Hindus better off, says peace activist, but insists Indo-Pak dialogue is essential.
Despite the constitutional assurance of security given to minorities in Pakistan, their fate in that country leaves a lot to be desired, claimed the noted Indo-Pak peace activist and member of Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC), B Moinuddin Kutty.
Kutty was in Pune on Sunday for his felicitation by city-based organisation, Sarhad.
The octogenarian is originally from Kerela but went to Pakistan and became a citizen in 1950. A veteran trade unionist, Kutty has been to jail for opposing the military dictatorship in Pakistan many a times. A diehard peace activist, Kutty has been instrumental in organising peace conferences in Pakistan.
“In spite of constitutional guarantees, religious and ethnic minorities face a lot of discrimination in their day-to-day life,” he said. The discrimination, he claimed, ranged from threats to life, economic bias and attacks on places of worship.
He cited the example of a recent vitriolic attack launched on the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in Karachi by certain Muslim religious teachers. “The maulvis openly preach that it is the duty of devout Muslims to kill Ahmadiyyas, and that led to a spate of attacks,” he said.
However, Kutty claimed that compared to other minorities the fate of Hindus was better. “There are five Hindu ministers in the Sindh cabinet. We also have quite a few senior Hindu officers in significant posts,” he said.
Kutty claimed that the cessation of bilateral talks with India would be detrimental for the citizens of both the countries. “The atmosphere of fear and mutual distrust has been brought about by vested interests between the two countries. The only way we can mitigate this is to keep the channels of communication open between us,” he said.
On the recent visit of the newly appointed Pakistani foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, he cited Khar’s statement calling for talks as the right step towards peace. “If we continue with talks between citizens of the country, then there would not be any problem of terrorism in both the countries,” he said.
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