Why the silence for persecuted Hindus?
The Hindu community is facing its worst crisis as the life, honour and property of its members are under vicious attack, with the state watching on silently. DESIGN JAHANZAIB HAQUE
The debate over whether Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted the country he founded to be a secular or an Islamic one has been going on ever since Pakistan’s inception. This debate is a highly contentious one and shows no signs of abating or even mellowing down despite the passage of time.
Here, I will not ponder on the question regarding the vision that Jinnah really had for Pakistan. However, what no one can deny is that Jinnah was an individual who stood firmly for the generous and fair treatment of everyone, especially the minority communities.
Over the past six decades, Pakistanis have repudiated each of Jinnah’s core beliefs. Lately, however, they have touched new lows when one takes into account the treatment that has been meted out to the Hindu community in Sindh. The Sindhi Hindu community is one of the country’s oldest communities that has lived in this land since the days of Raja Dahir and preceding that. Partition forced many of them to flee their ancestral homeland. However, their love for Sindh was so great that some of them continued to live and soldier on here despite the discrimination and the second class citizen status bestowed on them. But now all this might change. The community is facing its worst crisis as the life, honour and property of its members are under vicious attack, with the state watching on silently.
The sinister trend of kidnapping the females of this community, betrothing them forcibly to their Muslim captors and then making a show of their supposed conversion to Islam, is deplorable to say the least. An exodus of Hindus, particularly the educated ones, has started and very soon Pakistan may lose some of its most hard-working, law-abiding and oldest citizens. As a result, the country will be poorer off as it will lose whatever is left of its pluralistic landscape.
The shameful fact is that civil society and the clergy — who ceaselessly harp about Islam being a religion of peace — have not raised the slightest objection on this attack on the honour of a community we are duty-bound to protect. With the present depressing state of affairs, Jinnah’s soul must be cringing sorely in his grave.
Read more by Amna Lone here.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.
This is unfortunately a dead horse that has been flogged for too long; there is no solution to this problem because the bias is too deep-rooted – the kind of comments that one sees even in a forum like ET (which cannot be representative of Pak population – education levels much be much lower outside) show what Hindus must have to endure to stay on in Pakistan; add a number of people who actually believe that they are doing God’s work by adding one more number to the faithful by kidnapping and forced betrothal.Recommend
I guess the reason is because since Pakistan is ‘land of the pure’ and constitutionally non-muslims have a less rights ( like they cannot be trusted to aspire for PM or President of Pakistan and are subject to blasphemy charges ) and are considered infidels , so its okay to dehumanize them ?Recommend
Hi Amna, Thanks for your heartfelt account. Unfortunately I think the symptoms that you see today, the complete marginalization and subjugation of Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadis from Pak society is virtually complete. Next in line may be Shias. This process started 65 years ago and its too late.Recommend
Madam,
‘Living since Raja Dahir and preceding that’.
Can anybody put a date to when hinduism was born or hindus inhabited the land of ‘bharat’.
Islam is not a religion of peace, Islam is what islam does and Hindus have had to bear the brunt of this peaceful relgion.Recommend
MA Jinnah was proud of his Rajput heritage, and in some photographs you can see him in traditional Rajput clothes.
Nowadays, just spell “Rajput” and the average individual from Pakistan will look at you with contempt – the national mythology has simply alienated Pakistanis from Hinduism, not in a naive manner, but in such degree that they associate Hinduism with their “shameful” past, and in a process of self-hate they have to despise Hinduism and especially the Hindus in order to assert their own fragile identity.
And interesting that you mention Raja Dahir… Pakistan doesn’t want him, but embrace his enemy, the Arab-Islamic imperialism Muhammad bin Qasim.
Hinduism is lost in Pakistan. That’s why you see the Sindhi Hindus – indeed a bright community – are flying their ancestral home for India… but wasn’t MA Jinnah seeking that religious homogenisation ? Probably.Recommend
I wonder why no comments by otherwise ever argumenative pakistanis!
