With due anger and sheer frustration, it is stated that the first ever slogan I had heard and chanted as a child was “Naaraye Bhutto: Jeaye Bhutto”. My political consciousness had an upbringing deeply rooted in the surroundings and circumstances when Shaheed Mohatramma Benazir Bhutto took oath as the first women Prime Minister of the Muslim World. The songs I liked were the PPP anthems and the pictures I adored in my childhood were that of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfiqar Bhutto.
People of Sindh who idolize Bhuttos, even more than idol-worshippers, always pin their hopes in the PPP government. They hope a PPP government would bring prosperity to their lives, provide jobs and much-awaited relief promised in its manifesto predicated upon the slogan of roti, kapra aur makaan.
However, what I want from the PPP government is peace and security for Hindu minority living in Sindh. Unfortunately, I can hardly hope anything from the PPP government in this regard.
It is because Bhutto’s PPP, now under President Zardari’s command, always merely flirts with Sindhis in the name of Sindh.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom I have idolized for many years as a great leader, raised the banner of socialism flanked by two mighty feudal lords, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Ghulam Mustafa Khar. He posed as a secular leader but his government decalred Ahmedis as non-Muslims. He did it to please Mullahs to outdo his leftist rivals. However, the Ahamdis have played a heavy price for his opportunist politics. His daughter, Benazir Bhutto, also struck dirty deals with military to reach the echelons of power. From patronizing Taliban and building coalitions with fundamentalists [including Sipah-e-Sahaba], she betrayed the country’s minorties and her liberal constituency every time she had to.
Such has been Bhuttos lust for power that, to quote Stanley Wolpert [quoting from the book Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan], “Bhuttos have been adroit at seizing whatever opportunities life offered, equally ready to move on or to change their faith….”
President Zardari is no exception.
While flirting with Sindh through symbolic gestures like Sindhi Topi and Ajrak Day, his government has utterly failed to protect Sindhi minorities as well as those who raise voice for the persecuted minorities. Forced conversions of young Hindu girls, kidnappings for ransom of Hindu traders are rife in Sindh. Every Sindhi knows who are involved in these cases. Even President Zardari’s own sister who also happens to be Member of the National Assembly and daughter of Chief Minister Sindh on the floor of House have stated that the PPP MNAs are involved in such crimes.
And not just in Sindh. His own Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Shahabaz Bhatti, and Governor Punjab, Salman Taseer, who raised voice to protect blasphemy accused Aasia Bibi, were killed in the broad daylight.
President Zardari did not even feel morally obliged to symbolically suspend the membership of MNA Mian Mitoo of Bharchoondi Sharif who has allegedly been blamed for forcible conversion of Hindu girls.
The Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reports that over 500 Hindu families have migrated from Pakistan only in 2011. In the wake of Supreme Court verdict in the forcible conversion case on April 18, the number of Hindus leaving the country will increase manifold.
True, the PPP government has given minorities more representation in the Senate and President Zardari keeps promising that his government would protect the minorities. But reality betrays his lavish rhetoric.
Mr. President might be a shrewd politician who has outsmarted and outclassed many political rivals but his shrewd moves have not translated into any relief for the teeming millions, most importantly countries religious minorities.
| Kapil Dev is Communication Consultant, Freelance Columnist and Human Rights Activist. |
