NATIONAL Minorities Day, Aug 11, draws its name from the Quaid’s famous speech on this day back in 1947, in which he forcefully made the case for a secular state. Addressing the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, he vowed that every citizen of the new nation would be able to freely practise his religion; “… that has nothing to do with the business of the state”. But Pakistan has come a long way since then, reversing the pledges it had made to its minority communities in those hopeful, heady days. Now, Aug 11 is largely an occasion for regurgitating platitudes and putting on a tableau of hollow gestures for non-Muslim communities in Pakistan. Consider that on Friday, at the Aiwan-i-Sadr, President Arif Alvi addressed representatives of non-Muslim communities and cut a cake at a ceremony to mark National Minorities Day. Ironically, none of the guests — howsoever accomplished — can aspire to Mr Alvi’s office, the highest in the land, nor even to the second highest, that of prime minister. The Constitution allows only Muslims to attain these positions, which means that the fundamental law of the land reduces them to second-class citizens in one fell swoop, and makes their faith very much “the business of the state”. At a rally in Islamabad on Aug 11, the Minorities Alliance demanded increased political empowerment for non-Muslims, including more seats in national and provincial legislatures, as well as constitutional amendments removing the bar on them from becoming PM or president.

The grievances of minority communities are well-founded. Time and again, instead of proactive measures to uphold their right to religious freedom, they have been offered tokenism and empty promises. Under pressure from right-wing clerics, who cannot explain why those who convert to the majority faith are nearly always minor girls or women of marriageable age, legislators have more than once rejected a much-needed law to stop forced conversions and put in place procedural delays against impulsive conversions. Law enforcers have themselves been found involved in the destruction of places of worship of a minority community, part of a drive to intensify persecution against it. When the state becomes party to religious discrimination, the social fabric begins to fray, making it easier for malign elements to exploit divisions. Let alone a celebration of diversity, even tolerance is in short supply in Pakistan today.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2023