My advice to pakistani hindus: if getting convereted guarantees safety of life and possessions then be it, get converted. I am sure gods follow no religion.Recommend
How do you define Evil? Now you talk of peace and what islam stands for?Recommend
It’s a salubrious sign that media is highlighting the injustice done with the minorities but at the same time quite depressing because,
there is still no coverage to the sectarian genocide against our shia muslim brothers
please do give the coverage to the brutal killings in gilgit and parachanar.Recommend
I always wonder why the editorials at Tribune sound the way they do until I found out the voice behind them is the likes of Amna Lone.
“The sinister trend of kidnapping the females of this community, betrothing them forcibly to their Muslim captors and then making a show of their supposed conversion to Islam, is deplorable to say the least.”
I thought there were multiple narratives involved so why did a sub-editor at Tribune speak of only one narrative and that too collectively demanded Muslims to pick up the responsibility to these families’ drama? Secondly, the Hindu voices are not only being heard but championed by all sides from the self-proclaimed human right defenders to outright anti-Muslim liberals. It was Naveed Shah who became the villain and Rinkle who was depicted as the victim. The Muslim SC chief of Pakistan and the President of Pakistan were also involved.
Let me suggest one solution to this: ban marriage between Muslims and Hindus and any Muslim or Hindu man/woman who falls in love with each other should be asked to prove their love to each other. Let’s follow that route and see how fast the purity of each religion could be defended.
Finally, Sindhi Hindus in India, according to the Tribune own columnist Khaled Ahmed, are 90% supporters of BJP and do not have a favorable record when it comes to treating minorities/Muslims either. Remember the man who destroyed Babri mosque, he is a Sindhi Hindu who loves Bharat more than he loves Sindh. So, let’s us not play the victim card here.Recommend
Thank you Amna Lone for your heartfelt remarks. However the situation in Pakistan today is a culmination of events over past 6 decades and its too late to rectify the situation.Recommend
I think when a few Hindus were gunned down not too long ago, their relatives few of them were doctors migrated to India. All I can see is India’s gain.
Such a communal and violent state like Pakistan needs to have its minorities to maintain balance, because their culture is of peace and non-violence. If they go away, Pakistanis will turn on each other. Thats already happening with 3% minorities, that number will further go down and the scale of violence will increase.Recommend
There are not significant numbers of Hindus in Pakistan and thus persecution of Hindus is statistically insignificant. Keep on persecuting them.Recommend
Sindhi Hindu Community is not only oldest community, It is “Native Community of Sindh”Recommend
We will take care of the matter after ghazwa hindRecommend
Lady,
It is nice that there is some folks who think about ‘protecting’ minority hindus in Pakistan! What you should be asking for is equal rights to all citizens, not ‘protection’.
It is absurd that a nation treats its natural born citizens in two different ways. It reserves top positions only to certain religious followers. What mistake did Hindus of Pakistan do? Setting their faith in the words of Jinnah? They were systematically cleansed out over 50+ years.
Now it is too late. It is best that India accepts the remaining 1+ % Hindus & Sikhs and let them settle in India. If they don’t want to shift, they should indeed convert to islam and be done with it. This way ‘Pak’istan can indeed become pure nation of muslims.
Whatever good it’ll do. Religion never solved problems – it only creates them.Recommend
If not many Pakistanis are bothered by this horrific treatment of minorities, then it is part of mainstream Islam.
Another thing to note is that there have been no Hindu suicide bombers or terrorists in Pakistan. If Muslim community were treated like this in India, there would be multiple terror attacks on civilian targets every day in India.Recommend
ooh my god,zaid hamid is funnyRecommend
i dont cosider hindus my equal my family was forced to flee occupied kasmir by hindu army so i dont consider them my equal Recommend
utter rubbish, ,, Hindus study with us in our universities , they are never treated second class, this is a worst example of propaganda, and there is no forced conversion in Pakistan, although ET can find many but i still wonder cant ET speak on whats going in Kashmir?????? or in Palestine ? or in Afghanistan? and if you watch more closely all the population of interior sind is in bad condition whether Hindu or Muslim, , and stop telling lies Recommend
@pk kashmiri(refugee): ” … i dont cosider hindus my equal my family was forced to flee occupied kasmir by hindu army so i dont consider them my equal … ”
In that case, I hope you will not mind me saying that I do not consider muslims my equal because I was forced give away my Akhand Bharat to them – the Akhand Bharat that for the longest time was populated by people who were not Muslim.
