"The moment Pakistan injected a definition of Muslim in its Constitution, it created and fueled an environment where Muslim groups would compete with each other to claim hegemony over Islam."
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| Amjad Mahmood Khan, Esq (Photo: sadew.org) |
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times / Media reports
By Staff report | March 7, 2014
South Asia Democracy Watch, a nonprofit group, organized an international conference "A Human Rights Crisis in South Asia: Marginalization and Violence against Religious Minorities."
The event was held on January 25, 2014, at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas.
Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy of Pakitan, a member of the UN Disarmament Advisory Board delivered the keynote speech on "Increasing Militancy and Persecution of Minorities in South Asia" in his luncheon address.
Many intellectuals, scholars and activists from the UK, the United States and South Asia discussed human rights of minorities and sectarian intolerance.
Speakers included Amjad Mahmood Khan, Esq., Peter Bhatti, Dr. Hasnain Walji, Krishanti Dharmaraj, Dr. Raghu Singh, Dr. Rick Halperin and Dr. Kamran Asdar Ali.
Several journalists from Pakistan participated in a panel discussion on the role of media in covering minorities.
Speaking in a session on legal structures and minorities, attorney Amjad Mahmood Khan, national director of external affairs for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA, said the roots of intolerance are built into the constitution of Pakistan resulting in the prevailing legal structure.
"The moment Pakistan injected a definition of Muslim in its Constitution, it created and fueled an environment where Muslim groups would compete with each other to claim hegemony over Islam."
"It[, therefore,] incubated sectarianism, tribalism and inter-religious violence..."
Attorney Khan, said defining Muslims in the constitution and identifying a narrow definition of Muslims in issuing passport, for example, tend to legitimize discrimination at the state level.
Click to read the full text of the remarks made by attorney Amjad Mahmood Khan.
-- USA: International Conference on Marginalization & Persecution of Minorities in South Asia
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