” with
an all-or-nothing approach has narrowed down the concept of “good”
follower of faith to a suffocating extent. This is the reason common
people shrugged off Salman Taseer’s assassination with the usual
justification clause: “What happened was wrong but Taseer himself was a
<insert vice of choice> man.” It is but one example of how
unforgiving and intolerant we really are.
That’s why you need to
excuse me if I discard two unfinished drafts extolling religious
harmony, drawing on the oft repeated speech of Jinnah to the first
constituent assembly, calling out for Pakistanis to at least acknowledge
the right to life of fellow citizens. When I reflect on how we have
taken a step back from fighting for civil rights to pleading for human
rights (of life), such posts become harder to finish.
My dread,
this almost resigned rant, comes from a position where I see things
getting worse, not just for the religious minorities, but also for those
who are in a minority owing to their dissenting voice and alternate
vision. And I’m afraid there’s not much we can do to stop it. So let’s
have a (non-alcoholic) drink to mourn the battles we are constantly
losing and reminisce about the war we have already lost.
Rest in
peace Pakistani minorities.
Published first on dawn.com (3 August 2011).
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