LAHORE: The session on ‘Mainstreaming Radicalism: Legitimizing Extremists – Impact on Minorities’ at the Asma Jahangir Conference on Sunday declared that state patronization of radical elements, exploitation of scheduled castes and poor segments of minorities by the privileged people of minorities and lack of pluralism and diversity are causing the spread of radicalism and extremism, making minorities more marginalised.

MPA Tahir Khalil Sandhu was the first to speak. He made a written speech outlining constitutional rights granted to the citizens, but often abused as well as refused. He said cases involving minorities often end up degrading the victims. He said unless Pakistan implemented Jinnah’s August 11 speech, it cannot step forward. He said the school curriculum increases intolerance among the children, who grow up a mature generation of radicals. His comment that the constitutional articles barring a non-Muslim from becoming a president be changed as “I guarantee you that no Christian or Sikh will ever become a president or prime minister”, drew an abrupt thunder of applause.

Qamar Suleman, a representative of the Ahmadiyya Community, put up the case of his community. He said that besides local factors, foreign hands should be unearthed that fund, protect, and promote radical and extremist outfits. He said Pakistani society became a hopeless case when three national political parties colluded with small religious groups, often on the terms set by these outfits, and the endpoint was the persecution of non-Muslims. He said non-Muslims are being kept in Pakistan for target killing. He said someone said that “Qadiyan” should leave Pakistan. “And why should we leave Pakistan as the country is not your property?” he said. Citing several instances of the persecution of the Ahmadiyya community, he said their graves were being vandalised. MPA Ramesh Singh Arora said minorities were being suppressed through forced conversion, distorted curriculum, lack of personal laws and poverty.

Sarwan Kumar Bhil, a representative of the Bhil community, said the scheduled Hindu castes were being suppressed by both the state and the privileged, upper-class Hindus. He said the lack of opportunities had resulted in scores of suicides in his community. No scheduled caste Hindu sits on any government commission or has ever become an MPA or MNA on reserve seats. He demanded the National Minority Commission has a Bheel community representative and political parties end ‘pick and choose’ in the matters of the minority.

Sabahat Rizvi, a Supreme Court lawyer, blamed the intentional suppression of pluralism and diversity for harming society and state structures. She said powerful institutions used radicalism and extremism as a foreign policy tool without realising that the promotion of such a mindset would hurt minorities the most. She said legislatures took pride in making such laws that targeted minorities. Chief Minister Parvez Elahi was mentioned in the session for his declaration that mosques would be built “where it would be written that these places were out of bounds were Qadiyanis”.

She demanded that the educational system be reformed otherwise misguided youth would be produced without any future vision.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2022