First lesson in Pakistan schools: Hindus are kafirs, Jews enemies of Islam
NEW DELHI: As a political analyst, researcher and president of the
Paris-based NGO Baloch Voice Association, Munir Mengal has been lobbying
for the rights of Baloch people for several years now.
The activist
in him never misses an opportunity to speak his heart out at a world
forum to expose the gross human rights violations perpetrated by the
Pakistani government and military in Balochistan. Yesterday, at United
Nations Geneva-in the meeting of the 18th Session of the
Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action-the Baloch representative
told the Working Group about how schools in Pakistan are feeding
anti-Hindu hatred and also hostility against the Jews.
"Mr. Chairperson, I used to go to school in a very high-standard, state-run Army school called the Cadet College.
The first lesson taught to us was that Hindus are kafirs (a pejorative
and derogatory term usually used for non-Muslims), Jews are enemies of
Islam, and both are liable to death for no other reason. Even today the
same is the first, most important and basic message from uniformed Army
teachers which is that we have to respect guns and bombs because we have
to use these against Hindu mothers to kill them otherwise they will
give birth to a Hindu child," Mengal said in his speech.
"This sort
of hatred is being taught in Pakistani schools, madrasas at every level
even today. And all this is a basic part of the education syllabus.
Religious fanatic groups and terrorist organisations have been declared
and announced as state strategic assets," he stressed further.
That
most of the madrasas in Pakistan no longer teach sacred laws or other
Islamic subjects and are instead busy churning out extremists is known
to the entire world. State- and military-run schools, as revealed by
Mengal, too have been running the well-funded, sophisticated propaganda
for decades with teachers educated at madrasas radicalizing the next
generation gradually. A few months ago, the Punjab province had declared
that no university will award a degree unless a student has attended
the required 'Quran with translation' classes.
Any student or
teacher who tries to protest or express his opinion is accused of
committing blasphemy. Last year, a Pakistani court sentenced the
33-year-old university lecturer Junaid Hafeez to death for blasphemy. A
Fulbright scholar, Hafeez was arrested in March 2013 and accused of
posting liberal comments on social media. His lawyer was shot dead a
year after his arrest. The Pakistani establishment is doing anything and
everything to achieve its vicious objectives.
"Blasphemy law is
being used systematically to punish the highly vulnerable sects of the
societies, particularly religious minorities, and is being used as a
high tool for discrimination. Labeling someone with blasphemy, punishing
the whole community, and extra-judicially killing the alleged person,
killing of any one who spoke out against the misuse of Blasphemy law, are considered as acts of heroism in Pakistan," Mengal told the UN Working Group.
He
explained in detail how Pakistan is "systematically" eliminating the
original identities of its minorities, including the Baloch community.
"Just
analyze what tools the state is using: books are barred in Balochistan.
Reading and writing in mother tongue is barred. Anyone who practices
his culture and belief is called a traitor. It means denying them
humanity and suffocating the society. Right to education, right to
health facilities, economic and job rights are far from thought. In such
cases, judiciary becomes irrelevant and impunity prevails in every
aspect of life," he said.
The 'Pakistan-occupied Balochistan' has
already seen enough death and destruction over the past two decades. But
there is more torture in store for the Balochs with China Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) inflicting unrepairable damage in the region, both materially
and emotionally. The locals have labeled such 'game changer' projects as
tactics to gain strategic depth, dominate and ultimately eliminate
communities already reeling from the state-sponsored atrocities.
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