Letter published in the Daily Nation

The Daily Nation
http://nation.com.pk
December 24, 2008

Talking easy, doing hard
Yousaf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister of Pakistan announced August 11 to be 'the Minorities Day' for every year. I am unable to understand why do we need to celebrate the Minorities Day? Yes, the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had mentioned minorities and their rights in his address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947. But the ideology of Pakistan that he presented on this day died immediately after his death when an Objectives Resolution was passed in 1949 at the behest of the then Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan. The founder of this nation did not want Pakistan to be a theocratic state but his ideology perished and Pakistan is neither a true democracy today nor it has any justice or equal rights for all.
Religious minorities are suffering a lot in this country because of bias and discrimination in the textbooks especially against Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Zoroasters. This bias has seeped into all educational, social and political institutions of Pakistan. Minorities are segregated and are not accorded equal rights by either society or state.
Prime Minister Gillani said in his speech that he wished to create a culture of peace and harmony in the country. He must understand that in order to create this peace and harmony, firm steps must be taken by the government of Pakistan to address discrimination against the minorities on all level.
ANJUM JAMES PAUL