Peter Trotter Senior Protection Officer at UNHCR Thailand receives first transcript of our latest publication.
The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) today releases the third updated edition of Desmond Fernandes’ book “Education, Human Rights Violations
in Pakistan and the Scandal involving UNHCR and Christian asylum seekers in Thailand” in a special low-cost affordable pdf book format for just UK
£5.00
This 875 page book will be of immense use to parliamentarians; asylum and refugee rights campaigners and organisations; faith and non-faith
bodies; CEO’s and managers, officers, representatives and country/Asian/EU policy analysts of aid agencies; human and linguistic/gender rights campaigners
and organisations; managerial and organisational change specialists; educationalists and child rights, anti-genocide and anti-torture/anti-religious persecution
advocates; those interested in conflict resolution and disaster capitalism and corporate responsibility; academics; students and concerned members of the
public
The book examines the extensive nature of human rights violations in Pakistan; the scandal involving UNHCR’s (the United Nations’ Refugee Agency’s) management
and processing policies and practices relating to Pakistani Christian and ‘Othered’ asylum seekers in Thailand and the context in which Pakistan’s educational
policy has contributed to the human rights crisis. The controversial role of edu-businesses/consultancies and US AID and UK Department for International Development (DFID)
educational aid initiatives are also considered. The intent of the book is to trigger greater and more fervent discussions about the above concerns and
the human rights crisis engulfing Pakistan and the impact of state policies and practices on ‘Othered’ communities living in Pakistan as well as those
seeking asylum elsewhere.
Wilson Chowdhry Chairman of the BPCA and Morris Johns Secretary for the All Parliamentary Party Group for Pakistani Minorities at BPCA book launch in UK Parliament.
Institutional managerial failure of UNHCR-Thailand
As the various findings from this book show, UNHCR project and risk management/assessment policies and practices and the regulatory framework, as well
as operational guidance used, fall into a wholly unsatisfactory category when considered in a variety of analytical, ethical, professional and human rights
contexts. These failings clearly need to be urgently addressed and parliamentarians and human rights organisations and public interest groups need to challenge
UNHCR about these hardly inconsequential concerns.
For Dr Rainer Rothfuss, a geopolitical analyst and independent consultant on persecution issues (and Professor of Human Geography at the Institute of
Geography atof
Tübingen from 2009-2015), “with his book, Desmond Fernandes has once more made an important contribution to make the suffering of religious minorities
in Pakistan visible … All the more surprising is the fact that the United Nations relief organisation to attend such oppressed people when they
have fled their countries seems to know very little about the well documented persecution that such vulnerable groups face in their home country.
“In fact, as Fernandes describes and as I could witness personally in Bangkok, the large bureaucratic apparatus of UNHCR Thailand seems to be completely
paralysed when it comes to the assistance of Christian refugees from Pakistan: Once a refugee has registered, he/she has to wait for over four years, under
daily threat of detention by Thai immigration police, until his/her case is heard for the first time by UNHCR officers in the refugee status determination
interview … Where is the international community to demand from UNHCR proof that there is no discrimination of certain refugee groups? At the end
of the day, it is the tax payers’ money on which UNHCR depends. Urban refugees like those Christians from Pakistan have the same needs and should have
the same rights” as all in being justly and adequately “treated … and served properly”.
Genocide, Persecution, Gender Discrimination, Torture and Disappearances in Pakistan and Balochistan
Desmond Fernandes’ book also extensively documents the genocidal context in which the Baloch, Hazaras, Ahmadi Muslims and ‘Others’ are being targeted.
It details the ‘disappearances’ and torture that is taking place and the agencies and governments responsible for perpetrating and aiding and abetting
such horrors and crimes against humanity. The book’s documented findings also support Claudio Fontana’s contention that “Pakistan’s blasphemy regulations
provide the legal basis for discrimination” and Juan Carlos Pallardel’s assessment that the Pakistani law on blasphemy allows for “the indiscriminate persecution
of Christians and other minorities”.
Saleh Memon of the Campaign against Criminalising Communities, questions the UK government’s stance concerning Pakistan’s blasphemy laws: “Has the British
government done anything about the blasphemy laws? Has it challenged them? If we claim to have an ethical foreign policy, then surely it should be condemned.
