Living on the Margins. Minorities in South Asia - EURAC

Christians mainly concentrated in undivided Punjab, which, religiously, was the most
plural of all the British provinces, were also seriously affected. As far as the 565 princely
states were concerned, their plural societies were initially protected, but with India and
Pakistan’s desire for their integration, voluntary as well as forced population transfers
followed. In particular, many Muslims from the princely states of Jammu and Kashmir,
Junagardh and Hyderabad moved to Pakistan, whereas Bahawalpur and other such
predominantly Muslim states saw an outflow of Hindus to India 14 .
Following the 1970 civil war between East and West Pakistan and and the emergence of
the new state of Bangladesh led to more trans-regional migration. In 1979, following the
Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, refugees from these two
neighboring countries added to Pakistan’s population. 15 . All this has resulted in radical
demographic changes that have fed into already highly competitive and volatile intercommunity
relationships.
Tricks of Constitutions
In 1949, a year after Jinnah’s death, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan introduced the
Objectives Resolution. This document tried to placate the Muslim clerics and equally
tried to establish Pakistani nationhood on the principle of religious conformity.
Accordingly, the rules and regulations were to be framed in consonance with Islam,
allowing a greater role for the ulama, who felt emboldened by this greater recognition.
The ulama’s sectarianism came into the open in 1953. They wanted the regime to declare
Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority and remove Pakistan’s first Foreign Minister, Sir
Zafrullah Khan, an Ahmadi.. The violence led to the imposition of the first martial law in
Lahore and the arrest of several religio-political leaders, including Syed Abul Ala
Maudoodi, the founder of the Jammat Islami. He was tried and sentenced to death
(eventually commuted). This was the first time that the religio-political parties had
pressurized the regime in Karachi to play arbiter on religious affairs. The regime resisted
but the ulama found a common allying point that they would more effectively use 20
years later. Maudoodi’s trial exposed serious intra-Muslim differences within the ulama
over the definition of a Muslim 16 .
Other than the interim legislation of 1947 and the Objectives Resolution of 1949,
Pakistan has had four Constitutions since its independence. Viewed from the framework
of a minority rights lens, Pakistan’s successive constitutions represent a steady movement
towards institutionalization of exclusion and segregation of minorities. This has
legitimized wider socio-economic segregation of minorities and other underprivileged
groups such as women.
14 Kudaisya, G & Yong Tan, T. The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia, London: Routledge (2000)
15 Qadeer, MA. Lahore: Urban Development in the Third World, Lahore, Vanguard Books Limited (1983).
16 For details on constitutional developments and the religious riots in the early years, see Afzal, M.R.,
Pakistan: History and Politics, 1947–1971, Karachi, OUP, 2001; Binder, L., Religion and Politics in
Pakistan, Los Angeles, 1961; Nasr, S.V.R., Mawdudi “Making of Islamic Revolution”, New York, OUP,
1996
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