Rewriting History II-The Religious Minorities
Identity Politics and Minorities in Pakistan
Rasul Bakhsh Rais*
The political question of the majority versus the minority becomes salient and troublesome even in a society with a single dominant religion. This issue is a great divisive force in a country, where religion is the source of political legitimacy or the basis of a state’s identity. Religion may turn out to be a dangerous political weapon when majority religious communities attempt to shape culture, social institutions or the state itself, according to their specific belief system.
It was not without some learning from history of bitter religious feuds that the neutrality of the state became the central element of theorizing about the modern nation state. “But in some states, such as Pakistan, the role of religion is not a settled issue which greatly impacts the statecraft, the status and rights of minorities, and the larger question of internal peace and security” (National Observer-Australia and World Affairs, Sept. 07). Controversy about the role of Islam in politics continues to trouble the political landscape of the country.
This central argument of the proposed paper is that the common political strands of identity politics, state formation processes, and Islamic radicalism have caused the marginalization of religious minorities, sectarianism among Muslims sects and contributed to a wider problem of structured intolerance at the social level. The paper will focus on construction of identity politics and how it has marginalized the minorities, creation of new religious minority (Ahmadis) through a parliamentary act, issuance of separate electorates and political otherness, blasphemy laws and their impact on minorities and a bigger issue of religious intolerance.
Reference:
National Observer-Australia and World Affairs (Sept. 2007),‘Pakistan: Islam, Radicalism and the Army,’:
http://goliath.ecnext.com
The abstract is extracted from author’s earlier paper, published under the title, “Islamic Radicalism and Minorities in Pakistan”. The paper can be viewed at following the link below:
http://www.apcss.org
* Mr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais is a Professor of Political Science, at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.
Revisiting the Religious Minorities of Pakistan
Ahmad Salim*
This paper will highlight and analyze the following questions: How does Islam view the concept of nation-state and what is the role of Non-Muslims in an Islamic state of Pakistan? What are the moral grounds for or against constitutional and governance issues of non-Muslims in Pakistan? Perhaps this particular effort will not only answer all these questions but the points that follow will eventually discuss the discriminatory policies against the non-Muslims in Pakistan with reference to governance, political participation and equitable constitutional issues, non-implementation of policies, social hatred and biases. I will also discuss the Islamic perspective regarding the role and rights of religious minorities, highlighting the constitutional safeguards and issues of social, economic and political participation. The challenges and prospects of inter-faith dialogue in Islamic Republic of Pakistan will also be taken into consideration.
The paper is based on the following primary sources:
- Archival records (published and unpublished) of religious minorities (Christians, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Bahais and Buddhists).
- Oral accounts recorded from the above-mentioned communities during July 2006 – September 2008 on their political struggle and contributions to the Pakistani Society.
* Ahmad Salim is a poet, journalist, researcher and keeper of public records. He works at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute as Senior Research Associate.
Managing Christian-Muslim Relations in Pakistani Setting
Mehboob Sada*
Although Pakistan’s founding father envisioned an enlightened Muslim state with equality among all citizens, yet the state has been increasingly Islamised at the expense of non-Muslim minorities. There are moderate streams of Islam active within Pakistan but 'Islamist' or 'extreme Islam' has gained influence within society and at the political level. This has deteriorated the situation to the extent where managing minority-majority, specifically Muslim-Christian, relations has become a delicate task.
A gradual attrition of minority rights in Pakistani law has weakened the status of non-Muslims socially, legally, and economically. Christians and other non-Muslims suffer serious inequalities in Pakistani society. Harassment of individuals is not uncommon while instances of violence against churches, other Christian organizations and communities continue to occur.
The attitude of the government, hate elements among minority and majority groups, and their representatives have further widened this gulf. The need of the time is to devise a strong strategy to develop an understanding between Christian and Muslim communities.
The main objectives of this paper is to identify and highlight the main issues and challenges vis-à-vis Christian-Muslim relations in Pakistan; and, to probe the prospects of peace and harmony between the two communities.
Expected findings and recommendations
The author stresses the need for a dialogue between not only the Muslim and Christian communities but also among other religious communities. The author refers to Islam as a pluralistic religion that considers dialogue legitimate. However, Muslims and Christians are not effectively participating in addressing different problems like extremism, mistrust, misconceptions, weaknesses, lack of proper representation and authority. These problems can be addressed within the framework comprising of tolerance, respect, sincere preparedness and loyalty to the faith. The success of interfaith dialogue depends much on its agenda. The agreement of participants on common points of agenda such as universal truth, trans-culture values and spiritual satisfaction can be helpful in achieving the goals for which interfaith dialogue has been initiated.
The author will be consulting the archival records of Christian Study Centre; and, the findings of various interfaith workshops and round-tables meetings.
* Mahboob Sada is a poet, creative writer and a human rights activist. Has been teaching at the secondary level. Presently he is Director of Christian Study Centre, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
|