It seems to me they haven’t taken a stand on that. Given all the evidence in the book, it is concerning that the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(FCO) does not recognise the systematic persecution of Christians in Pakistan. It seems there is a deliberate policy of ignoring asylum claims. Our governments
do not consider the Geneva Conventions to be important, they don’t abide by the treatment for refugees – therefore, the Pakistan Government can disregard
them as well”.
For Dr Shahzavar Karimzadi, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Hertfordshire Business School:
“Since the formation of this theocratic Frankenstein colonial state, Pakistan has been marred by endless extreme violence, corruption, religious bigotry
and militarism. Desmond’s book is a vivid tale of the effects of this tragic-catastrophic geopolitical construction”.
Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner and Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation also observes that “this is an important book that shines much-needed
light on mostly hidden, unreported human rights abuses in Pakistan; notably the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities – often with state orchestration
and collusion”.
To David Alton, Professor the Lord Alton of Liverpool, Independent Cross-bench Member of the House of Lords and Vice Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary
Group on International Freedom of Religion or Belief: “The treatment of Pakistani Christians fleeing persecution is an international scandal. This report
highlights the vicissitudes and egregious violations of human rights which they face in their homeland. This is a timely, scholarly and hugely important
wake-up call challenging our indifference to their suffering”.
Margaret Owen OBE, founder and Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD), patron of Peace in Kurdistan, member of the UK Bar Human Rights Committee
and founding member of the UK NGO CSW Alliance and GAPS-UK
“commend[s] this book by Desmond Fernandes who has always given equal prominence to gender discrimination along with persecution on the grounds of race,
ethnicity, religion or membership of a minority group”.
Questionable UK DFID Aid, Edu-Businesses, ‘Development Policy, Deliverology and Disaster Capitalism’
This updated third edition includes chapters that examine the issue of intolerance and ‘hatred’ of the ‘Other’ as taught in school curricula in Pakistan; the politics of educational ‘instruction’; the controversies surrounding the use of English and Urdu as mediums of instruction; the marketing of the ‘Malala’ brand; the pre-and-post 9/11 politics of privatisation in education and the nature of ‘Development policy, Deliverology and Disaster Capitalism’ as applied to the educational/edu-business and international aid sectors.
As the findings in this book indicate, English and Urdu as the key mediums of educational instruction continue to be politically utilised by the Pakistan government and planning bodies as well as international aid assistance programmes (inclusive of British governmental ones – i.e. the UK Department for International Development/DFID) to advance nation-building and linguistic imperialistic agendas. Parliamentarians and concerned human rights advocates scrutinising the nature of UK educational aid initiatives in Pakistan may find some of the disturbing assessments and findings presented in this book of use. Hopefully, they should help to advance critical debates and actions that might halt some of the clearly questionable US/UK governmental aid initiatives that are promoting linguistic human rights abuses, discriminatory educational programmes, linguistic imperialism and linguistic genocide.
This book has been accepted as a formal submission to the Commons Select Committee International Development Committee that in the summer of 2016 invited
written submissions into all aspects of DFID’s work on education. The findings in this book have a bearing on the following areas in particular, which
the Inquiry expressed its interest in:
l Is DFID’s education funding being targeted appropriately? How effective are its interventions through multilateral organisations (e.g. Global Partnership
for Education, the World Bank), implementing partners, centrally managed programmes and direct support to government education budgets?
l How can DFID best support efforts to secure [meaningful] access to primary education for the most marginalised children, including getting the 59 million
out-of-school children into education?
l Should DFID support low-fee schools, including private schools, in developing countries? If so, what should this support look like? If not, how can
access be achieved?
l How can DFID most effectively support efforts to increase learning outcomes, particularly ensuring that those children in school are gaining proficiency
in literacy and numeracy?
l Should DFID be doing more to support countries in developing more effective education systems, including high quality teacher education and leadership
training?
l How can [DFID] support efforts to ensure that the growing youth population in many of its bilateral partner countries are given
the life skills they need?
l How best can DFID support efforts to eliminate inequalities in access and quality of education on the basis of gender, disability, indigeneity, and for children in vulnerable situations, including emergencies?
