Damned twice over
Siddique Humayun Aug 7, 2011, 12.09am IST
Whenever there is talk of minority rights in Pakistan, one usually
thinks of Christians, Ahmadis and Hindus. But there is a minority that
lives within this minority. They are the low-caste Hindus of Sindh and
southern Punjab. Estimates vary, but their numbers are pegged anywhere
between two to four million. The country's caste Hindus do not much
care about their dalit brethren while the state and society do not
differentiate between the two.
The story of dalits in Pakistan is as old as the country itself.
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah appointed Jogendra Nath Mondal as the
newborn state's first federal minister for law, justice and
parliamentary affairs. Sadly, this was the only instance a dalit
occupied such high office in Pakistan. After Jinnah's death,
minorities lost much of their protection and a frustrated Mondal
resigned and migrated to India in 1953. While migration was an easy
choice for most influential caste Hindus during Partition, the poor,
low-caste among them, who form the bulk of the Hindu population in
Pakistan, could only afford to stay back.
In 1998, the 6% 'scheduled caste quota' in Pakistan's federal services
was changed to a 'minority quota'. Krishan Bheel and Dr Meghwar, the
two dalit Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) at the time, watched
this in helpless silence. They couldn't take on the more strident and
united MNAs from the relatively stronger minorities. With this change,
the dalits of Pakistan found themselves legally part of a minority
that refused to accept them as their own. They languish at the bottom
of the social structure, deprived of identity and recognition.
Despite the emergence of some prominent leaders from the community,
the larger picture looks bleak. They are discriminated against on both
fronts — as a minority by society in general and as dalits by the
caste Hindu minority, facing bias in educational institutions as well
as in community life. From keeping different utensils to forbidding
them from drawing water from common wells, the evil of untouchability
continues to this day not only in India but also in Pakistan.
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