The so-called largest democracy in the world treats all minorities in the country poorly and cruelly. An alliance of Indian-American groups recently declared that human rights abuses against social and religious minorities in India have been on the rise under the current BJP-led government in the last three years. Recent example could be seen in the state of Karnataka in, Muslim female students are being harassed for wearing Hijab.
After 8 Muslim girls in Udupi were forced to sit on the footstep for weeks for wearing hijab, now many colleges in Karnataka especially in the coastal region closed gates on Muslim female students. This Systematic Oppression of Muslims has increased rapidly after PM Narendra Modi’s Right-Wing Political party BJP came to power in India and the state of Karnataka, From Right-Wing Extremist groups and religious leaders giving Muslims genocide calls repeatedly, to the killing of Muslims for eating beef, to Indian media spreading regular propaganda against Muslims to anti-Muslim riots where over 40 Muslims were killed a couple of years ago in Delhi, and now the systematic harassment of Muslim women in the name of hijab.
In all these instances, Modi and his party do not take any strict actions against the culprits, and that encourages them to do it furthermore, Because Modi and BJP, can not afford to upset these extremists because of their vote bank.
On the other hand, if we talk about minorities in Pakistan, The constitution of Pakistan defines our country as an “Islamic State”.
Pakistan is predominantly a State established for Muslims but many non-Muslims have been living here since its establishment. The constitution of Pakistan stands for equality and justice for all people regardless of caste, gender, religion, region, and language. Krishna Kumari Kohli became the first Hindu Dalit woman to be elected to the Senate in 2018. Prior to becoming a senator, she was an activist in a village in Nagarparkar.
Celebrating the session, Senator Kumari remarked that it was a ‘great honour’ to chair the Senate. She thanked Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for giving her the opportunity. The Minorities of Pakistan are living with religious harmony, but somewhere they are facing multiple
challenges such as job discrimination, socio-economical political and religious prejudices that must be attended with sincerity and meaningful measures to eliminate them.
Author: Saira Sohail