The Representation of Religious Minorities in Pakistani Press: A Three Month Study of the Daily

Dawn and Daily Jang.

A Thesis

to be submitted by,

Mahrukh Mohsin

For the award of the degree of:

Masters

Department of Television Film and TheatreBeaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan.

Spring, 2012.

Introduction

Webster’s dictionary defines a minority as the lesser, smaller, less than half number of total,

religious, national or political group smaller than and differing from the controlling group of

which on a macro- scale it is a part. The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences

defines the same society by race, nationally religion or language who both think themselves as

a differentiated group and are thought of by the others as differentiated group with negative

connections contemporary sociologists generally describes that minorities are relatively lacking

in power and hence, are subjected to certain exclusions, discrimination, and other differential

treatment.

Pakistan was established in 1947, not only by the efforts of the Muslims of the Sub-Continent,

but also by the joint efforts of many Christians in Punjab along with many Zoroastrians

(Parsees), and even Hindus in Sindh. At the time of Independence, it was declared to be a

secular state that would guarantee the freedom of practice of all religions and safeguard the

interests of the minorities by its founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. In his opening speech to the

Constituent Assembly, presided over by Mr. Jogindranath Mandal, who belonged to the Hindu

community, Mohammed Ali Jinnah said: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you

are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You

may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the

State.” He in particular highlighted the democratic features of England in his speech and said,

“Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of

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time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the

religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as

citizens of the State”1. However, soon after Jinnah’s death in 1948, the first Prime Minister,

Liaqat Ali Khan, proposed a resolution upon which the first Constitution of the Country was to

be formed. He proclaimed that the future Constitution would not be modeled upon a European

pattern, but on the ideology and democratic faith in Islam, including the Dhimma (pronounced

Zimma) Contract, which is an essential part of Sharia (Islamic) Law, mainly inspired by four

clauses from the Constitution of Medina2 - regulating matters relating to “The people of the

Dhimma” referring to the Non-Muslim subjects of an Islamic state.3

The New Constitution of 1973 was based on the recommendations of the Objectives

Resolution, Islam was declared to be the State Religion and Muslims were declared to be the

Religious Majority. Important posts were reserved for them, such as the President, Prime

Minister etc. Simultaneously, starting from the Punjab Disturbances of 1953 till the Anti Qadiani

Ordinance of 1974, riots against Ahmedis had begun to take force ultimately declaring them to

be non-Muslims. This discrimination was taken from the streets to the Second Amendment of

the Constitution 1973 with the amendment of Articles 106 and 260. It was expected that after

the proposed amendment, Qadianis would not be able to build new mosques, propagate their

heretic beliefs by calling Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as ‘nabi’ and ‘rasool’ and his followers ‘sahaba’

(companions) of the Prophet (PBUH) etc. There are evidences to prove that Bhutto had

1 Mr. Jinnah’s Speech to the First Constituent Assembly (1947), Dawn, Independence Day Supplement, August 14, 1999.2 Ahmed (1979), pp. 46–73 Juan Eduardo Campo, ed. (2010-05-12). "dhimmi". Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 194–195. ""Dhimmis are non-Muslims who live within Islamdom and have a regulated and protected status... In the modern period, this term has generally has occasionally been resuscitated, but it is generally obsolete.""

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determined to reverse the Constitutional amendment in his second term of office. Masud

Mahmud, a close relative of Dr. Basharat Ahmad’s family of Lahore Ahmadis and Director

General of the infamous Federal Security Force, revealed in an interview:

“When the Assembly declared Qadianis a non-Muslim minority, Prime Minister Bhutto was very

displeased with that decision. He vowed to reverse that decision. If that could not be possible,

steps should be taken to appease Ahmadis in his next term in the office after getting mandate

from the people. He advised me to convey his feelings to Dr. Abdus Salam, his Chief Scientific

Officer. Salam made a mockery of it. He told me he was personally loyal to Pakistan but ‘What

Bhutto had done was inexcusable and he prayed for his end and all those who were involved in

it’. I conveyed it to the Prime Minister in the same manner. But strangely enough the day

Bhutto advised me to see Dr. Salam, he, while coming out of Bhutto‘s room saw Dr. Salam

himself waiting to see Bhutto in his ADC ‘s room.”4 However the slight ray of hope from Bhutto

began to diminish as a new wave of resentment started in 1976 when Maulana Zafar Ahmad

Ansari, a veteran Muslim League leader quoted an extract from the book, ‘Israel - A Profile’ by a

Jewish Professor I. T. Naamani5, which said that there were 600 Ahmadis living in Israel had

joined Israeli army. Pakistani Muslims had always been sensitive towards the Zionist state and

such news generated more hostilities between them and Qadianis.

