Author: Anuradha Dutt
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 25, 2006
Secularism, by its very definition, hinges
on a non-partisan approach to all religions. But, sadly, in the lexicon of
the Indian secular lobby, the term is generally equated with Hindu-baiting
and Muslim minorityism. Other minority groups such as Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists
tend to be ignored, since their worldview derives from Hindu dialectics. This
may account for the indifference here among activists and politicos to reports
of the Sindh Government's proposed plan of demolishing the sole gurdwara in
Karachi.
None have deemed it fit to join the Sikh organisations
in condemning the move, sanctioned by the Education Ministry of Sindh on receiving
a request for such action from the principal of the Nabi Bux Government College
in Karachi. The college is located in the compound of Gurdwara Ratan Tala,
which was built in 1932. The college came up much later, in 1984.
The principal's plea has been made on the
grounds that the prayers in the shrine interfere with the "smooth functioning"
of the college, and that the structure is run down. Such disparate reasons
seem to have proved adequate in convincing the reigning dispensation of the
legitimacy of the request. It illustrates the plight of religious minorities
in Pakistan. The Sri Guru Sikh Sabha formerly owned the complex. It was later
taken over by the Sindh Education Department.
A similar take over by the state would be
unthinkable in India, with even the demand to restore important usurped pilgrimages
to the majority community being dismissed as a Hindutva ploy, irrespective
of the merits of the case. India continues to be polarised on this issue at
critical moments, and, the status of the disputed site in Ayodhya is subject
to fresh controversies. The aftermath of the assault was marked by a brutal
reprisal, whereby Hindus in Pakistan, Bangladesh and distant London were attacked
and their places of worship vandalised.
In Teheran, the Indian Embassy was targeted
by a mob of rampaging Muslims from the subcontinent. The liberal intelligentsia
and media reserve their sympathies for a people, besieged by theocratic tyrants,
for whom usurped Hindu shrines remain a symbol of Muslim sovereignty. Any
attempt to reclaim them amounts to an assault on the dominion of Islam.
Since apologists for Islamic excesses spilt
into the ranks of secular advocates, who view communal harmony as ceding ground
to Muslims, no headway has been made on resolving the Ayodhya problem. The
fact that many Hindus view the revivalists among them with suspicion, preferring
an impasse to a renewed bid to untangle the issue.
However, this artificial truce between the
two communities cannot extend to other disputes across the borders, where
the minuscule Sikh population can only look to India for help. The chief of
India's Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee has written to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, seeking his intercession with Pakistan. Informed sources blame
the demolition plan on a gaggle of officials and land mafia. To demonstrate
their own impartiality, the least that the secular lobby can do is place this
issue at par with the Ayodhya dispute.
The Sikhs deserve to be heard on the basis
of the principle of reciprocity. For, Pakistan never hesitates to react to
emotive issues such as restoring usurped pilgrimages in India. Coincidentally,
India has a Sikh Prime Minister. He has been instrumental in restoring his
community's faith in the polity, badly shattered by the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
He might now prove their saviour in Pakistan by interceding on their behalf.