The findings presented in this book suggest that:
l DFID’s education funding is not being targeted appropriately or effectively in Pakistan (and the questions raised by the Pakistan example can be
extended to other countries to stimulate further appropriate debates) insofar as English as a medium of instruction at primary level continues to be
promoted substantially via DFID funded initiatives, be they through through multilateral organisations, implementing partners, centrally managed programmes
and direct support to government education budgets aimed at promoting these outcomes.
l DFID can best support efforts to secure meaningful access to primary education for the most marginalised primary school children in Pakistan (and
the questions raised by the Pakistan example can be extended to other countries to stimulate further appropriate debates) by changing the medium of
instruction from English (as a foreign language) to their mother-tongue languages. The findings of this book explain why this is the case and suggest
practical avenues through which such educational outcomes can be acheived.
DFID’s support for low-fee schools, including private schools, in Pakistan (and the questions raised by the Pakistan example can be extended to other
countries to stimulate further appropriate debates) and other aspects of DFID’s educational interventions in Pakistan are problematic on a number of
levels, as highlighted by the detailed findings in this book.
Flawed UK Home Office Asylum Guidance
This updated third edition additionally details the manner in which earlier editions of the book stimulated UK parliamentary debates and a commitment
by the UK Home Office to reconsider its ‘Country Information Guidance’ (CIG) regarding Pakistani Christians. It critiques the UK Home Office’s and
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s subsequently revised 2016 Pakistan ‘Country Information Guidance’ and concludes that urgent revisions still need
to be made if persecuted Christians and ‘Others’ are to be recognised, as such.
The UK’s Home Office’s updated May 2016 ‘Country Information Guidance’ remains dangerously and unacceptably flawed – to a level (as documented in
this book) that needs to be critically and urgently challenged by concerned parliamentarians, public interest groups, human rights and educational
bodies and concerned members of the public
Key information and evidence regarding the persecution of Christians and ‘Others’ from Pakistan is clearly being ignored by the Home and Foreign and
Commonwealth Office. The ramifications of this are all too obvious: Most Christians applying for asylum in the UK, having fled from persecution, will
continue to be categorised as ‘bogus’/’illegal’ asylum seekers. The UNHCR’s offices in Thailand and elsewhere, substantively influenced as they are
in their deliberations regarding asylum and refugee status by the UK Home Office’s Country Information Guidance (CIG) relating to Christians in Pakistan
will continue to notrecognise the persecuted status of most Christians from Pakistan. Several other immigration authorities in other countries
will also refer to UK Home Office CIG guidance to arrive at their flawed determinations which result in refugee status being denied to desperate Christians
fleeing from Pakistan for their lives
This is despite the fact that “Pakistan is on record as having one of the world’s worst and most widely abused blasphemy laws, which has resulted
in abuse of the law through false accusations that prosper under a system of impunity … Blasphemy accusations have resulted not only in the
destruction of the lives of the accused but have often been at the root of the destruction of entire Christian communities”, reported Tiffany Barrans,
international legal director for the American Centre for Law & Justice, in November 2015.
The highly controversial assessments by the UK Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office come at a time when Christians are being subjected
to persecution in Pakistan at levels which have arguably never been more extreme as they are now, under the present government.
Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of the Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) has commented that this book “on persecution of Pakistani Christians prepared
by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) is eye opening and can be evidence to revise guidance by the UK Administration. ‘There have been
incidents of attacks on Churches and worshippers, broad day light murders of Christians, lynching of Christian children, women, men and elders and
attacks on Christian properties on a pretext to blasphemy laws by Muslim fundamentalists and a failure of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
to protect Christians lives and properties or to ensure justice but it is unfortunate that Great Britain [does] not takes it as victimization, persecution
and oppression’ … The PCC Central Secretariat in its press note stated that the President of Pakistan Christian Congress … ha[d] written a letter
to Prime Minister … for a revision of guidance by the UK Home Office about Pakistani Christians, to recognize them as a persecuted and oppressed
community of Pakistan”.[i]
‘Deep Politics’ and the use of asylum seekers as ‘bargaining chips’ in UK and EU international aid, trade and ‘migration’ agreements
This updated third edition also extensively documents the manner in which several targeted ‘Othered’ groups in Pakistan (and not only Christians)
are being subjected to persecution of the most intense kind (reaching levels of genocide, in many cases). As western states (including the US/UK) continue
to arm and often diplomatically deflect criticism of the Pakistan government’s human rights record, asylum seekers from Pakistan are increasingly being
processed questionably by governmental and supra-governmental departments – at UK, Australian and EU level – that find it convenient to categorise
‘them’ as ‘bogus asylum seekers/economic migrants’ undeserving the status of refugees fleeing with a well-founded fear of persecution.
