Author: Khalid Duran
Publication: The Washington
Times
Date: November 11, 2000
Few Americans are aware
that Pakistan today resembles rogue states such as Iran and Sudan in terms
of brutal treatment of its minorities. Some U.S. decision-makers
still pin hopes on Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who took control of Pakistan
last year. But Gen. Musharraf does little to convince the world of
his sincerity in wishing to change things.
This became evident at
a recent hearing in Washington on religious freedom in South Asia, which
revealed a dismal picture. Even Muslim sects are the object of severe
persecution by extremists who can count on the connivance of the state
authorities.
Among the various religious
groups in Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims rank highest in education. One
member of this little sect, Zafrullah Khan, became foreign minister of
Pakistan, president of the U.N. General Assembly, and later president
of the International Court of Justice. Envious fundamentalists repeatedly
instigated riots against the Ahmadis, and in 1974 the sect was expelled
from Islam, though many Islamic scholars insist that their religion does
not know such a thing as excommunication.
Fundamentalists declared
Ahmadis as apostates who are to be killed. Under military dictator
Zia ul-Haq, who ruled until 1988, daily newspapers wrote that anyone wishing
to kill an Ahmadi could do so without fear of prosecution. Thousands
of Ahmadis were murdered and almost 100,000 fled the country.
Ever since they were
declared a non-Muslim minority, Ahmadis are no longer allowed to call their
houses of worship mosques and to display Islamic insignia. They wish
to be extra-strict Muslims but are not allowed even to use the greeting,
"Peace be upon you" - because that means assuming a Muslim identity.
One would have to imagine
Episcopalians or Methodists in the United States prohibited from calling
themselves Christians. Imagine their churches prohibited from celebrating
Christmas and Easter, from singing Christmas carols or from using crosses
or hanging pictures of Jesus. In cases of violations of these prohibitions
their churches would be burned down and they themselves put to death.
Christians represent
about 2 percent of Pakistan's roughly 140 million population. Yet
they suffer under a blasphemy law according to which anyone insulting anything
that is sacred to Muslims is liable to capital punishment. Christians
are often accused of desecrating the Koran or writing abuses against the
prophet on house walls - accusations that camouflage disputes over land
or simply provide easy targets on which to release stored-up aggressiveness.
If a Christian can be made to repent and convert to Islam, so much the
better. Two Christians acquitted of such "crimes" had to be flown
to safety in Germany where they were granted political asylum. The
mob almost lynched the judge.
In one instance the judge
did not have the courage to risk his own life by acquitting an unjustly
accused Christian. The conviction prompted Catholic Bishop John Joseph
to resort to self-immolation. Few in Pakistan's educated class dispute
that this is a deadly game. According to a prominent Muslim religious
authority, the blasphemy law is a disgrace and goes against the basic principles
of Islam.
But the more the world
protests, the more the extremists rejoice. For them this is an opportunity
to demonstrate their bold resistance to attacks against Islam. Outsiders
rarely realize that most of this is orchestrated by Jihad organizations.
Their aim is to gain influence by making themselves appear as defenders
of the faith. The frenzy they create helps them to recruit followers
and eliminate opponents. Muslims who protest against the blasphemy
law are labeled traitors and run the danger of suffering the same fate
as the accused.
Gen. Musharraf,
the new military ruler, spoke out against the blasphemy law, only to retract
his statements a little later. His giving in to fundamentalist pressures
has caused disillusion among Pakistani intellectuals. On Sept.
28, a group of prominent university professors and professionals appealed
to him to put an end to the system of separate electorate, according to
which a Christian can only vote for a Christian, a Muslim only for a Muslim.
This group of Pakistani dissidents expressed their outrage that such a
division of citizens into classes according to their religion is still
being continued.
When Congress outlined
the mandate for the Commission on International Religious Freedom, it codified
as part of U.S. foreign policy a respect for the notion of religious
tolerance. With an array of diplomatic and economic sanctions at
its disposal, the Commission has the opportunity to place such religious
persecution on par with Pakistan's record on terrorism and the drug trade.
(Khalid Duran is a Middle
East and South Asian specialist and the editor of the journal TransIslam.)
