AS demonstrated by the shoe-throwing incident we now are a totally intolerant country where expression of love is officially supressed and hatred tacitly encouraged. I fear the Islamabad High Court ruling — “faith declaration must for government jobs…” (Dawn, March 10) — has opened a sea of hydrae we will again bloodily regret. Jinnah’s promise of “You are free” exists only on paper.

Already happening, this is likely to ensure a clear violation of Part 2, Chapter 1. Fundamental Rights, Clause 27, of our constitution: “Safeguard against discrimination in services. — (1) No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth.”

Whatever the noble motivations of the honourable court the ruling is likely to spark a witch-hunt that will not uplift the nation. If citizens are so supressed and persecuted that they “can easily mask their belief and become part of Muslim majority… (to)… gain access to dignified and sensitive posts resulting in accumulation of all benefits,” then there is something very rotten in our system of justice or interpretation of the constitution.

To set the record straight we need to determine just how many minorities have worked against the interests of the state versus the colossal damage the mainstream majority are doing-- not just to this state but to the status and security of Muslims worldwide.

Sadly, it is not surprising that minorities are leaving Pakistan not just for economic prospects but to escape the crushing prospects of being harassed, unwanted or even killed. What really should be a strident wakeup call for the controllers of the state is the revelation “that 10,205 people changed their religious status from Muslim to Qadiani and 6,001 such people applied and got passports.”

Before we are totally beyond hope can the Supreme Court look into where we have headed for?

Dr Mervyn Hosein

Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018