Minority Rights
Pakistan is an
immensely plural country characterized by religious, sectarian and
ethno-linguistic diversities. It is overwhelmingly dominated by Muslims,
with more than 90 percent of country’s 150 million inhabitants, adhering to
Islam; yet they belong to several sub-doctrinal groups. There are numerous
other religious-identities, such as Christians, Bahais, Buddhists, Hindus,
Jains, Kalasha, Parsis and Sikhs; who identify themselves as non-Muslim
Pakistanis.
The country has seen a
gradual decline in the status of its minority- communities. The declaration
of Ahmadies-community as a non-Muslim community in 1974 was followed by
socio-political alienation of the Christians and other minority-communities,
during the rule of General Zia-ul-Haq when he introduced separate electorate
for Muslims and non-Muslims.
Recently, the
government of General Pervaiz Musharraf, has ended the separate electorate
system for Christians and other minorities but retained it for the Ahmadies-community;
apparently bowing down to the pressure of religious organizations in
Pakistan.
The incident of
discrimination against minorities runs in thousands. The state, not only
seems to accord a tacit approval of the situation but also appears to be
strengthening the same by making such discriminations, a part of the
legislation. The State intervention in the religious affairs of its citizens
is a dangerous thing whether it is the legislation on the basis of religion
or it encroaches upon the private-lives-sphere, instead of keeping itself
secular and neutral on the religiosity of its citizens. This discriminatory
situation breeds a culture of intolerance, bigotry and extremism against
religious minorities. These laws, at a minimum, infringe on the rights of
targeted religious minorities by attempting to curtail their freedom of
expression and personal belief.
