By TARIQ A. AL-MAEENA | ARAB NEWS Two incidents last week and thousands of miles apart, so different and yet appear to have a common thread running through them.
In the first incident, Pakistani Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was brutally gunned down outside his residence in Islamabad and murdered.
For the record, Bhatti, a Christian, is the second senior official to be assassinated this year for bringing to the platform Pakistan’s blasphemy laws — laws which many critics claim are used for personal vengeance. Earlier, in January of this year, Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was killed by his own bodyguard for publicly declaring his intent to seek modifications to these laws to curb abuses against minorities.
For his part, Bhatti had been actively involved in trying to promote interfaith harmony, and mindful of the powers of the religious establishment in Pakistan that has taken over the country, tried to establish dialogue with hard-line religious groups in an effort to further his cause.
In various interviews, he stated, “Every religion gives message of love and peace and there is no room for violence and bloodshed in any religion. I will prefer to die for the cause to defend the rights of my community rather than to compromise on my principles...The forces of violence, militants, banned organizations, Taleban and Al-Qaeda want to impose their radical philosophy on Pakistan and whosoever stands against it they threaten him.”
Bhatti became the first minority member to be appointed to the post of federal minister for minorities’ affairs. At the time of taking office in 2008, he declared that he had accepted the post to help the “oppressed, downtrodden and marginalized” people of Pakistan, and would use all the powers of his office to protect and empower religious minorities.
“I want to send a message of hope to the people living a life of disappointment, disillusionment and despair. Jesus is the nucleus of my life and I want to be his true follower through my actions by sharing the love of God with the poor, oppressed, victimized, needy and suffering people of Pakistan,” was his message.
And he did not stop there. Bhatti proposed to the Ministry of Education to remove all hate and divisive material from Pakistan’s curriculum, and also planned to introduce a legislation banning the use of hate speeches and divisive literature against any faith. His efforts as minister were also rewarded when four Senate seats were declared reserved for minorities.
Among his various successes was the setting up of a 24-hour hotline for reporting acts of violence against minorities. He also spearheaded a campaign to protect non-Islamic religious artifacts and sites spread throughout Pakistan. Through his initiatives, the Pakistani government formally declared Aug. 11 as “Minorities Day.”
While many Pakistani officials have refused to make a public stand for amendments to the blasphemy laws as written for fear of a backlash from extremists, Bhatti was not so easily intimidated. Understanding the sensitivity of the laws and the intensity of feelings it evoked among the majority whenever any politician dared to table the subject, and mindful of his own position, Bhatti embarked on the task of eliminating the misuse of the law rather than calling for its annulment. Unfortunately, someone did not share Bhatti’s ideology and took the life of the country’s only Christian minister.
The other incident took place many miles westward in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. At the Riyadh International Book Fair, a group of militant fundamentalists spoiled the party for the Saudi minister of information. Verbally attacking the minister with charges that his ministry had in recent years deviated toward Western values through such exhibitions and openness, this band of extremists then proceeded to abuse women visitors at the book fair by charging their presence as immoral. According to reports, “One of them even seized a microphone and started warning women visitors and journalists to comply with the so-called code of conduct and religion.”
Earlier, Indian Ambassador to the Kingdom Talmiz Ahmad in his speech had said,
“Truly, there is now an intellectual ferment in the Arab world. This is a real nahda (renaissance), a new dawn.” He was speaking during a reception held in honor of Indian scholars visiting the book fair.
Obviously those words failed to impress these extremists. Such renaissance went against their distorted way of thinking. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denied that these misfits were members of the commission, and were acting on their own.
The thread that is common in both incidents is one of fanatic ideology. Questions must be asked as to why these people are allowed any tolerance to exercise their ideology of intolerance. How long will the majority continue to remain in silence before they too are swept away in this madness?
(talmaeena@aol.com)
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