Pakistan has changed. The murders of Salman Taseer a few years ago and recently, that of Mashal got me thinking.
The first time I committed this sin was probably some time in the mid to late 70’s when I had to have a new passport made. I was in my teenage. It was probably a sin of omission and not of commission when I signed the passport renewal form. I was probably told to sign on certain lines and what does a teenager know what he/she is signing. I should have known or should have read what I was signing. But I had to have my passport made as I had an international travel coming up to visit my parents in my winter break.
In 1973, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to gain the clergy votes, had declared one group of people “Non-Muslims” in the new constitution of Pakistan. I remember that day, as I was a 12-year-old school going kid in Islamabad. There was a procession of common people that started from the Parliament and went all the way up to Aab-Paara market, celebrating the new constitution of Pakistan. I had no idea what it was all about but Pakistanis were excited that they finally had a constitution that everybody in the parliament agreed upon. That road, on which the procession marched, was later named the “Constitution Avenue”. What a constitution that was!! In order to gain the clergy vote and in his shortsightedness, then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had incorporated an article in constitution, declaring a group of citizens of Pakistan as “Non-Muslims”. That discrimination, in my opinion, was a historical event that made the slide of that upcoming country, even faster. It singled out a group of people and made one group inferior to the other citizens based solely on their beliefs. It incorporated an affidavit in the passport renewal form in which every citizen had to declare that the other group was a “Non-Muslim”, otherwise, the passport would not be issued.
At the time of my next passport renewal, I was in my Medical College, in the 1980s. This time that one statement didn’t go unnoticed. I read it and reread it and questioned it. I had a lot of questions. My friends around me were mostly NSFians (leaning towards the Socialist ideology of National Students’ Federation) and believed in “revolution”. A cultural revolution, a revolution in which there should be “justice for all”, the “Education to be a right and not a privilege” etc. etc. etc. I am not sure if I ever heard anyone raise this point; “An individual’s right to his beliefs”. We all, were about an “individual rights”, but these were all revolutionary slogans. But majority of us, in our early 20s never understood what it meant. We had testosterone!! It worked. We used to assemble under one flag. We had slogans that we used to yell at the top of our voice or through a loudspeaker. At that time, a socialist ideology was what got us going, as we were going through the rule of General Zia-ul-Haq. All of us were fighting against a “military dictator” and trying to restore democracy in the Land of the Pure. None of us thought much about two legislations that Zia-ul-Haq managed to get the uneducated and short sighted parliament to sign off on. The Hudood Ordinance, that to date has many innocent girls imprisoned in Karachi Jail awaiting trial as they have been accused of “indecent act”, and the Blasphemy Law. There was some opposition to the Hudood Ordinance, but I didn’t hear any dissenting voices against the Blasphemy Law.
That one law, in my opinion, has torn and continues to tear the fabric of that country, Pakistan. People didn’t realize it at that time, but it gave every Muslim residing in Pakistan, a “License to Kill”. Not just kill, but justify the killing too and getting away with murder. Not just getting away with murder, but being revered for taking a life. Isn’t it amazing?
For the monotheists, all their Holy Scriptures and Books, strongly condemn suicide. Killing oneself is deemed a sin. Yet, killing another is OK? Can anyone of you wrap your head around it?
This happened because, the law made one citizen of Pakistan, better than the next, just based on their belief system. It made the belief system of one, superior to the belief system of the other. And on top of it, the decision that his/her belief system is better than the other was given to the individual making the decision. That one piece of erroneous law, initiated the decay of a culture and beliefs. Anyone who held a belief that was different than the other was wrong. It created more groups and sects. Every group and sect was right in its ideology. Everyone else was wrong in his or her ideologies. Patience and tolerance for differences started evaporating and “my way or the highway” attitudes became the order of the day. Instead of accepting, tolerating the differences and coexisting, the intolerance for new ideas and other’s point of view grew. It has grown to the point that I truly believe that if the Prophet himself were to show up here today, he would be told by the Muslims of today, that he is not following Islam correctly.
To quote my friend Qambar here, who has said it so well:
Aik gharaney ka mara, aik ney maara Qambar
Aur donoN ney hee Quran kee tilaawat kee hai
(A member of a family killed by the member of another Qambar,
And both have recited the Quran)
Hudood ordinance, Blasphemy law and religious discrimination; combined, these three pieces of legislations have been the downfall of a country that in its first decade of existence was making progress with leaps and bounds.
I had to leave that country and had to have my passport made. I had to sign that affidavit that singled out that one group and labeled them as “Non-Muslims”. I had to. I had no choice.
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.
M.M. Ahmad
