Let’s start with the speech of Quaid-i-Azam of 11th August 1947, just 3 days before the inception of Pakistan. He stated, “You are free; you are free to go to your temples; free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in the state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” This speech continued to be heard on radio Pakistan till 1957 and since then it has been never heard again. This wonders whether it was done intentionally or not.
Let’s leave this topic for a while and let’s talk about 3 iconic personalities of Pakistan’s history whom I consider highly important to be discussed otherwise our history is incomplete. They are Dewan Bahadur SP Singha, Cecil Chaudhry, and Fazal Elahi. These three personalities voted in favor of Pakistan at the time of the creation of Pakistan and helped Pakistan establish as a new state. I have read several books on the History of Pakistan starting from 712 (invasion of Sindh by Mohammad Bin Qasim) to hitherto. The irony is that a limited number of Muslim writers have mentioned their names while mostly Christian writers have mentioned their names in their books about the history of creation of Pakistan which is very despondent for Christians.
Now let’s talk in the realm of the Constitution of Pakistan. As enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan in Article 20 which provides for freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions, Article 25 which provides for Equality of Citizens, Article 26 which provides for Non-discrimination in respect of access to public places, Article 27 which provides for safeguard against discrimination in services, and Article 30 which provides for the protection of minorities and which is the most crucial one in the aforementioned provisions. Sorry to say but all these provisions are grossly neglected and contravened by government and majority here as well.
Let’s move on to the next fiasco which is the current plight of Christian minorities in Pakistan right now. This failure is on account of the government ensuring these provisions to be implemented properly. We are not allowed to profess religion, cannot manage religious institutions, we are not deemed equal citizens, discriminated in respect of access to public places, we are not provided a safeguard against discrimination in services, we are not protected either by the Constitution and the government which I will mention later how. I have myriad of references of different cases in which Christians are persecuted on grounds of their belief, color, religion, etc. but I will mention the most recent most that one of my friends has encountered a few days back.
My friend was having a debate with someone on a very sensitive matter. As they proceeded further, they arrived at a stage where his counter-part intimidated him of an accusation of blasphemy. That person threatened my friend that he will accuse him of blasphemy to get personal vendetta. Worth mentioning here that, that piece of conversation they were having was on texting. My friend while telling his tale to me said that I was wise enough that I responded ingeniously. He replied to him that you, yourself have given me the proof that you will indict me for blasphemy; I have taken the screenshot of your conversation. He said, he has implored twice to National Response Centre for Cyber Crime or Cyber Security Wing but they didn’t pay due heed to his dilemma which is very egregious. Is blasphemy law only for minorities that anyone can misapply whenever they want? Is there no penalty for those who exploit this law only to irritate others or to get personal vengeance? Let me mention one thing here that we are not vulnerable to terrorism, India, or any other threat but from such people who use unfair means to get revenge such as misusing such laws.
This takes me to the next point which is contemptuous remarks about Christians. Recently I saw a snapshot of a tweet in which a @bae_zaar named man had written, “I have a joke about Christians but they’re busy cleaning gutters.” That post compelled me to wonder what we (Christians) have done to them? Why they hate us so much? Why they mortify us? We have done nothing wrong with them in fact; we never pried into anyone’s life. I have had shared this picture on my Facebook with some explanation that what Christians have done for this country. Another misery is that majority here blatantly utters derogatory remarks about Christianity and the Holy Bible. Which law has been made in this regard? What punishments are there for such actions? Or majority here are permissible to demean Christian minorities by ridiculing our people, our religion, our Holy Books? But, if a Christian says something about Islam or the Quran, he is subjected to blasphemy. Great! Moreover, we are not even given a chance to prove our innocence, rather killed by fanatics before that.
I would like to cite one very crucial point here, pertaining to Asia Bibi’s case. At first, I will denounce this decision. Why, because she spent 8 years of her life in prison, away from her husband, children, parents for a crime which she never had had committed. What punishments does our court have for those who accused her of a phony case? Those people are happily moving around without losing a single penny but Asia Bibi’s life has been ruined. In fact, those who stood up in defense of her were assassinated – Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti. Well, when she was acquitted in October 2018 on the basis that there were insufficient shreds of evidence to prove her culpable, countrywide demonstrations started to erupt. The important thing is that people started demonstrations – demanding her execution for such a sin which she never had had committed, instead of being happy that she hasn’t committed blasphemy. This compels me to think, a Christian would have to die if someone just accuses him of blasphemy whether that person provides evidence or not. Again, Great! What an extremist mindset.
Most recently, a 14-year-old Christian girl, Maria Shahbaz, was abducted in April 2020 from near her residence in the city of Faisalabad and allegedly forcefully converted to Islam. Lahore High Court ruled in favor of abductor and stated that she had willingly converted and held that Maria Shahbaz must stay married to alleged abductor, Mohammad Naqash. I can make you count thousands of such videos in which a renowned clergyman allegedly have overtly and confidently labeled Christians as Kafir. In one video this particular clergyman was telling a story that one day Christians came to the court of Omar (R.A.), the second Caliph of Islam, to seek justice. Omar (R.A.) announced his decision saying, ‘get lost you Christians’. In the court of Omar (R.A.), there are rights for animals but not for Christians. They are the ones sowing seeds of hatred among youth for other people and religions. This also forces me to wonder, do they really know their religion or teachings of Islam? As far as I know, no religion teaches odium for other religions. But the situation is different here.
The government has long been narrating that minorities here are being given equal rights but I will burst this myth too. I would suggest them to visit slum areas of Islamabad where Christians are living a miserable life. Forget about other areas. Even in our capital, Christians are living a third-class life. For example, in G8/1, Hansa Colony, Christians are not demanding something very expensive like a house, etc. they are just demanding construction of a bridge over the Nullah Lai which they consider would be a huge breakthrough. A bridge has already been constructed there but its condition is very dilapidated. It can fall anytime and will result in injuries to people. Apart from these, when the government announces posts for a job, it lucidly mentions that Christians are required for sweepers. If this is written on the basis that Christians are mostly uneducated, then the majority here is way beyond in numbers because Christians here are only 2%. These are some examples of Christian’s miserable plight in Pakistan.
I urge the government to have some consideration of Blasphemy law. The government should make some provision in this regard to obviate its misapplication so that innocent people can live fearlessly and independently. Only sympathetic rhetoric will do nothing. The government needs to make a stern policy in case of a misapplication of such laws. Christians are prone to such illicit allegations that anyone, anywhere, anytime can accuse them of blasphemy. This is the utmost injustice. We (Christians) demand security of our faith, belief, and life.