RAISON D’ETRE
OF Social Harmony in Pakistan
There are only two countries in the world that were created on the basis of religion, one is Israel and the other is Pakistan. Both are strong religiously ideological states, with the religion of the rulers being the dominant
force of everything in society. The Constitution of Pakistan is clearly today Islamic, the name of the country is Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, its head of the state has to be a Muslim, being a strong staunch Muslim belonging to the same strand
as the rulers of the country, makes one the true citizenship, although it is not said loud and clear, it is made obvious in
everyday life that there is in the country, a minority. All those who are not Muslims are religious minorities.
One can go further and state if one is not of a particular sect, or school of thought, one may also be
denigrated to be a minority, but the Non-Muslims are definitely religious minorities in Pakistan. The military dictator, Zia ul Haq when he deprived the religious minorities to vote the
Muslim citizens of Pakistan, in the separate electorate system, rubbed this in. He compartmentalized
the whole country into five different religious groups. No religious minority could vote for the Muslims and they could not
vote for the religious minorities, with the result, the Muslims totally neglected the religious minority and made them feel
not only as second or third class citizens but as if the other religious minorities were aliens in their own country, the
land where their forefathers and fore mothers have lived for a thousand years and more.
In this context that the raison d’etre for IFH is derived. It is a conditio sine qua non, there is no other
alternative, there is definitely a majority community and the religious minorities’ area minority community. The Constitution
of 1973, unanimously approved by all was amended to declare one sect, the Ahmedyas as non-Muslims and thereby religious minorities.
This is in addition to the Hindus, Christians and others.
It is in context of the ideologically Islamic state, that the Separate Electorate System, played further
havoc when the military dictator to please the Islamic forces introduced that system to divide the nation even further. The
Christians and Hindus could only vote for the members of their own religion, it was at that time that Society for Human Development
was born. Naturally it stressed Inter faith harmony. It wanted to promote grassroots understanding and work together. The
havoc caused by the compartmentalization of society still stands, and when one looks at this phenomenon in the context of
the fact that Pakistan is a strong religiously ideological state, one understands
the plight of the religious minorities. They are alienated from every side and at all levels.
Inter-faith harmony is not a luxury it is an absolute necessity. It flows from the ideology of the country
where the Muslims are elevated as rulers of the country. A reformation and re-formulation of this ideology would require a
lot of courage and hard work, but that is the ultimate agenda of the liberal forces in the country, but at this time, that
is far dream, and the ground reality demands that there is inter-faith harmony in the country, that Muslims and non-Muslims
work in close collaboration, that they rub shoulders in every day activities and forget their religious affinities and work
as common citizens of one country, for its growth and happiness.
