Abstracts
from Paper prepared by I. A. Rehman, Director, Human Rights
Commission Pakistan (MINORITIES IN SOUTH ASIA)
Pakistan comprises the traditional homelands of several
ethnic communities – Punjabis,
Sindhis,
Pakhtuns
(also called Pathan) and the Baloch. They are concentrated
in units of the federation, called provinces, that are named
after them – Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan –
except for the Pakhtuns whose land still carries the name
coined by the British
– the North
Western Frontier Province (NWFP). However, there is
considerable ethnic or linguistic / diversity within each
province. The Punjab has a sizeable Seraiki-speaking
population. Sindh has a large proportion of the Baloch,
and an even larger number of post-partition Urdu-speaking
settlers who call themselves ‘mohajirs’.
NWFP has Hazara-speaking people who are concentrated in
its south-eastern part, and a Seraiki-speaking
community in the south-western district of Dera
Ismail Khan. Balochistan has a large number of Pakhtuns
besides a Brahui-speaking
community and Punjabi
settlers.
The population of Pakistan
(132.352 million, 1998 census) is distributed over the federating
units (called provinces) as follows: Punjab – 73.62
million; Sindh – 30.44 million; North-Western Frontier
Province – 17.74 million; Balochistan
– 6.56 million; Federal
Capital territory of Islamabad - .8 (point 8) million;
and
Federally Administered Tribal Areas – 3.18 million.
In Pakistan, too, the absence of an agreed definition of
minorities creates problems. The constitution does not recognise
any ethnic and linguistic groups, it takes notice only of
the religious minorities. The problem is complicated further
by the fact that the major ethnic-linguistic communities
dominating three provinces (Sindh, NWFP
and Balochistan)
do not accept the label of minorities
and instead insist on being accepted as nations or nationalities.
Even the migrant-settlers in Sindh
wish to be recognised as a distinct nationality. However,
all of these communities are entitled to be treated as national
minorities as together they are less than the population
of the Punjab and their struggles for their rights have
revolved around the question of provincial autonomy.
The question of provincial autonomy is rooted in history.
The British introduced representative government only in
the provinces albeit within the centralised state structure.
When the All-India
Muslim League formulated its demand for separate homelands
for the Indian Muslims it had to recognise the provincial
units’ aspirations for autonomy and the Pakistan
resolution pledged that these units would be autonomous,
independent and sovereign. Without this commitment, it was
believed, the demand for Pakistan could not have received
the mass support that it did in the decisive elections of
1945-46. After Pakistan had come into being in the form
of two wings – East
Pakistan and West
Pakistan, and the two divided by over 1,000 miles of
Indian territory -- these pledges were disregarded. No demarcation
of provinces on ethnic / linguistic basis took place. Instead,
the demand for provincial autonomy was suppressed with force
and the federal constitution worked in the manner of a unitary
state. East Bengal, which accounted for a majority of the
population, was obliged to accept parity in legislature
with west Pakistan till 1970. Attempts to deny its majority
status eventually forced that part to break away, after
a bloody conflict, in 1971. In West
Pakistan the provinces were abolished in 1955 to form
a single unit and this experiment was undone only in 1970.
Unlike India, which had its new constitution in 1950, Pakistan
was governed by the British statute, Government of India
Act of 1955, till March 1956. The continuance in force of
this colonial-viceregal system sharpened the provincial
identities and put their autonomy at the top of the political
agenda. The first post-independence constitution (1956)
largely denied provincial rights, and the second constitution
(1962, imposed by a military dictator) repudiated parliamentary
democracy. It was only after the debacle of Eastern Wing’s
separation that the constitution of 1973 conceded a somewhat
reasonable measure of provincial autonomy. Problems arose
when this constitution was not respected in practice. The
document has lost a great deal of its sanctity as a result
of drastic changes introduced in it by military regimes
(1977-88 and 1999-2003).
The constitution defines the State as a federation comprising
four units (provinces), each having its own elected legislature
and an executive answerable to it. The provincial chief
executive (Governor) is a nominee of the federal chief executive
(President). The federal parliament is bicameral –
National Assemby, the lower house directly elected by the
people, and a Senate, the upper house in which all provinces
have equal seats that are filled through indirect election,
the members of the provincial assemblies being the electoral
college. The National Assembly can be dissolved by the President
in his discretion. The federal executive comprises a Prime
Minister and his cabinet who are answerable to the parliament.
The division of legislative powers between the federation
and the units is done on the basis of lists of subjects
– one comprising matters on which the central parliament
has exclusive jurisdiction and the other comprising subjects
on which both the federal parliament and a provincial assembly
have power to legislate. If both authorities adopt legislation
on a subject in this list the federal legislation prevails
over the provincial one. The federation collects most of
the revenues and its expenditure is the first charge on
them, while the rest is divided amongst the provinces on
the basis of population through an award by a National Finance
Commission. A council of common interests deals with matters
related to interests / services shared by the provinces,
such as rivers, railways, and electricity. Fundamental rights
are guaranteed in a chapter of the constitution. The judiciary
is presided over by the Supreme Court at the federal level
with a high court in each province and a subordinate judiciary
under it.