As the,
asylum seekers and refugees from Pakistan and Balochistan find themselves being used as ‘bargaining chips’ by governments and EU decision makers in
cynical ‘war on terror’, international trade, ‘migration’ and ‘aid’ deals.
‘Deep politics’ – i.e. publicly unaccountable and often covert decision making processes by governmental, EU and other bodies and political circles
– and institutional discriminatory practices often determine the scandalously high rejection rates of Pakistan asylum seekers, as the findings in this
book show. Pakistani asylum seekers, indeed, are often being processed without due process, without even proper verification and often under the pretext
of being ‘Othered’ as ‘terrorists’ (again, reportedly without any appropriate verification or evidence to that effect).
Asylum seekers from Pakistan, as the book documents, have sought to legally question these EU targeting and ‘deep political’ mechanisms that are in
place even as parliamentarians, lawyers and human rights campaigners have concluded that the EU-Turkey agreement “at best strains and at worst exceeds
the limits of what is permissible under European and international law” (Dutch parliamentarian Tineke Strik). Yet, despite such “serious questions
of compatibility with basic norms on refugees and migrants rights” being raised, the book details, to all who are concerned, the scandalous manner
in which the European Commission has brushed aside such criticisms.
Concerned lawyers, public interest groups, parliamentarians and anti-deportation campaigners will also find the critique of the latest European Asylum
Support Office’s (EASO’s) Country of Origin Information Report: Pakistan Country Overview of interest. EASO’s report, which substantially
influences and informs immigration case workers from a number of European countries, presents dangerously simplified and misleading information that
must be challenged and revised.
Are concerned parliamentarians and refugee/asylum rights campaigners aware that EASO’s Country of Origin Information Report: Pakistan Country Overview report – controversially co-authored by the UK Home Office Country Policy and Information Team that drew up the questionable Home Office Country Information
Guidance (CIG) 2015 and 2016 reports described earlier – is drawn from information that was gathered in less than a two month period, where, in a flawed
and highly questionable and unprofessional and irresponsible sense given the significance of this report to asylum and refugee determination officers
throughout the EU and asylum seekers from Pakistan, “some additional research was done in the review phase on selected topics only.”[ii] Shockingly, only “a limited number of specialised” – i.e. academic and fact-finding human rights and socio-legal – “paper-based and electronic sources
were consulted within the time frame and the scope of the research”.[iii]
Concerned lawyers and parliamentarians and anti-deportation campaigners need to also be alert to questioning and analysing whether other EASO country
reports are as badly flawed and as shoddily/unprofessionally prepared as this Pakistan report.
As Colin Yeo noted on 21st March 2016 in an article entitled ‘New EU task force to impose common asylum standards’:
An interesting set of draft Council conclusions on convergence in asylum decision practices obtained by Statewatch sets out a roadmap towards greater
consistency in asylum decision making. There is a lot of work to do on this front … The first step agreed is use of common country of origin information
(COI), followed by common policy positions on key countries. One of the agreements is to the creation of:
a senior-level policy network, involving all Member States and coordinated by EASO, tasked with carrying out a joint assessment and joint interpretation
of the situation in main countries of origin, based on common COI and in the light of the relevant provisions of the asylum acquis, in particular the
Qualification Directive and the Asylum Procedures Directive, taking into account the content of EASO training material and EASO practical guides where
appropriate.
