Recently, the rescinding of the ‘Christian-only’ condition for sanitary workers by the Pakistan Army has been met with praise by the public. It is a decisive action made by the upper echelons of the establishment, strategically removing religious discrimination against minorities, a vice previously considered to be a norm. Such societal norms, which are exclusive to or aim to highlight a certain sect or religion are not only an example of bigotry, but also one of our short-comings as a developed nation formed on the basis of equity in accordance with Islamic law.

In a 2013 survey, the World Watch Monitor noted that the representation of Christians in jobs of sweepers and other sanitation positions in major Pakistani cities was disproportionately high compared to their percentage in the population. They also noted that nearly 70 percent of the sanitation staff in Lahore were Christians while in Karachi, they made up 80 percent of the staff. In January, the Swabi district council in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province passed a resolution demanding that all sweepers in the district hospital be only Christians. The resolution added that any Muslim working in the post of a sweeper be transferred to the position of a peon or a guard.

Our draconian mindsets and political strategies can be traced back to the tyrannical rule of the British Victorian Empire, when minorities would be cast aside like mere sacrificial pawns. They would be dealt with austere reprisals whenever the British deemed necessary. From the lowly clerk jobs, to the civil services, all the way to the Indian representation in the parliament and history, the local minorities were often treated unjustly. An instance of this is when the British military forced local Indian soldiers to bite off cartridges laced with pig and cow fat, thus defying the rules of their religion. Even by the early 20th century, only 2.2 percent of the local Indians were allowed to vote which is a measly 5.5 million the population at the time.

Using the actions taken by the Army as an example, other governmental organizations should follow their footsteps in trying to abolish discriminatory laws targeting a specific community. This would help in creating a more unified Pakistan in the future

Uptil the 21st century, laws surrounding minorities were still stringent, outdated and archaic. We are still in the shadows of our former colonial rulers. Associating a certain sect or religion to lowly jobs is the epitome of sectarianism in our country. By abolishing this discriminatory law in their own ranks, the Army has shown that it is one of the few organizations in the country that sincerely values equality, and opposes favoritism made on religious grounds. It is the only organization where selection depends solely on merit, unlike a great fraction of the government. The low representation of minorities in Parliament is another one of the many examples of the government’s negligence towards minority groups. The Pakistan Army stands out in dealing with this matter, possibly because much of the country’s violence stems from this issue.

Using the actions taken by the Army as an example, other governmental organizations should follow their footsteps in trying to abolish discriminatory laws targeting a specific community. This would help in creating a more unified Pakistan in the future. Hearing about someone from a particular sect being heinously attacked and murdered has become a despairing norm in our present day lives. Seeing mosques of a specific group or community being blown up, brutal attacks on different religious processions and honour killings done on religious grounds are only some examples from the plethora of unlawful acts committed against minority groups in Pakistan. By giving due importance to the demands of different sects and minorities, most of the violence and unrest in our country can be eradicated.

Although the freedom of religion in Pakistan is guaranteed by the Pakistani constitution, progress on religious freedom is still slow as Pakistan transitions to democracy from Zia’s autocracy. In 2016, Sindh with Pakistan’s largest Hindu majority, passed a bill that outlawed forced conversions. This indicates that steps are being taken, although at a gradual rate. The bill was tabled by the Pakistan Muslim League Functional(PML-F) which is a faction of the PML and is led by Sufi Pir Pagara. The party is 96% Muslim, with Sindh being the most religiously diverse province with a minority population of 8 percent (predominantly Hindu and Christian). Within Sindh there is no protection for those being forced to convert to Islam against their will.

On 23 September 2009, a similar US resolution was passed by the United States House of Representatives. They introduced “House Resolution 764” which called on Pakistan to restore religious freedom in the country. The resolution was introduced by Representative Chris Smith. As of December 2016, the government could not come to terms with making such a critical decision due to its political and religious affects on the structure, and the resolution failed.

Although we do have a ministry of religious affairs, no concrete effort has been made to protect minorities. The Ministry claims that it spends 30 percent of its annual budget to assist indigent minorities, to repair minority places of worship, to set up minority-run small development schemes and celebrate minority festivals. However, problems among the communities still exists. The religious minorities question the ministry’s expenditures, observing that localities and villages housing minority citizens go without basic civic amenities. The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, using official budget figures for expenditures in 1998, calculated that the Government spent PKR850 on each Muslim and only PKR 160 on each religious minority citizen per month. Religious minority interests have also been represented by a Minorities Ministry, which has taken various forms and since 2016, sits under the Religious Affairs Ministry again.

The writer is a journalist and social media activist based in Islamabad