Sixty-two years ago, one day you said, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan, made one of the most important speeches of his - and of the history. A speech in which he laid out - in the most unambiguous terms - his vision for Pakistan and the rationale for that vision.

In this speech Mr. Jinnah laid out a detailed case for his argument and famously proclaimed:

…in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the [Pakistan].

Barely few days ago in Gojra, in Mr. Jinnah’s Pakistan, over 50 houses belonging to Pakistani Christians were burnt down by a mob and at least half a dozen Pakistani Christians were murdered for still unproven charges under a draconian law neither whose intent nor whose vigilante implementation Mr. Jinnah could ever have tolerated.

Our government has declared 11th August 2009 to be ‘Minorities Day,’ but neither our government nor we as a people are willing to repeal the draconian laws that enable the bigots amongst us to persecute the vulnerable and the marginalized amongst us.

Once again, we will shower platitudes on Mr. Jinnah’s vision of a tolerant Pakistan and then conveniently ignore that vision. A Pakistan for all Pakistanis, irrespective of, as he would say, “caste and creed.” A Pakistan where neither Mr. Jinnah’s vision nor our Pakistaniat would be high-jacked by the sanctimonious custodians of righteousness, the self-styled gate-keepers of morality, and the arrogant arbiters of patriotism.

We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah.

We are sorry that we have not been able to actualize the Pakistan of your vision. At least, not yet. Cursed by the very intolerance that you had warned us of, we have not only failed to bridge the divisions that existed already, we have worked hard to create new divisions. We have not only failed the minorities that were, we have created new ones by legislating exclusion.

We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah.

We are sorry for being so drunk in intolerance that we made ourselves the arbiters of who was Muslim enough to be Muslim, or Pakistani enough to be Pakistani.

We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah.

We are sorry not only for the Gojra incident as well as Sialkot incident that happened few days ago. We are sorry for the incidents that happens every day in the Pakistan you created.

Ghazal Bhatti
Human Rights Activist
Karachi, Pakistan

Other articles by Ghazal Bhatti

8 Steps to Effective Christian Leadership (Ghazal Bhatti)

As a Christian leader, you are held to high moral, ethical, and social standards. As a leader, you are held to high standards, but as a Christian leader, that bar is raised even higher. Why? Because both the Christian and non-Christian social environment has tended to expect that Christians measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards, as they rightly should. What can you do to be sure you ‘stand up to the test’ in the area of Christian leadership?
Read full detail ...

Christian minority women face unknown world in Pakistan (Ghazal Bhatti)

During the recent days of battle in the northwest region of the Swat Valley, minority groups are leaving as quickly as possible. Although the majority of religious minorities in the Swat Valley are ethnic Pushtuns, with Sunni religious beliefs, Christian minority women and their families are also part of the fleeing force of refugees.
Read full detail ...

Christmas feelings - feelings of love within created by happiness and Christmas feelings created first in others (Ghazal Bhatti)

Christmas feelings - feelings of special blessings received from God - feelings of higher happiness felt within ...millions enjoy Christmas feelings NOW these days, millions even enjoy the very same true Christmas feelings all year long, day after day and Billions are too busy in filing lawsuits, pursuing lawsuits, planning or executing revenge and punishment.
Read full detail ...

New Articles

Two brothers-accused of Blasphemy- killed in Pakistan: An extra judicial killing in the premises of the court (Revd Rana Youab Khan)

Christian and other human rights organisations seek a permanent solution to these murderous attacks which happen from time to time under the guise of the blasphemy  law and so demands to abolish the blasphemy law have become more vibrant and vocal. Building on reports and news, we have been receiving from few days, I produce a note to share our concern with the friends and partners in the communion and elsewhere.
Read full detail ...

Objections to the Objectives Resolution: A Minorities' Perspective (Revd Rana Youab Khan)

Nowadays, this question is widely under discussion in the Pakistan media, ‘Are we going into another phase of tension between the government and the Judiciary’? On April 18th the National Assembly of Pakistan passed the eighteenth amendment of the constitution of Pakistan but already, a full bench of the 17-member of Supreme Court chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had start hearing a set of petitions challenging certain provisions of the 18th Amendment. Under particular challenge was the formation of a judicial commission for the appointment of superior court judges. The decision taken by the Judiciary and the response of the government will determine the future of the amendment. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a president has relinquished a significant part of his powers willingly and transferred them to parliament and the office of the prime minister. The 18th amendment also includes an aspect of concern to the minorities, which has been acknowledged by the Chief Justice of Pakistan. He said, credit must go to the present parliament, which after 25 years took notice of the brazen way in which the word 'freely', relating to minorities’ rights which had always been part of the Constitution had been removed and would now be restored in the Objectives Resolution.
Read full detail ...

Blasphemy Laws and intolerance by extremist Muslims towards other faiths are an insult to Prophet Mohammed (Yunis Khushi)

Could a Christian compel Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Jens, Parsis, Buddhists, and atheists to respect Jesus Christ the way he respects him, and the way he worships Him as his Lord, God, and Saviour? If a Christian does so, then he is denying the very teachings of Lord Jesus Christ. Could anyone be compelled to pay a respect to any religion, any faith, any book, any prophet, or any kind of beliefs held by some people, or a group of people, or individuals, if that person is not an adherent of that faith, or if he does not want to pay the same respect to that prophet, book, beliefs as the adherents of that faith do? Why are Muslims so much intolerant towards the other faiths? Why do they call Kaffirs (nonbelievers) to everyone who is not a Muslim? Why has the hatred of the Sunni Muslims reached to a level whereby they are calling even Shias as Kaffirs? Why do they want people of all faiths to believe in Prophet Mohammed the way the Muslims believe in Prophet Mohammed? What have been the effects of the Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan? What will be the effects of religious intolerance on human culture and civilization? The following article will analyze the above questions and the general attitudes of the Muslims towards the people of other faiths, and the impact of the intolerant attitudes of the extremist Muslims towards other faiths and among the different denominations of Muslims themselves.
Read full detail ...

How many more lost years? (Nasir Saeed)

In the last month, three Christians have received lengthy prison sentences for blasphemy. Qamar David was given a life sentence after being found guilty of sending insulting text messages from his mobile phone in 2006, a charge he denied. Days later, husband and wife Ruqiya and Munir Masih were sentenced to 25 years in prison for supposedly desecrating the Koran, a ruling which, in a country with so little welfare provision, has effectively sentenced their six children to an uncertain future.
Read full detail ...

8 Steps to Effective Christian Leadership (Ghazal Bhatti)

As a Christian leader, you are held to high moral, ethical, and social standards. As a leader, you are held to high standards, but as a Christian leader, that bar is raised even higher. Why? Because both the Christian and non-Christian social environment has tended to expect that Christians measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards, as they rightly should. What can you do to be sure you ‘stand up to the test’ in the area of Christian leadership?
Read full detail ...