ISLAMABAD: Islamic Republic of
Pakistan, a sovereign country in South Asia with a population exceeding 180
million people, came into being as a result of the Pakistan movement led by
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It is the second most populous Muslim majority country and
has the second largest Shia population in the world. After Islam, Christianity
and Hinduism are the largest religious minorities in the country. Religious
minorities are around 5% of the total population. Pakistan is a democratic
country but a common man remains deprived of the basic human rights, which is
sheer violation of the constitution.
During the General Zia’s regime
“Ehtram-e-Ramzan ordinance 1981” was introduced and with the rise to power of
PML-N, they brought back to some extent, the same straitjacket religiosity of
dark years. This ordinance is one of the many incomprehensible laws that
General Zia ul haq’s unconstitutional and illegal regime inflicted upon Pakistan.
It is perhaps very similar to the Sabbath laws of Jews and Christians, which at
one point enjoyed state sanction in many secular western nations including the US.
But most of these states have since then repealed these laws or have made them
redundant. But this ordinance is there and the government reminds the public
that it is unlawful to eat, drink or smoke publicly during the month of
Ramazan. The law states that any person who is
under obligation to fast is not allowed to eat drink or smoke in public.
Now this in
itself creates two exceptions: the first would be a person who is not under
obligation i.e. a person who is either a non-Muslim, sick, elderly or is a
woman who may be menstruating. However, the application of this law has more
often than not targeted non-Muslims because, in practical terms, it is
impossible to tell whether a person is ‘under obligation’ to ‘fast’ just by
looking at the person. The second exception is for those people under
obligation to not eat, drink or smoke in public. So, in other words, it is okay
for a person under obligation to fast to eat, drink and smoke so long as he or
she does it privately. Now the logical extension of this would be that a person
not under obligation can eat, drink or smoke as he or she pleases. It goes
without saying that this legal freedom is not honored by the police who target
the poorest of the poor in enforcing this law. It is quite the sightseeing laborers
being hauled into jail for a mere drink of water during these extremely hot
months of June and July. Then there is the obvious question of whether or not
the state has any right, constitutionally, legally or morally to determine who
is under an obligation to fast or not. Pakistan’s constitution, in terms of its
relationship with Islam, is an enabling and not an enforcing constitution. The
state is required to enable Muslims to live Islamic lives but not to force them
to do so. No article of the constitution empowers the state to force people to
pray, fast or live according to the injunctions of Islam. Hence the question of
whether a person is under any obligation to fast or not be a matter between him
and God, and not between the state and the citizen.
Surely time has come for the
people of Pakistan plus the government to realize that religious observance is
usually personal matter but not insurance plan one. It really is time for you
to bury Zia’s legacy along with his remains in Faisal mosque. The 1st step
would become to scrap his illegal ordinance given cover from the eighth
amendment.
By – Shamim Masih
No comments:
Post a Comment