A Growing Intolerance towards the Minorities – Fazlur Rahman
Pakistan is going through a very difficult times, facing so many challenges ___poverty, corruption, shrinking economy, ongoing political confrontation and so on…
But amidst such challenges the very serious menace is the ‘growing intolerance towards the minorities’
Being a culturally heterogenized country, Pakistan has failed to safeguard the rights of minorities ___specially the Hindus. The oppressed community has been facing many serious issues, from forceful conversion to demolishing of their holy sites. It has once again witnessed such incident in Bhang City district Rahim Yar khan Punjab, on Wednesday, where the mob attacked a Hindu temple.
A video of this tragic incident is circulating on social media in which the attackers can be seen carrying sticks and stones. They attacked the Hindu temple and smashed the deities while chanting religious slogans.
This growing hatred towards the minorities can badly degrade the country’s image in international forums.
As the PTI government highly claims to go to any extent to help the Kashmiris against the Indian atrocities, but it has failed to protect the rights of the minorities back in home. This would directly harm our wrestle for the Kashmir issue. Therefore, protecting the rights of minorities in home will portray a positive image of the country and strengthen our support for the Kashmir issue.
The founder of Pakistan, M.A. Jinnah also insisted to safeguard the rights of the minorities. In his famous speech on 11th August, 1947, Jinnah said, “Now if we want to make this great state of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor … If you change your past and work together in a spirit that every one of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.”
This reflects Jinnah’s great concerns about all the communities in Pakistan.
Instead of focusing on national harmony and unity we are pushing the country towards a chaos. Before the specter of communal violence haunt the country, the government needs to curb this havoc of growing INTOLERANCE towards the minorities. To do so, the government should legislate strict laws to protect the minority rights and the culprits should be severely punished to overcome such incidents in future. If it’s not handled, sooner or later, it will turn into a destopian nightmare for the country.