The senior level policy network will interpret these reports and deliver guidance notes to Member States for making “case-by-case assessments of applications for international protection”. The network will also propose “modifications to the terms of reference for future COI reports on countries of origin”.[iv]
In ‘deep political’ terms:
It sounds a lot like EASO is being commandeered by whoever is appointed to this “senior-level policy network”. EASO is the European Asylum
Support Office, headquartered in Malta. I confess that I had not noticed, but EASO has started to produce country of origin reports, including on Afghanistan,
Somalia, sex trafficking in Nigeria and on some other countries [including] Pakistan …
EASO is now being tasked with doing more country reports, so we can expect more of this in future.[v]
Significance and relevance of the book to parliamentarians, campaigners, public interest groups and concerned members of the public
A copy of the book has been given to every member of the UK parliament, every member of the Senate and parliament in Australia, several senior UNHCR
officers and campaigners/campaign organisations in Pakistan and internationally, community and faith/non-faith organisations and representatives of
educational institutions such as the Principal of Wycliffe Hall, the Revd Dr Michael Lloyd.[vi]
In terms of the value and relevance of Desmond Fernandes’ book, David Alton, Professor the Lord Alton of Liverpool, Independent Cross-bench Member
of the House of Lords and Vice Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Freedom of Religion or Belief, expressed the following
view at the book launch in the UK parliament on 1st November 2016:[vii]
I think it is very important when dealing with governments, dealing with parliamentarians, that you have empirically based evidence and I think the
book you have produced [in its third updated edition now], because it’s so systematically collated and very well presented with a lot of academic basis
to what you’ve done, it makes it much easier for people like Jim [Shannon MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pakistan Minorities] and
myself, when we then approach ministers, to be able to show them this isn’t just rhetoric but it’s based on fact, so thank you for all you’ve done
…
We have a minister [Lord Bates, the new House of Lords Minister at DFID] there now who I think will be more open than maybe some of his predecessors
have been to these arguments. So here is an opportunity to use your book to persist with these kinds of representations and Jim and I will be very
happy to go and see him and make representations about that.
At the book launch, the following sentiments were expressed:
● Eric Abetz, the Liberal Senator for Tasmania and Former Government Leader of the Australian Senate:
When many in the world seek to avoid the atrocities, the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) has collaborated with experts and hard evidence
to highlight and bring to the attention of the world the particular atrocities occurring daily if not hourly in Pakistan – which has the unenviable
distinction of being in the top of the leagues table for persecuting Christians and other minorities.
The world’s indifference – especially the English speaking world’s indifference – is scandalous. Our indifference must end. Not only must it end,
all of us individually need to be making the difference. If th[is] most recent work of the BPCA does not motivate us to be in the vanguard for making
a difference, nothing ever will.
It should be noted that Senator Abetz in Australia, after being presented with the book and its findings and speaking with Wilson Chowdhy, Chair of the BPCA, about the nature of the desperate situation facing Christian asylum seekers from Pakistan, raised
a Question to the Senate House on 12th October 2016. A transcript is provided below:
Senator ABETZ (Tasmania) (13:58): In the few minutes available, I thought I would raise the plight of persecuted Christians in Pakistan. Earlier today,
I had the opportunity of meeting with the Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian alliance in my office and then introduced him to the Minister
for Immigration and Border Protect, the Hon. Peter Dutton.
The plight of Christians in Pakistan is great. In relation to the register of countries that persecute Christians, Pakistan is at six — equal
with countries such as Syria. I think that highlights the plight that they face … It is a tragedy that is unfolding and continuing in Pakistan.
We as a nation give well over $40 million — I am not sure if it is $47 million or $49 million — worth of foreign aid to Pakistan. I believe
we ought to be saying to the Pakistani government: ‘If you want to be the beneficiary of this sort of aid, then you do need to protect the minorities
within your country’.
I have also invited the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon. Peter Dutton, to consider what we can do to assist the Pakistanis
who are being persecuted in Pakistan and also those who are living in Thailand, with asylum cards, to rehouse them and to provide a new home for them
in Australia. It is a plight that I think everybody in this chamber and this nation should be aware of. It goes right through the spectrum of society
— Christian lawyers right down to Christian brick-makers using kilns are being persecuted in the most horrible manner. They deserve our support.