( I made the statement to make a point, for me religion is a personal matter and all humans are EQUAL, all religions are equal and all lead to the same divine entity ) Recommend
@pk kashmiri(refugee) :
Threre are 99% Muslims living in Kashmir Valley who have not been thrown out by Hindus army, however 100% native hindu pupulation has been thrown out from kashmir Valley including myself by Muslims in 1999. So shall you say now you don’t consider Muslims equal to Hindus ?Recommend
In the land of wolves, there is no place for lambs. Nonmuslims better get the hell out of this jungle before the wolves make a meal out of them…or they can temporarily turn themselves into wolves to save themselves from the wolves. To understand what I am saying, read the wiki entry for Netaji Palkar.Recommend
Short and to the point, liked it.
Although this subject has been written on countless times, it deserves to be written on many more times to show up the injustice being done in the name of religion.
If one looks a little closer you realise that Islam’s worst enemy is Islam itself, simply because no one follows it, but follows what suits them. Recommend
pakistan is not a land of pure but a land of converts.. conversions are like chain reaction in this part of indian subcontinentRecommend
@Parvez
That is the very essence of religion. People follow what they think the religion tells them (suitable to their personal profit of course). Umwelt, as another opinion on this website tells us. You can trust the stupidity of the common man to mess up any divine thought and make it so reprehensible as to belong in the annals of hell.
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I also support what few commentators have said above, its better if the hindus just convert and be done with it. They want to live in Sindh, otherwise they would have migrated long back. So at least live with peace then.Recommend
PK_Kashmiri: What your being driven away from Kashmir has to do with Hindus not being equal in Pakistan?
Besides, You weren’t the only one to loose your home. Read the history of Kashmir and the Hindu Genocide in Kashmir by Muslim kings for a few hundred years. Check how Hindus were driven out of Kashmir even after 1947 by Pakistani militants. Best thing to do is to put behind the historical injustices, and learn to live peacefully, instead of being consumed by old injustices.
Umar Yazdani: Propaganda? Check the British census of West Pakistan before independence and the numbers today. You’ll see how progressively Hindu+Sikh population which was over 20% reduced to 1-2% in 30 years after independence. What happened to these folks? Weren’t they driven away from their homeland?Recommend
Minorities have been reduced for 15% of the population to just 3% in record time. It is a record not matched in History by even the worst Religious raiders. The credit goes to the State which decided that one Religion stands superior thus making Religion the business of the State. This superiority was thus incorporated into the Constitution so that minorities could now be legally discriminated against. Spilling tears after endorsing and legalising discrimination by the Constitutional method is pure Hypocrisy. Pakistan Constitution is the document that can bring only turmoil and violence, eventually destroying the country.Recommend
@Author :
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You said :
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“The debate over whether Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted the country he founded to be a secular or an Islamic one has been going on ever since Pakistan’s inception.”
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Jinnah’s intentions are apparent that in the Thirteen Months from his 11th August 1947 “Speech – You are free…..” to his departing for his Heavenly Aboad on 11th September 1948 the Hindu+Sikh+Jain Population was reduced from about 20 per cent to about Three per cent.
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Here Endeth the LessonRecommend
@Sinclair:
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You said :
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I also support what few commentators have said above, its better if the hindus just convert and be done with it. They want to live in Sindh, otherwise they would have migrated long back. So at least live with peace then.”
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This is totally incorrect as you are implying that the World’s Only Religion of Peace does not tolerate other Religions.
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This contrary to the Teachings of the Holy Prophet who stated “To you, your Religion – to me, mine.”
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CheersRecommend
I remember reading about Sindh, 20 years ago in K R Malkani’s book – The Sindh Story – available here – http://www.freesindh.org/sindhstory/Cover.html
Instead of seeking out the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) between each other i.e. the fact that we are human beings, we tend to seek out the Least Common Multiple (LCM) between ourselves. We look at whether we are Male or female, Sunni or Shia, if Sunni then whether Sindhi or Pashtun or whether Brelvi or Deobandi etc. etc. Aren’t all Pakistanis, minorities in some way or the other depending upon the circumstance – based on your sect or gender or linguistic basis ?
