KARACHI:”Whenever there is any incident involving a minority group the entire country gets involved too but society ends up taking the direction of the government without thinking too much about what happened. Even civil society gets confused. That’s why we need to look at minority groups to understand where we need to change,” said I.A. Rehman, secretary general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a meeting called by the HRCP on communities left vulnerable because of belief at a local hotel on Tuesday. Members of various community groups looked into how sectarian tensions were handled, applicable laws, position with respect to hate speech, prosecution of offenders, discrimination in service, etc.

Aliya Ayub Naqvi, whose husband was murdered six years back because he belonged to the Shia community, said that her husband’s killers were caught within 20 days of the crime but they were out on bail to this day. “It emerged that they had killed four people before killing my husband and knowing this they were allowed to go home so that they can kill again,” she said.

“I go to court hoping that I’ll get justice one day, but sometime the judge is absent, sometimes the witnesses have not come. They all have the support of the government, obviously. But I ask, why am I alone asking for justice? Why don’t you all stand by me. Why can’t we stand up for each other?” the widow said.

Well-known scholar Dr Syed Jaffer Ahmed said he had through the years seen things such as violence or discrimination against minority groups heat up but then it all got neutralised. “Here religious differences are used for vested interests,” he said. “There are political motives, like a non-legit government may take the support of religion as Ziaul Haq did. But elements used in such proxy wars have now become autonomous themselves. Their services are open for anyone who can pay their price,” he said.

Abida Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) said the fabric of society had become so tainted that one could not even raise a question here as was done recently by television host Hamza Ali Abbasi. “We need a pluralistic democratic society where one can question the wrongs,” she said.

Karamat Ali of Piler said there was a time when intermarriages between Shia, Sunni, Hanafi, Wahabi, etc, was a common thing. But not any more. “We need a movement for interfaith harmony,” he said.

Emir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Sindh, Asadullah Bhutto said that discrimination went against the teaching of Islam. “All over the world Muslims themselves are discriminated against, so they should know best what it feels like to be treated this way,” he said. “Such things are unacceptable. Don’t deviate from your beliefs and respect the beliefs of others.”

Zahid Farooq, representing the Christian community, said dialogue among the communities was important.

Sabir Michael said the laws in Pakistan had too many gaps. “They are like warm wax that can be easily moulded,” he said, adding that it was the personal differences between individuals that usually grew into sectarianism. He also said that in such cases the state should not interfere.

Syed Ali Ahmed Tariq, representing the Ahmediyya community, said that it was better to listen to what each religion was all about and what the people of a community said about themselves rather than tell them how they were supposed to be. “I urge my friends from other minority communities to invite everyone to your festivals. It will help develop understanding of each other’s ways, giving birth to tolerance for each other,” he said.

Javed Ghufran, representing the Zikri community, stressed that the government should see all people, whatever community they may belong to, as equal. “Being a Zikri, I never felt like I was a member of a minority group, but I realise now that I am seen as one by others,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2016