By
Nasir Saeed
July 21,
2020
The battle
between the government and the religious groups has upset the proponents of
religious freedom and minority rights. The minorities are disheartened as the
construction of the first Hindu Temple in Islamabad has been halted after it
sparked controversy.
Picture Credit: Pixabay and ABP News
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Islamabad
High Court disposed of all the petitions, and the matter was referred to the
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for guidance on whether the Hindu Temple can
be built in Islamabad and if public funding can be used to build it. This shows
how people in power keep finding ways to escape instead of being duty-bound to
promote religious freedom and take a stand for minority rights.
Permission
to build a Temple in Islamabad was granted by the Pakistan Muslim League
(PML-N) administration in 2017. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government
has in-turn promised $1.3 funding, accompanying a vision of promoting Pakistan
and PTI’s positive and tolerant image across the globe.
However,
opposition from religious groups has highlighted the lamenting and growing
intolerance in society with its religious minorities, and Pakistan is once
again making headlines in the international media about its treatment of
minorities.
Mufti
Ziauddin of Jamia Ashrafia vehemently branded the Hindu temple’s construction
as ‘un-Islamic.’ He even issued a fatwa to claim that although it was within
Islamic values to maintain existing places of worship for religious minorities,
building new temples would amount to a bad deed. In support of Mufti Ziauddin’s
contention, Mufti Muneeb Ur Rehman further claimed that constructing a new
Hindu temple in Islamabad is against the spirit of Islam and likewise an
‘insult’ to the ‘state of Madina.’ Relentless opposition to the temple
resulting from religious groups and individuals is continuing to rise. This
situation is adding to the challenges that Imran Khan is already facing on
several fronts within and outside the country.
Imran Khan
has noble intentions toward religious minorities. He exemplified his efforts
when he reopened one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines, the 500-year-old Gurdwara
Darbar Sahib Kartarpur. But the recent conundrum that put the spotlight on
Pakistan consequently marred his noble effort to promote the country’s image in
supporting its minority groups.
Other than
the religious groups and the politicians, several individuals have uploaded
images and videos to social media showing people destroying the foundation of
the boundary wall and claiming they are performing their religious duty.
Recently a new hate song against building a Hindu temple has been uploaded on
social media. While this should have been considered a cybercrime, no one was
held legally accountable for it. Amidst all these gut punches to religious
freedom, one cannot help sensing the continually rising extremism, hatred, and
deterioration of religious tolerance.
In December
2018 addressing an event to highlight and celebrate the 100-day achievements of
the Punjab government in Lahore, the Prime Minister said that he will “show”
the Narendra Modi government “how to treat minorities”. Claiming his government
would ensure that minorities feel safe and that they are protected and have
equal rights in the ‘New Pakistan’, the Prime Minister stressed that his
government is taking steps to ensure that religious minorities within the
country get their due rights, a vision also shared by the country’s founder
Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The dilemma
that Pakistan currently faces did not happen overnight. It was birthed by
decades of individual and government actions that aimed for personal and
political gains. Sadly, each government’s steps for its political and personal
benefits veered far from the guiding principles that Quaid-i-Azam had set for
the people of Pakistan – and we have been failing him every day.
Quaid’s
vision was of a pluralistic society, where religion has nothing to do with the
business of the state and every citizen of Pakistan has equal rights and
status. This has completely died out and hatred and sectarianism have been
gripping our society for the last several decades.
There is no
doubt that Quaid-i-Azam wanted Pakistan to be a Muslim welfare state, where
minorities would have equal rights and no societal dysfunction. He did not
intend for an Islamic religious state where minorities would not have equal
citizenship status and equal rights. He was a firm believer of democracy and
Pakistan came into being through a democratic struggle, not conquered by an
Islamic army, therefore minorities cannot be treated as dhimmis. This vision
had blurred. In its place are hatred and sectarianism that have been gripping
Pakistani society like an unescapable claw for decades.
The
leadership of the minorities wholeheartedly supported Quaid I Azam in his
struggle, with Christian leadership recording their statement before the
boundary commission. In this statement, they requested that the Christian
population be counted as part of Pakistan. Christian leader S P Singha, a
former speaker of Punjab Assembly, said Muslims were the minority community of
the sub-continent at that time and that they became the majority with the
creation of Pakistan. According to S P Singha, Christians lent their support to
the Muslim league as Muslims would remember the problems faced as a minority
and would not perpetuate the same fate for other minorities. Present day
Pakistan has completely changed with the political use of Islam, heightening
religious militancy and extremism, which are posing a serious challenge to the
state of Pakistan and leading to the insecurities of the minorities.
Consequently, minorities are continuing to flee Pakistan, because they no longer
sense a blissful future in that country. The menace of extremism continues to
rise and needs to be eradicated as it has distorted Pakistan’s image globally.
Further ignorance could even put the future security of our country at stake.
There is a parliamentary democratic government system in Pakistan, which is
based on social justice, equality, and fair play – a contrast to a religious
state’s theocracy where non-Muslims live as Dhimmi who don’t have equal rights
nor allowed to build their place of worship. Article 20 of the constitution
also supports the propagation of their religious practices. Instead of paying
for Jizya, minorities pay taxes that make the government bound to use funds for
their welfare – including the construction of new worship places or the
restoration of those that already exist. Regardless of whether the temple is
built with public or private funding, Pakistan’s image is already tainted. To
avoid further humiliation globally, the Pakistan government must take crucial
efforts to address the root causes of the country’s societal dysfunction. The
young generation is the backbone of Pakistan’s future and should therefore be
exposed and moulded into a renewed and tolerant society.
To achieve
this goal, the government must remove the discriminatory and hate materials
against non-Muslims from the school and college syllabus. Only then can we
effectively stop indoctrinating harm in thoughts and actions.
Nasir
Saeed is a human rights activist
OriginalHeadline:
Construction of Hindu Temple in Islamabad
Source: The Daily Times, Pakistan
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