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Journalism of Courage
Last Tuesday, Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf did something, and also said something, which is rare in the political history of this Islamic Republic. He visited a Hindu temple in Karachi and said, “Places of worship of all religions, including Hinduism, were an integral part of the culture of Pakistan and its geographical history. Maintaining such properties in good condition is a government priority in order to turn them into sites of bonding between religions.”
When is the last time you heard of a Pakistani head of government visiting a Hindu temple and making such benign statements about Hinduism? Not during the time of Zia-ul-Haq, who set Pakistan firmly on the path of Islamisation and blessed cross-border terrorism against India as a state policy. Nor during the time of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had a Hindu mother, or the military rulers who preceded him. Yes, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, did state, in his historic Constituent Assembly speech on August 11, 1947, that Hindus and Muslims would be treated equally in the newly carved out nation. But he did not live long enough to build a durable secular foundation for his country. Indeed, Hindus became invisible in West Pakistan as well as in East Pakistan (which became Bangladesh in 1971).
Therefore, what Musharraf did by affirming Hinduism’s integral place in Pakistan’s history is both unprecedented and significant. We in India nurse many legitimate complaints against Musharraf, chiefly the Kargil intrusion.
But those who seek to find solutions to problems must always be objective in their analysis of situations and individuals. And facts often do not support assessment of a personality in clear black-and-white or good-and-bad terms. Therefore, Musharraf’s positive gesture to the Hindus in Pakistan, however small it may seem, deserves to be welcomed.
In saying this, I am also prompted by what I had myself observed in Pakistan when I accompanied L.K. Advani on his landmark visit to that country in June last year. The two temples I visited in Karachi were the Shiv Mandir on Clifton beach and Swaminarayan Mandir with its goshala or cowshed. (I saw the latter while on an unsuccessful exploration to find the house where my mother-in-law spent her childhood, before migrating to Bombay after partition.) These shrines almost hide their existence in the milieu around them. But in a city whose sizeable Hindu population, along with numerous pre-partition Hindu landmarks, has all but vanished, it was some solace to see these barely surviving temples. I must also add here that almost every Hindu I spoke to in Karachi said that life for the Hindus in Pakistan had got better after Musharraf came to power.
Then there was the visit to Katas Raj, near Lahore, where Advaniji was given the honour of laying the foundation stone for the renovation of an ancient Hindu temple complex. According to legend, Pandavas came here during their years in exile. What struck me was the genuine warmth with which Chaudhury Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q), received Advaniji at Katas Raj. He pledged Pakistan government’s full support for the renovation project and even added that, in the years to come, he would like to see Hindu pilgrims from India come to Katas Raj in the same way as Muslims from Pakistan go to Ajmer Sharif to offer prayers.
All the four provinces of Pakistan – Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan and NWFP – were once dotted with Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Parsi and Christian places of worship. Most of them have vanished. A few still exist. Besides Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, one of the most significant among these is the primordial Hinglajmata Mandir in Baluchistan. Considered one of the 52 Shaktipeeths in undivided India, it was a major pilgrimage centre for both Hindus and Muslims. Devotees believe that Rama, Sita and Lakshman visited this place during their exile. Just as many Hindus offer prayers at dargahs in India, Muslims of Baluchistan, who are proud of the fact that their forefathers defended the temple against bigoted rulers, worship it as Nani Ka Haj (which means “Grandmother’s Shrine”).
As far as Pakistan’s Jain and Buddhist past is concerned, one only has to visit the ruins of Takshila (near Islamabad) or the magnificent museum in Lahore (a city that derives its name from Lav, the son of Lord Ram) to see the glorious spiritual heritage of this part of undivided India.
We thus see that Hinduism, Islam and all the other sacred faiths were, and continue to be, integral to the history of the three nations that once constituted undivided India. If Musharraf and other Pakistani leaders strongly, sincerely and consistently affirm their belief in this truth, India and Pakistan can together solve the problem of blood-drenched Kashmir (where Islam and Shaivism are integral to Kashmiriyat) in no time.
