[DAILYTIMES.PK] The Foreign Office has rejected the report by US Commission on International Religious Freedom for being biased. It went on to say that Pakistain was a multicultural pluralistic country where people of various faiths lived together in peace and harmony. Frankly I could care less about the USCIRF’s report but I am very disappointed in our blanket bald denial of what is a fact in Pakistain.Before I outline the continuous denial of fundamental rights of religious minorities in Pakistain, let me state clearly for everyone: I am a proud Pak citizen who believes in the idea of Pakistain. Everything I have written in this newspaper and elsewhere has been with this objective: a progressive democratic and inclusive Pakistain as envisaged by Mr Jinnah, who in my opinion was the most extraordinary 20th century leader and is unquestionably my greatest hero and idol. It is because I endeavour to follow Jinnah, I cannot lie about the facts on the ground in Pakistain for honesty was the essence of the man. Pakistain today is one of the most horrible places on earth when it comes to religious freedom. When one points out this simple fact, one is confronted by the many failures of India. I am sure India is extremely horrible but we separated from India because we wanted to be better than them. The pont that India too is bad is neither here nor there. India is a badly majoritarian and caste-ist society and as such no model for us to follow or aspire to. It may have a secular constitution more or less but it is not a secular country by any stretch of imagination. So shall we please stop citing India’s examples and failings?
Discrimination against religious minorities is built into the very structure of the Constitution. Enough has been written on the fact that offices of the president and the prime minister are reserved for Moslems alone. This is a negation of the principle of equality of citizenship. Saying that the Queen of United Kingdom has to be a Protestant is not a good answer because the President of Pakistain is not the head of the Islamic Church. Yet this discrimination is only the tip of the iceberg. Discrimination permeates through our constitution and the legal system. Non-Moslems are not just second class citizens but most of them are just a level above the sub-human status. Then there are the Ahmadis, who had so valiantly supported the Pakistain Movement and suffered at the hands of religious parties because of it and who are not even given the right to profess or practise their faith in accordance with their conscience in Pakistain today. An Ahmadi in Pakistain can be locked away