The Hindus/Sikh community of Pakistan is the canary in the mine. .. and right now, it is gasping for breath. You might want to pay close attention to the direction in which Pakistan is headed…
On a different note, I am a regular reader of Tribune PK and I’m very impressed by everything – erudite columnists, page formats, its liberal nature, etc etc. I wish I could get you guys a big pot of Coffee and some Donuts :)Recommend
while its gives immense pain to see what is happening to minority communities and the educated majority watching it in silence, it also gives me some satisfaction that after the few that were left in Pakistan have been killed or converted or driven away will come the real spectacle. After this it will be turn of the Shias and when Shias are decimated then may be it will be turn of Sunni women. Looks like we are quite near the fireworks. Society is well on its way to self destruction. We in India just have to sit and watch patiently for Pakistan to annihilate itself without any covert or overt war from our side.Recommend
Can someone also please shed light on Why the Silence for Persecited Shias?Recommend
@Miss Amna ,
What was in the mind of Mr Jinnah we dont know but the sad part is we dont have both systems we are bunch of tribal nutts who dont know how to live and behaves and there are no diffrence between afpak and there is no democracy there is no islamic system there is no comminism or capitalism pakistan has fuedal + Army crrupt rule since its birthday. 14/08/1947.Recommend
@umar yazdani: dude, you are ignorant of the fact that minority in Pak is only 2% now from 10% in 1947 while in India Muslim population has increased from 9% to 17% today. So there is PROBLEM in Pakistan in way they are treating its own people. Recommend
@zaid hamid:
Oh, ET’s favorite reader is back !
Muslims don’t need you as much as ET needs you !Recommend
@dv sikka:
Hindus in Pakistan were not deceived by anyone (pls don’t give me some spiel on the 11th Aug speech). Economic interests were the reason they chose to stay on in a country that was created for muslims (many muslims also stayed on India for similar reasons); did not give up even after seeing the horrific post-partition riots, and gradual conversion of minorities; the biased school text books that painted Hinduism as the faith of the infidel and of the enemy. Sure, I am sorry for them, but as human beings – as Hindus, they should have packed up and moved to India long back. As far as living life as second class citizens is concerned, I don’t understand – they would be like any other PoI, how is it different – and who would even know that they came from Pakistan (if you have no money, then you are one of the unfortunate regardless of where you are born). And ending it all with a rant against Mahatma Gandhi doesn’t make you sound any more intelligent.Recommend
It seems that these sort of columns are being written under a definite policy. Like placing honey on the wall. Rest of the job is done by our learned commentators most of who do not even bother to read history and based on thier superficial knowledge comment on personalities, religion, moralitiesm, everything. The moderator should control but ET will have to be unbaised towards this subject which it does not seem.Recommend
@Peace: This is the matter of growth rate not the so called perscution being propagated now a days.Recommend
@dv sikka:
>Indians call their sadist devil of a leader a Mahatma.
I am yet to meet an Indian who considers Gandhi a ‘sadist devil’. I am curious why you said that.Recommend
I do not understand that if ET is publishing something , people call it biased and one sided. Just think , ET has come up strongly and trying to correct the mistakes which are continuously being committed by politicians and people. Looking at the modern world scenario and the mess in Pakistan , ET is correct that there is something wrong with the path which Pakistan has opted. Why with such good talent and hardworking people around , Pakistan is heavily dependent on other countries world bank. Keep your voice up ET. Someday there will be a mark of dripping water on the stone.Recommend
@Ashar: ” … It seems that these sort of columns are being written under a definite policy. Like placing honey on the wall. … ”
Probably so. It does serve a purpose – we get to air our thoughts about each other. Recommend
@umar yazdani:
Get out of overly protected environment of your ‘University’ and see whats happening in the country, and we better solve our problems first before helping others. Recommend
@zinzi:
Shias are in significant numbers in Pakistan. Shouldn’t they be asking this question to themselves?Recommend
@ Blackjac – you have forgotten the massacre of 1947 and you are out of touch with what has happened after that. Please do read history and try to answer one question – Did anybody involved in the Azadi and partition bother about the consequences of what they were doing. What was done about the impending catastrophe. History my dear is brutal, read that.Even in Pakistan after 65 years people have a classification of Muhajir, why. It is time to realise the suffering of these poor destitutes.Recommend
@ZP
I am a muslim but the last part of your post is extremely stupid. So if sindhi hindus who migrated to India 65 years ago support BJP whats that gotta do with how we treat Pakistani sindhi hindus? If a sindhi hindu who was born and bred in India decided to do something wrong then how is it related to hindus of Pakistan?
