Book Review by Dr. Mubarak Ali

Pakistan aur Aqliyatain (Pakistan and minorities)
Ahmad Saleem
Maktaba Daniyal Karachi 2000
Pages 512
Price: 300,--
  
Few years back some religious leaders blamed the minorities of Pakistan that as they did not contribute to the Pakistan movement, resultantly, they do not have any justification to demand for political rights. It is a very complicated question that who took part in the struggle for Pakistan and who did not? However, we must understand that the struggle was not a mass movement; on the other hand it was confined only to certain sections of the Muslim community that negotiated the British for political settlement. If we believe in the words of Quaid-I Azam, he said, “Pakistan was made by me and my typewriter”. However, not going into the controversy, it is noted that this accusation urged the religious minorities to find out their role in the history of the Freedom movement and also to highlight their contribution for the creation of Paksitan.Ahmad Saleem’s book “ Pakistan Aur Aqliyatain (Pakistan and the Minorities) is an attempt to refute the charges that the minorities remained passive spectators and did not play any active role during the political struggle against the colonialism.

The book has two parts: the first part deals with the political role of the minorities and the second highlights their services in the fields of education, health, and in the government departments such as civil service, judiciary and army .It also includes their contribution to art and literature and cultural activities.

It is high time to bring to light the services and contributions of the minorities because the recent political developments have made their very existence vulnerable. Generally, constitution and laws provide protection to minorities and secure their rights, but in case of Pakistan the situation is reverse. The amendments that are made in the 1973 Constitution allow the state and society to persecute the religious minorities on the basis of lawThe blasphemy law and the separate electorate system discriminate the minorities and create hindrance to play active role in society. Discrmination and not treating the minorities on the basis of equality has weakened the process of nation building in Pakistan. Recently, the annual report of Amnesty International cites number of cases in which the members of the minorities are falsely involved in different religious conflicts and now languishing in the prisons waiting for justice.

Ahmad saleem has collected useful material on the role of minorities but there is a need to analyse the impact of the discrimination policies on Pakistani societies. One of the results is that once not feeling secure, the affluent and educates members of the minorities are migrating leaving behind them poor and destitute who cannot afford to migrate and become easy victims of the hostile groups. The endless clashes disturb the harmony of the society and promote intolerance and extremism. Domination of majority and silencing the voice of minorities is generally resulted in the end of a multicultural society. Sadly, this what is happening in Pakistan?