Senator Abetz subsequently called on the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon. Peter Dutton to look at the issue of Pakistani
Christians, including those suffering in Thailand. As a result, in a meeting with Mr Chowdhry, Minister Dutton agreed in principle to accept 100 Pakistani
Christians into the country, using the new pilot ‘Community Proposal’ programme. This was done with support from Senator Abetz, MP Andrew Hastie, Minister
for Immigration Peter Dutton and MP Kevin Andrews.
Mr Andrew Hastie was also presented with the book by Wilson Chowdhry, Chair of the BPCA, and after discussions with him over the situation facing
blasphemy victims, Mr Hastie also raised a question about the plight of blasphemy case victim Asia Bibi (the 90 second statement can be seen at:
http://www.britishpakistanichristians.org/blog/100-pakistani-christians-could-gain-asylum-in-australia-every-year-with-your-help).
● Mosa Zahed, Executive Director of Middle East Forum for Development:
Middle East Forum for Development commends and unreservedly supports today’s important event which essentially aims to improve the human rights
of minorities in Pakistan, who continue to be persecuted by the authorities. We would like to extend our congratulations to Desmond Fernandes who
effectively shed light through his comprehensive book on the dire circumstances and grim outlook of Pakistan’s ethnic and religious minorities.
Our organisation has in the recent past, in cooperation with Desmond Fernandes and the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), organised various special hearings in the Dutch House of Representatives on minorities in Pakistan and played a significant role in promoting legislation that makes it easier for Pakistani Christians, who have fled their country fearing oppression and discrimination due to their religious belief, to obtain asylum in The Netherlands. Our joint endeavours ultimately altered the asylum policy of the Dutch government vis-à-vis Pakistani Christians, as the authorities designated the latter as ‘high risk group’.
Today, we join the BPCA and Desmond Fernandes in their call for the Home Office and the EU to acknowledge the persecution status of Pakistani Christians in order to guarantee their protection.
● Wilson
Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA):
Reports such as these that rely on empirical data are the most effective tool in a humanitarian NGO’s arsenal. We at the BPCA hope the British
Government, especially the Home Office department, reviews our findings and applies this to future policies relating to Pakistani minorities. Their
current positioning places Christians and other minorities in great danger and many experts believe the risk profile of the Pak-Christian minority,
in particular, is flawed.
The commitment Desmond Fernandes has shown towards helping so many persecuted minority groups outside of any personal bias is commendable. I pray now that other politicians heed this challenge and a decision is made to agree stronger terms for foreign aid funding to Pakistan linked to improvement in human rights in the country. Moreover, it is about time Britain improved asylum opportunity for Christians and other minorities fleeing Pakistan.
●
Margaret Owen OBE, founder and Director of Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD), Patron of Peace in Kurdistan, member of the UK Bar Human Rights Committee and founding member of the UK NGO CSW Alliance and GAPS –UK:
With the appalling human rights violations that are going on in Pakistan and also in the context of the terrible situation which Lord Alton has described concerning those people in Thailand who are at risk of being deported back to Pakistan and who are living in such appalling conditions, thank you very much … for your incredible persistence and courage in actually producing what Lord Alton said is so important: the empirical evidence … Thank you very much because you go on and you will go on writing and informing … every MP we have in this country, everywhere we can, to try and get justice and to try and get compliance with international laws.
● Saleh Memon, member of the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities:
I just wanted to say that Desmond has been a long term supporter of CAMPACC (the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities) and he has done a lot of work on Kurds as well and also the Armenian genocide. We really welcome this book. It is a very powerful book. When you look at the book, the tone of the book is not ivory tower, an academic book up there, it’s a practical book. Kind of pushes forward and puts something on a political agenda, marshalling evidence, quoting the research.
That is the fundamental thing about Desmond’s book. It is an instrument and a weapon for action. Asking people to take action as well. Now I think it is also quite moving, really, that the book is dedicated to Asia Bibi and also people, all those who have suffered.
● Ranbir Singh, Chair of the Hindu Human Rights Group:
This book by Desmond Fernandes, looking at the educational system of Pakistan and the refugee crisis emanating from that country, sheds light on areas that have been neglected, brushed aside or ignored. What should be an unambiguous situation of gross human rights violations has once again become subject to the pressure of political convenience, spin and propaganda.