If you are such a principled man/woman than you must also support Israeli forces killing Palestinians who support hamas which sometimes attack Israeli civilians. You must also support USA in afg because after all Afghani people don’t like US much and are against them.
@the author
Pakistanis don’t even respect the people who share the same faith as the founder of the country
http://criticalppp.com/archives/75609
Read the above link and you can see that religious extremism and bigotry runs deep among us. Recommend
Dear Moderator,
I strongly demand the removal of the comments of American Desi. There should be some ethics in commenting about our leaders and not only Quaid Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, we should keep our pens controlled for every one including Gandhi Jee and other Hindu and Christian leaders, otherwise your forum will loose its credibility and only people like American Desi will be left to write thier dirty comments. Recommend
Deleted. Thanks for pointing it out. (Web Desk)Recommend
@ Vinayak
gandhi was the main reason partition was not completed totally. muslims stayed back in India and some Hinus in pakistan. root cause of all our present day problems.Recommend
It’s really shameful on part of muslims of Pakistan to be cruel on these destitute Hindu population who have no one to seek protection from!!Can Muslims of India do the same to Hindus in India…they have no guts and will be taught solid lesson!!Having said that India is 82% Hindu yet non religious,secular country which was declared by not any Moghul emperor or British viceroy but by a constituent assembly which was formed to frame the Indian constitution!! Small point is that 95% of the members of Constituent assembly were Hindu community members!!Be human first and learn how minorities are treated around the world – except in Muslim countries of coures!!What bravery is there to attack poor,destitute persons?!!Recommend
@raw is war:
> gandhi was the main reason partition was not completed totally. muslims stayed back in India and some Hinus in pakistan. root cause of all our present day problems.
Gandhi was murdered by rightists who held him completely responsible for the partition. You think he is responsible for not letting partition complete. You are living proof of how much rightists want to lie to themselves and to others, in order to justify their hateful view of the world.Recommend
@ Vinayak: do you know why Gandhi went on his last fast.Recommend
@ Vinayak
if your sister or daughter is kidnapped by muslims, you will sing a different tune.Recommend
@dv sikka:
> do you know why Gandhi went on his last fast.
I know what you are getting at. The immediate and obvious consequence of Gandhi’s fast was that the Calcutta riots ended and a large number of Muslim lives were saved. A far reaching consequence that you do not want to see is that a cycle of killings and response killings was averted and (maybe) as a result Calcutta today is not like Karachi.Recommend
@raw is war:
It seems you wanted that in 1947, Muslims — then 15 % of India’s population should have been annihilated/ forcibly pushed across the border to Pakistan, and India would have become a land of milk and honey.
You can thank your stars that nobody did such a thing. Otherwise, the hatred between India and Pakistan would have been so great that, by now we would have destroyed each other with nuclear weapons.Recommend
@raw is war
>if your sister or daughter is kidnapped by muslims, you will sing a different tune.
If you get punished every time a person from your own religion does a crime, you will start singing a different tune.Recommend
@ Vinayak
there would have been better relations by now. grow up. It cannot be worse now.Recommend
We are callous to say the leastRecommend
I fail to understand hindus still living in pakistan, after having experienced and understood where this country its society is heading. It is like jews, living in nazi germany. They at least did’nt have a place to go. When the intelligentia and political leaders of Pakistan still go on finding excuses for such atrocities. Hindus have India next door. Just walk over and ask for asylum. You dont have to create a new country like Israel.
Dominant trait in Pakistani collective psyche is that a majority is allowed to exploit minority, terrorize by inventing arguments to wrench away whatever little they may have. This is not going to change after 13 centuries of Islamic history. They always did among themselves when they were all muslims.
