Intellectual infrastructure needed for religious harmony, minorities’ rights
Islamabad: True religious harmony is spiritual in nature that can best be achieved by building intellectual
infrastructure in an environment of freedom of expression instead of administrative orders or judicial
pronouncements.
Laws, executive orders and court verdicts will not end militancy and hate speech as was witnessed in the
murder of Salman Taseer by his own guard and state surrender before violent extremists of Faizabad dharna.
This was stated by former Senator Farhatullah Babar while addressing a seminar on ‘protecting minorities’
rights- a long wait for justice’ organized jointly by HRCP, the Centre for Social Justice in a local hotel in
Islamabad today in the context of SC verdict of June 19, 2014.
He said that the state nurtured snakes in its backyard hoping that they will only bite neighbors but the snakes
had turned on the state itself and called for taking the bull by the horns. Hate speech will not end as long as
hate mongers were nurtured and protected.
During the last five years since the SC verdict the state and society have veered away rather than towards the
principles laid down and directions given in the verdict, he said.
Giving examples he said a judge of IHC in March last year asked that citizens declare religion when applying
for identity documents, for jobs or voting. The separate electorate system was abolished in 2002 a specific
minority was excluded by stating that ‘their status will remain unchanged’. The Election Act 2017 has also
retained this provision despite the June 2014 verdict of the SC, he said.
He said that reportedly an attempt was made to amend the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Law to punish
anyone with 3 years in jail for remarks considered derogatory about religious leaders and shrines, the
trajectory of the amendment was clearly in violation of the June 2014 SC verdict.
He lauded the Court for upholding international human rights standards as moral checks and directing that
national laws should be geared towards this goalpost..
The Court verdict may not have been implemented but at least it has created a new opportunity to agitate
issues of minorities’ rights and remind the state institutions to implement it.
He said that Pakistan was both a majoritarian and a security driven state. In a majoritarian state the minorities
suffered while in a security state the selective application of laws was determined by the security
establishment.
The seminar was also addressed by I A Rehman, Justice Chowhan, Justice Nasira Iqbal, Peter Jacob, Haris
Khalique and others.