The case of Malala Yousafzai is well known. For daring to criticise the Taliban and their attempts to stop education of girls, Malala was shot in the head by the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat e-Mohammadi, one of the groups that comprise the loosely allied Pakistan Taliban. As Desmond Fernandes writes, she has become not just an icon, but a commercial brand used even by those forces who were funding the very terrorism that had led to her attempted assassination.
The fact that she has become an advertising brick in the behemoth of big business should not be surprising when we look at how raw commercialisation has become the norm, the yardstick against which everything is measured …
Syria and Iraq may have closer proximity to Europe, and presently be demographically impacting upon long time NATO ally and EU hopeful Turkey. But Pakistan has also been a long term ally of western democracies. As has Thailand, home to thousands of undocumented Pakistani Christian refugees caged like animals.
Pakistan and Thailand were once members of the defunct SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation) in the west’s frontline against communist expansion. This meant aid, including military aid. How a country conducts its own affairs is held to be its own concern. Yet can such as state really shrug off outside scrutiny when it receives so much in aid? … These questions will become more pertinent as ISIS and similar groups fracture and splinter, leading to even more grotesque forms of persecution, terrorism and conflict.
What happened in Syria and Iraq was just a better covered and more dramatic turn of events to what has been happening in Pakistan. What has been described in Desmond Fernandes’ book as slow genocide by drip effect is now accelerating into full scale demographic catastrophe.
At the same time, the government is keen to keep to its election pledge of keeping down net migration. Refugees are seen as sleeper cells for terrorist groups such as ISIS. Ironically, the refugees from Pakistan are trying to flee that very terrorism in the first place. While the refugees are seen as the ‘problem’, there appears to be no problem in selling arms and military equipment to this most dependable western ally. This, in turn, is used either directly against the ‘minorities’ such as the Baloch, or finds its way into the hands of terrorists – the line not always being so clear cut.
Once again, human rights and democracy play second fiddle to that all important arms deal and the ‘moderating’ influence it brings on oppressive regimes.
We all know of Malala. Unlike Malala, Guddi Bheel never had the same iconic status. Aged nine when in May of this year she was found murdered in Khipro City, District Sanghar, Sindh. Because the accused was the son of the powerful local police officer, nothing was done. A few days later, another minor Hindu girl, Durshana Bai, aged 9 years, was raped and murdered by unknown person at Umarkot city, Sindh.
When the impoverished landless, largely Dalit tenants, are Hindus, … inconvenient questions over murder, rape, abduction and forcible conversion are not asked. Such victims have not made good brand icons.
In working with Desmond Fernandes, Wilson Chowdhry and others, it is heartening to see so many different people come together in furthering the cause of human rights, to help those less fortunate than ourselves, in ensuring that their voices are heard. Yet, one question is always asked. Where are the Hindu organisations in all this?
HHR (Hindu Human Rights) group was set up to highlight the persecution, discrimination and marginalisation faced by Hindus worldwide. During the last sixteen years of its existence, HHR has had the honour of working with many other organisations. This has been most notable with the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) over many years, at its meetings and protests. HHR also attended the three day workshop on religion and human rights at the invitation of the Al-Mahdi Institute in Birmingham in 2014, spoke in 2009 on issues of caste discrimination at CARJ (the Catholic Association for Racial Justice) at the invitation of VODI (the Voice of Dalit International), and as the new century dawned, worked with the Tearfund charity supporter and founder of the Conservative Friends of India, former MP Peter Luff.
Through work related to Pakistan, HHR has gained invaluable information from the Pakistan Hindu Seva of Sanjesh Dhanja, the Scheduled Caste Movement and Hare Ram Foundation of Ramesh Jaipal, as well as highlighting the work in the Delhi refugee camps by Prakash Jha and Anuradha Mishra and their first-hand knowledge of those Hindus fleeing persecution in their native Pakistan.