In 1984, Zia-ul-Haq issued Ordinance XX which made amendments to the Pakistani Penal Code

in which any Non-Muslim could not call himself a Muslim nor could he call his place of worship

4 Weekly Badban, Lahore, (18 May 1979)5 Israel: A Profile, I.T Naamani Publisher: Praeger Publishers, New York (1974) ASIN: B00132DH04

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a Masjid. Azan was banned for them nor were they allowed to openly propagate their faith.6

Thus effectively the clause related to the ‘Freedom of Religion for Minorities’ was expunged

from the Constitution and abolished from the Objectives Resolution. The Parliament known as

Masjid-i-Shoora at that time received the assent of the President on 5 October, 1986 and the

Clauses collectively known as the Blasphemy Law came to be a part of the Constitution.7 An

unwritten policy was adopted by the armed forces, under Zia’s regime under which officers not

belonging to the Muslim faith were not promoted to high positions. This proved detrimental to

the Christians who, before, this policy held large numbers in the armed forces. The situation of

the religious minorities of Pakistan has been deteriorating since then. However a ray of hope

emerged with the 18th Amendment that was enacted on the 18 April, 2010.

Regardless of the 18th Amendment, the impact of the mindset generated over decades is hard

to overcome easily. The controversial yet cruel Blasphemy Law has not yet been revoked, nor

has the Muslim majority accepted Religious minorities as rightful equal citizens of Pakistan.

Furthermore it is increasingly difficult for the religious minorities to acquire social acceptance,

jobs and to freely and openly practice their religion. Christians in particular are looked upon as

the appropriate employees for Blue Collar jobs and are even derogatorily known as ‘Chooras’

(Janitors) even though they are present in almost all fields of life with honorable jobs. Ahmedis

are nowadays being subjected to an economic boycott and their businesses are being

frequently threatened. Most of the Hindu citizens of Sindh live below the poverty line and are

forced into converting to the Muslim faith. Multitudes of Hindu girls are kidnapped and forced

to change their religion and marry Muslim men. A huge majority of the Zoroastrian community 6 The Gazette of Pakistan EXTRAORDINARY PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY ISLAMABAD, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1984.7 Gazette of Pakistan, Extraordinary, part 1, 12th October 1986

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(Parsees) have fled the country causing a significant economic loss for the country as Parsees

were mainly successful businessmen and traders.

The overall situation of the Religious Minorities of Pakistan has worsened to an extent that the

United States House of Representatives introduced a Bill, “for the inter-religious dialogue and

the protection of religious freedom and related human rights for persons of all faiths in the

Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”8 Even in these trying times, the Religious Minorities have never

posed a threat to the security and sovereignty of Pakistan and have diligently worked towards

the success and development of the Country.

As Citizens of Pakistan, there should be no differentiation between the Muslim majority, and

other religious minorities, rather they should be treated with mutual respect and work together

amicably towards mutual development. As newspapers are an important source of information

throughout Pakistan, it is essential that all sectors of the society receive considerable coverage

and their joys and woes be understood by the society at large. Since there is a larger readership

by the Muslim population of Pakistan, many a times certain news regarding the religious

minorities gets left out of the newspaper to compensate for the limited space of the paper,

however there needs to be a considerable voice of the minorities in the press that can

accurately inform and educate the masses about an essential part of their society and teach

them the lesson of tolerance towards each other. Other than rectifying and reflecting upon the

society, newspapers also inform about the measures taken by the Government and the various

8 “H.Res. 764--111th Congress: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on the importance of inter-religious dialogue and the protection of religious freedom and related human rights for persons of all faiths and nationalities in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan..” GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation). 2009. August 5, 2012 <http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hres764>

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state institutions for the betterment of all citizens. It is also of immense importance that all

citizens of the country, regardless of their religious beliefs, form a cohesive society that is

empathetic and sensitive to the needs of the other.

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