The constitution has remained suspended for long years;
from July 1977 to December 1985 in one instance and from
October 1999 to November 2002 in another instance, a total
of eleven and a half years out of the 29 years since it
was enforced. Only one elected government – 1971-77
-- completed its term and all others formed between 1985
and 1996 were removed by the President by dissolving the
National Assembly (elected in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993 and
1996). The Senate cannot be dissolved but has been dissolved
twice. Suspension of the constitution and its inadequate
enforcement even when it is supposed to be in force have
kept the questions of autonomy unresolved.
The autonomy demands of the federating units and ethnic
communities now can be summed up as follows:
? The Pathans (also called Pakhtuns
or Pashtun) assert that they have been arbitrarily divided
into three units – NWFP,
Balochistan
and Tribal Areas. The demand for their unification into
a single unit through reorganisation of provinces on ethno-linguistic
basis has often been raised but is yet to gain the support
of a majority of elected provincial representatives. The
Pathans in NWFP also demand the right to name their province
Pakhtunkhwa (the land of Pakhtuns)
just as other provinces (Punjab, Sindh
and Balochistan) bear the names of their dominant ethno-linguistic
communities.
•
The Sindhis
have been resisting being turned into a minority through
continued influx of migrants from India and other parts
of Pakistan.
• Balochistan, which is the largest of the provinces
in terms of its territory and has the smallest population
of them rejects the division of revenues on population basis.
• All the three provinces have a grievance that they
are under-represented in armed forces and civil services.
They also complain of denial of control over their natural
resources. They are unhappy with the emergency provisions
of the constitution under which the centre can dismiss their
governments and dissolve their assemblies through its Governors.
They argue that the upper chamber that is supposed to protect
the provincial rights lacks effective powers.
• The ‘Mohajirs’
demand share in power in Sindh in accordance with their
population but support the demand for provincial autonomy.
These problems have been aggravated because Pakistan
does not recognise ethnic-linguistic minorities, although
it does accept the right of provinces to develop their languages
without affecting the status of the national language, which
incidentally is the language of a small minority. This posture
was adopted during the freedom struggle when it was presumed
that all communities had dissolved their ethnic-linguistic
and cultural identities into their common religious identity.
The argument has been summed up in a few paragraphs on a
single page in the report of the 1998 census (the federal
volume):
“Ethnicity and Tribes: Pakistan has
been the habitat of various immigrants prominently called
Dravidians, Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans
and Mughals, who entered this land on different occasions…
Hence, Pakistan’s
population is marked by diversity of castes and races as
a multi-ethnic society… In general, ethnicity of Pakistan
society may be identified according to geographically and
administratively defined limits as Punjabis,
Sindhis,
Pukhtuns and Baloch. Similarly these ethnic groups may be
divided into more than one category as well as into various
castses. However, the notable races can be classified into
three socio-culture groups: Indo-Aryan. Turco-Iranian and
Mongola-Dravidians… The people of Pakistan are further
divided into linguistic groups. The main languages spoken
in well defined areas are Urdu,
Punjabi,
Pushto, Balochi, Sindhi,
Seraiki,
Dari and Gujrati. Among all these languages and dialects.
Urdu
occupies a very significant place. It enjoys the status
of our national language. It is widely spoken and understood
all over the country and serves as “lingua franca”
throughout Pakistan. Most of people in Pakistan are bi-lingual,
speaking their regional language and Urdu
with almost equal facility. … The diversity of castses,
races and linguistic groups is however not so great as to
create fissiparous tendencies. The people are fully conscious
of common nationality. This feeling of unity is mainly based
on religious, historical, geographical and political factors.
Islam is a great unifying factor and the population is overwhelmingly
Muslim
and being Muslims they share common history in the Indo-Pak
sub-continent.”
The assumptions underlying such statements have never stood
the test of time or pressures of politics and it can be
asserted that the national minorities do not fully enjoy
their rights and will not do so until the national, ethnic
diversities are not only recognised but also respected through
firm and operative constitutional instruments and functional
institutions of democratic governance are stabilised.
Religious minorities
Pakistan
is a predominantly Muslim
country. The number of all the non-Muslim minorities is
4.919 million in a population of 143 million (2002). These
minorities are: Christians,
with their largest pockets in Punjab; Hindus, with their
largest pockets in Sindh; a small number of Parsis, mainly
in the city of Karachi; a small number of Sikhs in Balochistan
and NWFP;
a small number of Bahais in some urban centres; pockets
of indigenous people in Northern Areas and of scheduled
castes in Sindh.
These are distinct religious groups recognised as such since
the British period. In 1974 Pakistan created a new religious
minority, Ahmadis. They claim to be Muslim but were declared
outside the pale of Islam through a constitutional amendment.
