Category Archives: Discrimination

Ongoing discrimination against the Ahmadi “Muslims” in Pakistan

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It is very distressing to learn about DIRECT accounts of casteism widely practiced in Pakistan. Upon reading the excerpts from an article (which recently appeared in Firstpost) below, you’ll realize how discrimination based on beliefs and religion is so widespread in Pakistan that it has been given a place in the country’s constitution itself — through an amendment made in 1974, which says that Ahmadis are not Muslims. They cannot preach, practice or call themselves Muslims in Pakistan. If they do, they will be arrested and may even be given a death sentence. This is about as outrageous as it can get!

To realize how casteism has caused harm to Pakistan’s intellectual development, one only needs to study the case of Abdus Salam, Pakistan’s sole Nobel Laureate who won the prize for his contribution to the Standard Model of physics (and the discovery of Higgs Boson).

He belonged to the Ahmadi sect of Muslims. He was well-respected in Pakistan before 1974. But as soon as the constitution was amended to discriminate against Ahmadis, he was persecuted and forced to leave the country. Now, there’s little (if any) mention of him in Pakistan’s textbooks. His talents and contribution to science are totally ignored, thanks to the Islamic nation’s Islamic fundamentalists!

Below, I reproduce a few excerpts from the article (emphasis mine):

Praise within Pakistan for Salam, who also guided the early stages of the country’s nuclear program, faded decades ago as Muslim fundamentalists gained power. He belonged to the Ahmadi sect, which has been persecuted by the government and targeted by Taliban militants who view its members as heretics.

Amendment to Pakistan’s constitution to enforce casteism against the Ahmadis:

Salam’s life, along with the fate of the 3 million other Ahmadis in Pakistan, drastically changed in 1974 when parliament amended the constitution to declare that members of the sect were not considered Muslims under Pakistani law.

All Pakistani passport applicants must sign a section saying the Ahmadi faith’s founder was an “impostor” and his followers are “non-Muslims.” Ahmadis are prevented by law in Pakistan from “posing as Muslims,” declaring their faith publicly, calling their places of worship mosques or performing the Muslim call to prayer. They can be punished with prison and even death.

Note how, upon persecution, Salam moved to Europe and contributed his talent and perseverance to Italy’s scientific progress! Pakistan lost one of the few opportunities it had for intellectual development, thanks to discrimination practiced by the dominant Sunnis, for according to them Salam has no place in Allah’s kingdom:

Salam resigned from his government post in protest following the 1974 constitutional amendment and eventually moved to Europe to pursue his work. In Italy, he created a center for theoretical physics to help physicists from the developing world.

Although Pakistan’s then-president, General Zia ul-Haq, presented Salam with Pakistan’s highest civilian honor after he won the Nobel Prize, the general response in the country was muted. The physicist was celebrated more enthusiastically by other nations, including Pakistan’s archenemy, India.

Discrimination continues till today:

“Many Ahmadis have received letters from fundamentalists since the 2010 attacks threatening to target them again, and the government isn’t doing anything,” said Qamar Suleiman, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community.

Abdus Salam, Pakistan’s only Nobel Laureate. Alas, not Pakistan’s anymore!

Racism and casteism are RAMPANT in India

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Two important issues Aamir Khan must feature in his show Satyamev Jayate are (1) racism and (2) casteism. I believe these issues are very underrated by our people despite the fact that they are deeply entrenched in the Indian psyche — so much so that many victims don’t recognize the atrocity when they are being subjected to it.

What’s worse is that even supposedly “good” people become active perpetrators of this crime (albeit unwittingly) when exclusively searching for a fair-skinned boy or a girl for marriage. Or for a person only from their own caste. Are dark-skinned people not beautiful or handsome anymore? Or are people from a different caste dishonest and evil? The point is India is fractured, fragmented, and fallen into pieces through casteism and racism practiced by its own people.

At the outset, please note that the evil of birth-based caste-system has crept into our system only since a few thousand years. And one could be forgiven for falsely believing that Hinduism engendered it.

The fact is when the task of translation from Sanskrit to English is assigned to an ignorant, impure Western indologist or the authority to read them is seized by the power-hungry brahmins, the result is complete manipulation and misinterpretation of one of the world’s greatest wisdom books, Vedas.

I call them wisdom books and not scriptures because they are essentially guide books containing topics such as science, martial arts, ethics, maths, metaphysics and much more. Unlike most of the world’s scriptures, you are given complete freedom to reject them without being threatened with eternal hell. These books promote social hierarchy based on merits, rather than on birth as claimed by many brahmins today. But that’s a whole different topic. For those interested in digging deeper into it, I highly suggest reading Agniveer’s exposition here.

Talking about racism, the societal pressure to look fair is so high in India that it has created a thriving culture of fairness creams — not just for face but also for private parts (Watch this ridiculous commercial). The result is young Indian men and women with totally destroyed self-esteem and dignity.

Compare this to Western nations, for instance in America, where dark-skinned people are perfectly comfortable in their own skin. African Americans don’t wish to be white. They don’t believe fair-skinned actors are necessarily better-looking. On a comical note, imagine Will Smith using fairness creams to become fairer so he gets a raise on his self-esteem! The point is we have become mental slaves, minions of colonialism owing to being subjected to centuries of bondage. And the onus is on us to undo this influence through actively rejecting every negative thought that comes to our mind. “No one saves us but ourselves!” noted Vivekananda.

If people think you are less attractive than your peers only because you are darker, they are being racist and it’s their problem. Such social parasites exist in every society and only need to be ignored!

Having said that, please note that I’m a strong proponent of contemporary fashion. I admire people who (a) want to look good, and (b) consciously act on improving their appearance. I don’t quite admire people who shy away from even making an effort to appear decent. Looks (which are a CRUCIAL factor in our overall personality) are very important — just not at the cost of our self-esteem.

By all means, please wear nice clothes, jewelry and cosmetics. But know where to draw a clear line between fashion that expresses your self-confidence versus that which reflects the lack of it. Don’t believe the ridiculous notion that darker skin will make you look unattractive. If you try to become someone else through changing your essential being, you will only end up living life in continued embarrassment and guilt.