VIEW: Going dry —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
VIEW: Going dry —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
Courtesy to "Daily Times"
We are so consumed with a matter of private faith that we will
accept all ills in a head of state but not the fact that s/he is a
non-Muslim. What right do we have to say that there is equality before
the law in Pakistan when one of our laws bars a Pakistani from a
position on the basis of his/her religion?
We are consumed
by religion. The Muslims amongst us are consumed by Islam whereas the
non-Muslim Pakistanis are consumed by their own religions. The reasons
are different but the results are the same. The Pakistani Muslims,
through state-sponsored educational, social, cultural and media
influences and propaganda since the 80s have been encouraged to wear
Islam on their sleeves. Thus, it is no wonder when once in Gujranwala,
during a communication skills training with young students, a young
20-something man passionately spoke about an Islamic shoe and how all
of us should wear Islamic shoes. When asked as to what, pray, is that,
we were told it is a shoe that covers your foot. Clearly, sandals were
not Islamic. According to him, sandals worn with socks are acceptable.
Non-Muslim
Pakistanis have been compelled to first think of their religious
identity and then think of themselves as Pakistanis because of the
excessive brandishing of Islam as the “majority religion” and the
officially sanctioned identity of Pakistan. The result is that our
religious and ethnic identities are well developed; our national
identity not as much.
Whether this is a positive development
or not is a different discussion. However, the effect of our
overdeveloped religious identities on our politics is adverse. A few
years back, we had this controversy over the religion column in our
passports. At an estimated loss of Rs 80 million, the religion column
was inserted into the new machine-readable passports that were to be
issued. A Nazi style stamp stating, “The stated religion of the
passport carrier is Islam” was stamped on the machine-readable
passports that were already issued.
Declaring a sect Muslim or
non-Muslim is another result of our obsession with our religious
identity. Another consequence of our religious obsession is the law
that no non-Muslim can ever become the president. Thus, we are so
consumed with a matter of private faith that we will accept all ills in
a head of state but not the fact that s/he is a non-Muslim. What right
do we have to say that there is equality before the law in Pakistan
when one of our laws bars a Pakistani from a position on the basis of
his/her religion?
This obsession of ours with religion affects
our political priorities. In our assemblies, we have no time to discuss
the energy crisis that we are confronted with. There is a dearth of
time to discuss the law and order situation or the challenge of
extremism and terrorism that stares us in the face. Yet, we have time
to discuss the personal habits of our citizens and how we can control
their personal behaviour. Last week, the Punjab Assembly spent 52
minutes discussing alcohol consumption patterns and prohibition. A
non-Muslim Member of the Provincial Assembly, Pervaiz Rafiq, sought
support on a resolution that would prohibit the sale and use of alcohol
in Punjab. The sale and use of alcohol is prohibited to Muslims
courtesy Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto, himself a consumer of alcohol,
understood the political soul of Pakistanis and banned the sale and use
of alcohol, declared Ahmedis non-Muslims and declared Friday to be a
public holiday to take the punch out of the political sloganeering of
the conservative right. Thus, he also played the religion card for
short term gains but suffered a long term loss. Mr Pervaiz Rafiq wants
to improve on the policy initiated by Bhutto by including non-Muslims
into the ambit as well. Mr Rafiq is of the opinion that since
Christianity also prohibits the use of alcohol, Christian Pakistanis
should also be legally prohibited to consume alcohol. If this
resolution is approved by the Punjab Assembly, then effectively Punjab
will go dry — at least on paper.
These 52 minutes of debate and
speeches supporting the resolution could certainly have been spent
better. Taxpaying Pakistanis on whose expense the Assembly runs are
well aware of the merits and demerits of alcohol consumption. Debate on
whether Christianity or Islam allows or disallows alcohol should be
done in churches and mosques instead of Assemblies. The Punjab
Assembly, that day, did not have time to discuss the water problem
between Punjab and Sindh but had time to discuss alcohol consumption.
Whether
alcohol should be consumed or not is a private issue. The jury is still
out on whether Christianity allows or disallows alcohol. Hindus or
Sikhs residing in Punjab can very well challenge the law as
discriminatory for the proposed law would restrict their access to
alcohol and they are not barred by their religions from consuming it.
Excessive
legislation and regulation always has the danger of creating and
facilitating a black market. In spite of prohibition for Muslims,
alcohol is available through bootleggers. According to statistics
quoted in various sections of the media, out of 1,560 alcohol-related
cases reported at just one hospital of Lahore, more than 90 percent
were Muslims and only seven percent were non-Muslims.
Thus the
issue is not that of religion or of law. It is a personal matter and
the state should not regulate personal matters, especially that of
faith. When religiosity becomes a barometer of good citizenship, as has
been the case in Pakistan for decades, we see the rise of intolerant
and extremist attitudes.
The slain Taliban leader, Muslim Khan,
ordering the lashing of a burqa-clad woman who “dared to speak to a
male shopkeeper”, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA’s) proposed Hasba
Bill, the religion column in passport ruckus, the gender insensitive
attitudes and remarks towards women, the banning of alcohol for all and
sundry through legislation are different sides of the same coin: the
coin of extremism and curbing diversity in views, interpretations,
religions and behaviour. For to legislate on a matter is to create a
uniform law for everyone; personal beliefs and actions cannot be
uniform. To expect that must be, is to be intolerant.
As
Pakistan struggles to fight the war against terrorism and extremism, it
must remember that extremist and intolerant attitudes have to be rooted
out not just from the tribal areas but from other aspects of our lives
too.
The writer is an Islamabad-based development consultant. She can be reached at contact@individualland.com
In : Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
Notes