by Nilesh Kunwar
In June 1948, while addressing officers of the Pakistani armed forces, the country’s founder and first Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah asked them to remember that “Do not forget that the armed forces are the servants of the people. You do not make national policy; it is we, the civilians, who decide these issues and it is your duty to carry out these tasks with which you are entrusted.”
As Jinnah was no clairvoyant, it’s evident that the Pakistan army’s lust for power must have been so palpable that just within ten months of the country’s creation he could sense this unhealthy ambition taking roots within the military. This realisation must have come as a big blow to Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader) since it violated the very core values of a democracy that he was trying to introduce in Pakistan.
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Though Jinnah passed away three months later, his untimely death saved him from witnessing Pakistan degenerate into a country where the army would call the shots- through direct intervention or by propping up compliant governments through rigged elections. And the systematic destruction of Jinnah’s dream unfortunately continues unabated even today.
In 1947, Pakistan’s founder had envisioned that “in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State (Pakistan).”
He went on to add that “You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”
However, even after78 years, one finds that religious minorities in Pakistan continue to live in an environment of fear and uncertainty. A report titled “Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions in Pakistan” published just last month by Pakistan’s National Commission on Rights of the Child (NCRC) reveals the pathetic condition of children belonging to religious minorities.
This report takes note of “The worrying trend of systemic discrimination affects every part of the minority population’s daily life, especially their children. Minority children frequently face discrimination from classmates and educators in schools. They also have to deal with curricula that could reinforce negative preconceptions about their religion.”.
Two observations in the NCRC report merit special attention. One, that “Minority populations often express dissatisfaction with the compulsory study of Islamic religious education due to the absence of other options to examine their own perspectives (and) this not only infringes upon their religious freedom but also hinders their academic progress, since they are obligated to study a topic that may not align with their principles.”.
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The second revelation that “Such practices (of minority communities being subjected to religious persecution) persist despite existing legal protections because of institutional biases, public pressure, and the poor role of law enforcement agencies” is even more damning as scoffs Jinnah’s assurance to religious minorities in Pakistan that “You may belong to any religion, caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”
Seven years ago, while addressing an event in Lahore to highlight the 100-day achievements of the Punjab government, the country’s then Prime Minister Imran Khan also unveiled his plan for “Naya Pakistan” invoked Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan by announcing that his government would make sure that minorities in Pakistan feel safe. He even went on to say that “We will show the Modi government how to treat minorities…”
While it’s evident that this statement was brazenly a puerile attempt by the cricketer turned politician to embarrass his Indian counterpart, it was tantamount to an official acknowledgement of the fact that minority communities were hapless victims of institutionalised religious persecution in Pakistan.
But Khan isn’t the only Pakistani leader who took the name of the country’s founder in vain.
Five months ago, while addressing the convention of overseas Pakistanis, the country’s army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir too invoked Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan. However, instead of stressing on the positive issue of Hindus ceasing to be Hindus and Muslims ceasing to be Muslims “in the political sense as citizens of the State,” he chose to resurrect the two nation theory by reminding the audience that Muslims are “different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life.”
The newly promoted Field Marshal explained, “Our religion is different. Our customs are different. Our traditions are different. Our thoughts are different. Our ambitions are different…” While this view is factually correct- but then, which two religions are similar? Isn’t Christianity, Sikhism or for that matter any religion as different from Islam as Hinduism is?
So it’s amply clear that this Hinduphobic barb was clearly meant to incite anti-India feelings amongst Pakistanis, and it’s no coincidence that just days later, it was for the first time in the more than three-decade long history of terrorism in J&K, that tourists were specifically segregated through religious profiling by Pakistani terrorists before being brutally killed in Pahalgam. So, won’t the Field Marshal’s vitriolic utterance also ignite renewed hatred against the already beleaguered Hindu community in Pakistan?
But Rawalpindi doesn’t care.
Just a decade after Jinnah’s reminder to the army that they were “servants of the people” and not national policy makers, Field Marshal Ayub Khan ‘murdered’ democracy by seizing control of Pakistan. His successor Gen Yahya Khan plunged the country into a war with India that led to Pakistan losing its Eastern wing. Gen Zia ul Haq not only overthrew the government but also orchestrated the execution of a prime minister. He also made the costly blunder of turning Pakistan into a veritable breeding ground for fundamentalist terrorism that still endures.
Gen Pervez Musharraf compromised the country’s sovereignty by entering into a secret deal with the US allowing CIA to carry out drone attacks on Pakistani soil and embarrassed Pakistan by his Kargil intrusion misadventure. And now, Field Marshal Munir has by rigging the 2024 elections and misusing the judiciary to imprison the PTI chief just to keep him out of power pushed Pakistan into a humongous political crisis just to settle personal scores.
But Munir doesn’t seem to be concerned as his barefaced Hinduphobic outlook has worked wonders by diverting public attention from the Pakistan army’s abysmal failure to rein-in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan terrorists and Sarmachars (guerrillas) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces respectively as well as the political crisis and allied governance problems bedevilling the country.
The writing on the wall is clear- in Pakistan, religion themed anti-India tirade never goes out of fashion or loses its intensity, and as long as Rawalpindi rules the country there can be no peace between India and Pakistan. Members of the Aman ki Asha (Hope for Peace) club on both sides of the Radcliffe Line should take a serious note of this harsh reality!
Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has served in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. He is a keen ‘Kashmir-Watcher,’ and after retirement is pursuing his favourite hobby of writing for newspapers, journals and think-tanks. Views expressed above are the author’s own
Agencies