Yet, none of these have become icons or brands. Indeed, had it not been for the work pioneered by the BPCA and others, their help for those suffering persecution may never have been known to a wider audience. Again, why is this? … Indeed, the issue of human rights [for many Hindu organisations] plays a subservient role, indeed very subservient role, to that once again of commercial interests and what has commercial viability …
While belonging to any said ‘community’ may help, what matters more is knowledge and dedication to the subject. Desmond Fernandes is neither Kurdish nor Armenian and yet has written and campaigned with respect to the genocide suffered by those respective communities. It was Wilson Chowdhry, a Christian, who has brought issues of Hindus and other persecuted minorities in Pakistan to the fore. Peter Tatchell began his human rights work in support of Indigenous Australians, impoverished and at one point even denied the vote in their ancestral land. It is this which moves us beyond any ‘brand’ and transcends the need for any commercial ‘viability’.
While my focus has been on the human rights for Hindus, ultimately these can only be guaranteed in the wider framework of dignity and respect for all, an environment where there are checks and balances on power.
To achieve that is what brings us here today as we strive to achieve that. It will be the best mechanism of serving justice to the tragically short lives of Guddi Bheel and Durshana Bai.[viii
Notes about the publisher:
The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) is a human rights advocacy group, set up in the wake of the Gojra massacre of Christians in 2009 to raise the profile of the persecution of Christians and ‘Other’ minority groups in Pakistan, as well as support those claiming asylum in the UK and elsewhere. British Pakistani Christian Association is a trading name for British Pakistani Christians Ltd., a charity that has been entered onto the Register of Charities.
Author: Desmond Fernandes is a genocide scholar, joint-author of The Targeting of Minority ‘Others’ in Pakistan (BPCA: London, 2013), The Education System in Pakistan: Discrimination and the Targeting of the ‘Other’ (BPCA: London, 2014) and author of The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? (Apec: Stockholm, 2007; Peri: Istanbul, 2013) and several other books and articles. They focus on issues relating to educational policies, the criminalisation of communities, genocide and state surveillance and targeting of the ‘Other’.
Formerly a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and genocide studies at De Montfort University (UK), he is a member of the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) and Peace in Kurdistan (PiK) and is an Advisory Council member of the European Union-Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC). His works have been translated into a number of languages, including French, Dutch, German, Greek, Turkish and Kurdish.
Foreword by Dr Rainer Rothfuss (geopolitical analyst, independent consultant on persecution issues and Professor of Human Geography at the Institute of Geography at the University of Tübingen, 2009-15) and Wilson Chowdhry (Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association – BPCA).
You can purchase an electronic copy of this Updated 3rd edition, 2016 (ISBN: 978 – 0 – 9926880 – 4 – 2) at the specially reduced purchase price of UK £5 by clicking (here)
[ii] See the ‘Methodology’ sub-section of European Asylum Support Office (2015) EASO Country of Origin Information Report: Pakistan Country Overview. EASO, August 2015 (accessed at: https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/public/EASO_COI_Report_Pakistan-Country-Overview_final.pdf).
[iii] See the ‘Methodology’ sub-section of European Asylum Support Office (2015) EASO Country of Origin Information Report: Pakistan Country Overview. EASO, August 2015 (accessed at: https://www.easo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/public/EASO_COI_Report_Pakistan-Country-Overview_final.pdf).
[iv] Yeo, C. (2016) ‘New EU task force to impose common asylum standards’, Free Movement, 21 March 2016 (accessed at: https://www.freemovement.org.uk/new-eu-task-force-to-impose-common-asylum-standards/).
[v] Yeo, C. (2016) ‘New EU task force to impose common asylum standards’, Free Movement, 21 March 2016 (accessed at: https://www.freemovement.org.uk/new-eu-task-force-to-impose-common-asylum-standards/).
[vi] See: Chowdhry, W. (2016) ‘Oxford Academics learn about Pakistani Christian Persecution’, British Pakistani Christians, 16 November 2016 (accessed at: http://www.britishpakistanichristians.org/blog/oxford-academics-learn-about-pakistani-christian-persecution).
[vii] Held on Tuesday 1st
November 2016, 1pm – 3pm in Committee Room 17, the House of Commons, Westminster, London.
[viii] For Ranbir Singh’s full speech, see: Singh, R. (2016) ‘Full commentary from Ranbir Singh Hindu Human Rights Group at BPCA book Launch’, British Pakistani Christians, 3 November 2016 (accessed at: http://www.britishpakistanichristians.org/blog/full-commentary-from-ranbir-sigh-hindu-human-rights-group-at-bpca-book-launch).