Is a Pakistani Christian equal to a fellow Muslim?
19 December, 2005
"A young Pakistani student belonging to the Christian faith has posed an
interesting question through a petition in the Lahore High Court. The
question is: Am I, a Pakistani Christian equal to a fellow citizen who is a
Muslim ?For those of the readers who missed the news item reported by an
English daily, this young student belongs to a low income group, is a
practicing Christian and extremely bright. She has been competing to get
into the King Edwards Medical College but was beaten on the list by 20 marks
by a Muslim student who got the extra 20 marks for being Hafiz--e-Quran. So,
now this young Christian girl has filed a plea in the Lahore Court
declaring that she and the Muslim student had equal marks but the latter
got the advantage of religion. The young Christian student claims that
``this is discrimination against religious minority students and a violation
of fundamental rights granted by the Constitution of Pakistan." The
petition admitted by the Lahore High Court demands that either the LHC
should rule to abolish the policy or should declare that a parallel
policy should be made to award twenty additional marks to religious
minority students on the basis of their religious knowledge. Fifty eight
years after the creation of the country to ask such a question through the
courts is both tragic and hopeful".
Constitution of Pakistan, Part II, Chapter -1, Fundamental Rights, Article 22 says:-
(1) No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction, or take part in any religious ceremony, or attend religious worship, if such instruction, ceremony or worship relates to a religion other than his own.
(2) In respect of any religious institution, there shall be no discrimination against any community in the granting of exemption or concession in relation to taxation.
(3) Subject to law:
(a) no religious community or denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community or denomination in any educational institution maintained wholly by that community or denomination; and
(b) no citizen shall be denied admission to any educational institution receiving aid from public revenues on the ground only of race, religion, caste or place of birth.
(4) Nothing in this Article shall prevent any public authority from making provision for the advancement of any socially or educationally backward class of citizens.
What do you think of above?
|