Attempts have been made off and on to get the Zikris, a
sect in Balochistan, declared as non-Muslim but so far these
moves have failed. There are also minority Muslim
sects, such as Shias, Ismailis and Bohras, that are not
treated as religious minorities.
Starting as a secular democracy, Pakistan
has gradually moved close to a theocratic state. It is known
as an Islamic republic though its political structure is
based on the Westminister type of parliamentary democracy,
Islam is its state religion, the Objective Resolution according
to which sovereignty belongs to God alone and the parliament
exercises authority within the limits prescribed by Him,
is a substantive part of the constitution. No law which
is repugnant to Islamic injunctions can be enacted and all
existing laws are to be brought in conformity with these
injunctions. A religious court titled the Federal Shariat
Court has the power to strike down any law on the ground
of repugnancy to Islam and also to suggest amendments in
statutes. The constitution also provides for a Council of
Islamic Ideology, comprising religious scholars, to advise
the government on Islamisation of laws and state policies
and practices. Five Hudood laws prescribe Islamic punishments
for crimes. The head of state can only be a Muslim
and in practical terms the Prime Minister too can only be
a Muslim.
The constitution does not explicitly recognise national
or ethnic minorities, while it refers to religious minorities
at several places. In addition to the provisions of the
Objectives Resolution, which guarantee them freedom of belief
and safeguards for the legitimate interests of all minorities,
the fundamental rights are guaranteed to all citizens. A
non-Muslim has the right to freedom of belief, every religious
denomination has the right to maintain its religious institutions
and is exempted from payment of any special tax raised in
the interest of a religion other than its own. No-one can
be required to receive instruction in a religion, or join
a religious ceremony related to a belief, other than his
own.
Apart from the discriminatory provisions of the constitution
noted above, the biggest cause of discrimination against
religious minorities
till 2002 was the system of separate electorates. Under
this system Muslims
elected legislators on an exclusively Muslim list of voters
while non-Muslim denominations voted only for their co-religionists
on separate voters’ lists. The religious minorities
opposed this system as it kept them out of the political
mainstream and led to discrimination in education and services
and also in social and economic fields. In 2002 the system
of a common voters’ list was adopted except for the
Ahmadis. The religious minorities have reserved seats in
all legislatures, except for the Senate, but these seats
are filled with candidates appearing on political parties’
lists in proportion to the seats won by these parties in
the various legislatures. These political parties are largely
all-Muslim outfits.
The freedom of belief, guaranteed to all, is subject to
laws and public order. The Ahmadis are forbidden by law
to preach their belief, cannot call their prayer houses
mosques nor pray in public in Muslim
style. They can be punished for displaying epithets belonging
to Islam and they are not allowed to hold congregations
on the ground that these will hurt the feelings of Muslims
and create law and order problems. The judiciary has consistently
failed to recognise the Ahmadis’ basic rights. The
constitution does not recognise the right to change one’s
belief. While non-Muslims’ conversion to Islam is
welcomed a Muslim
converting to any other faith runs the risk of losing his
life.
Several laws have built-in discrimination towards the religious
minorities.
These include the Islamic laws under which compensation
for killing a non-Muslim is less than that for killing a
Muslim, cases against non-Muslims can be heard by religious
courts but they cannot be represented by non-Muslim counsel.
Under the blasphemy law even a non-Muslim faces mandatory
death-penalty for insulting the Prophet of Islam.
Pakistan
is deficient in watch-dog bodies to protect the rights of
religious minorities. It has a division in the Ministry
of Minority Affairs, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs but
its mandate is limited. A broader mandate has been allowed
to a minorities’ commission but it is an appendage
of the Minority Affairs Division and has done little to
protect the minority rights.
During the series of consultations held in the 2000-2002
period, the following issues were highlighted.
• The constitutional scheme treats Muslims
as a privileged majority while religious minorities are
promised only protection. In the presence of Islamic provisions
the minorities
will always be at a disadvantage.
• Laws that practically deny the freedom of belief
(such as the blasphemy law and provisions of the Penal Code
targetting only Ahmadis) need to be scrapped.
• The minorities do not enjoy equal right to public
service.
• Non-Muslims are restricted to nominal quotas in
educational institutions and are denied admission on merit.
• Girls belonging to minority communities are abducted
and forcibly converted to Islam and the state machinery
often denies them justice.
• The properties belonging to minorities’ shrines
and trusts have been taken over under the pretext that the
owners have migrated to India while only the managers may
have gone away and the community owning these properties
is still here.
• The minorities’
lives and properties are threatened as a reaction to events
abroad. When the Babri Mosque was demolished in India many
temples and churches were demolished in Pakistan. Christians
have come under regular and intense attacks after the September
2001 events.
To conclude, all minorities are at a disadvantage in Pakistan
and suffer discrimination in many ways. State institutions
and policy frameworks need to be remodelled and mechanisms
to guarantee minorities’
equal rights and redress in the event of their violation
made effective.