Let them keep their eyes closed till they themselves become minority and no one will care to defend them. Even though they may be all muslims, some day they will become minority because of any of the reasons: region-sindhi/baloch/Pachtun…. and not Punjabi; sect- shia/ ahmadi/ barelvi… and not sunni wahabi; language- punjabi, sindhi, pachtun.. and not urdu etc…
Just by offering themselves as a minority to be persecuted, hindus are delaying the demise of this fascist stigma on human conscience by pretending to be civilized and in 21st century. Get out and let them kill each other till no one remains… or they end up learning the reasons of this mad rush towards self destruction.Recommend
@Vinayak:
“You think he is responsible for not letting partition complete.”
Show me the evidence that Gandhi wanted the partition to be complete – all Hindus to India, all Muslims to Pakistan.
Gandhi is not completely responsible for partition, but he should have taken the higher moral ground and moral stand against India being partitioned based on the Islamic faith, even if otherwise unable to stop it. No religion should have exclusive claim to the Indian subcontinent. We should have been one country, under secularism, under one civil law, with everyone’s rights protected.Recommend
First the Nazis came for the communist, I was silent. Then they came for the liberals but I did not care then they came for the intellectual but I was not concerned. Then they came for the artistes, it was the least of my worries, then they came for the Jews, I wasn’t one so forgot it. Then they came for collaborators but I was a decent guy. Then they came for me but I realized that there were none left to defend me………put all this in perspective of Hindus, Sikhs, christains etc and when none of the minorities are left , shias, intersects will be next.intolerance goes wild and seek fresh meat all the time. The minorities are almost gone with just 2 % . Next will be ahmadi and Shias. The ministry for minority affairs will cease to exist and archives will be found in Pakistan library or museum. Sat Sri akal. Salam . Peace everyone.Recommend
@Babloo:
History repeats itself. Most Pakistani Muslims are descendents of Hindus who were converted by force to Islam. This is one of the reason arab Muslims see and treat Pakistani Muslims as lower caste Muslims.
It is shame that people are being forced to convert in 2012 and community of nations is not talking any action against countries like Pakistan. I have never seen any News about forced conversions on main TV channels in USA.Recommend
@pk kashmiri(refugee):
Your foreafthers were Hindus who were converted to Islam by force. Pakistanis even killed 3 million Bangalis who were not equal to Pakistani Muslims.Recommend
@Sinclair: “I also support what few commentators have said above, its better if the hindus just convert and be done with it. They want to live in Sindh, otherwise they would have migrated long back. So at least live with peace then.”
Why are you trying to hide your identity as a Muslim? Are you ashmed of being a Muslim? Would you be happy if Muslims in non-Muslim countries were told to do the same, convert so as to live with peace. In India Muslim can become Hindus, In USA they can become Cjhristians. By changing your name you can’t change your Islamic thinking.Recommend
@Parvez:
You have written something important. Something those who are blinded by religious fervor in Pakistan and elsewhere fail to note is that the Universe is governed by laws of cause of CAUSE & EFFECT. In English, a line of verse describes this: The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.
Globally, Islam is not only seen as degenerate, morally, spiritually, intellectually, by all other groups, but even within Islam there is some recognition of things going horribly wrong in the Ummah. Instead of unsparing introspection, by and large, Muslims prefer to don the mantle of victimization and blame others. If the diagnosis is wrong, the cure cannot be possible. But anyway, what Muslims mete out to their minorities, the world IS meting out to Muslims. The Universe or God’s will, call it whatever you want, is dictating the steady destruction everywhere of Muslim lives and lands and more will follow.
But Muslims nowhere are prepared to accept that as you do unto others, so shall it be done unto you. Since the Ummah believes in a collective identity, penalties also will be applied collectively. What the Turkish Caliphate did resulted in Palestine and all the problems of the Middle East: please read the accounts of travellers like Man(o)ucchi, who arrived in the Court of Shan Jahan from Venice and travelled through the Turkish Empire from Venice as an unbiased teenager, to understand a little bit of how minorities were treated! The text is on the Web, free.
Try to read an unbiased history of Kashmir, written by Muslims such as A.D. Rafiqui, SUFISM IN KASHMIR, to understand a little bit of the present issues which have long antecedents.
Unless the nature of cause and effect is accepted, the endless cycle of micro and macro-violence cannot ever be stilled.Recommend