Sunday, January 26, 2025
Islamabad (News / Pakistan Point News - DW Urdu - January 26, 2025) Minorities are of many types, including religious, linguistic, ethnic and migrant. People have been moving from one place to another in search of livelihood and security. For minorities, settling in a new country has been a source of difficulty. Because of the climate, cultural differences and lack of knowledge of the language, there is a feeling of alienation.
Therefore, it took time for minorities to settle in the new society and understand its customs and traditions.
For their own protection, they lived in separate settlements and specialized in a particular profession for their livelihood so that their need was felt in society, but despite this, there was a distance between the majority and the minority.
Christianity originated in the Roman Empire because they were in the minority, so they did not reveal their faith.
They used to worship in lines in secret places. They also preached quietly, but when their numbers increased, they came under the attention of the Roman government. The government was not ready to tolerate any new sect. Therefore, its officials, after discussing with the Christians, wanted them to renounce their religion. In case of refusal, they were tortured. They were killed by wild animals in the Colosseum.
Therefore, as a result, two concepts emerged in the Christian religion. One is the concept of a saint and the other is that of a martyr. That these people gave their lives for their religion.
When Constantine, the founder of the Byzantine Empire, converted to Christianity in 131 AD, Christianity received the support of the state and they adopted the same attitude towards the pagan minority as the Romans did towards them.
When Protestantism came to Europe, in the countries where Catholics were in the minority, Protestants committed extreme atrocities against them. For example, the Protestant minority was massacred in Saint Bartholomew in France in 1572. Cromwell of England ended the freedom of the Catholics of Ireland by massacring them, which lasted from 1649 to 1653.
The greatest tragedy of minorities began when slaves from Africa were brought to the American Caribbean islands and England. Because they were black, white people considered them a separate creature and included them in the lowest class, adopting a policy of discrimination and hatred towards them. In the southern states of America, they worked in cotton and sugarcane fields.
There was a difference between them and white people. In the Caribbean islands, they helped in the production of sugar. Despite their hard work, they were deprived of basic rights.
When a number of Africans from the Caribbean islands settled in the cities of England, especially Liverpool, Bristol and Nottingham, the British staged fierce protests against the Africans.
This resulted in clashes between whites and Africans. Minorities tolerate oppression to a certain extent. But when it gets to the extreme, they also fight for their own protection. There was no peace and order in the industrial cities of England due to racial riots.
It has been written that in the early twentieth century, some people from the Sikh community settled in the American state of California.
Here they were treated with severe discrimination. Banks refused to give them loans. White women refused to marry them. Therefore, they married Mexican women. Indian, Mexican and American identities were mixed in their children. Despite racial discrimination, they worked hard and created their own place. But racial discrimination changed their mental state.
In 1913, they formed the Ghadar Party to free India from Britain. It published newspapers in both Urdu and Hindi. They also built a hall in San Francisco. Some of these enthusiastic youth traveled to India. So that the freedom movement could be launched there. But British informers gave all the information about them to the British government.
So as soon as they reached India, they were arrested and imprisoned and their movement could not move forward.
Despite the political changes and establishment of democratic institutions in the present era, minorities consider themselves insecure. Although it is the policy of America that their society is a melting pot, in which the majority and the minority all become one.
But in reality, this is not the case. Prejudice against Mexican and Latin American immigrants who have settled in the United States is increasing. Africans still suffer from inequality after all the political ups and downs.
In the present era, when the people of Asia and Africa have settled in European countries, there is still a gap between them and the local residents.
Racial prejudice has made religious extremist political parties popular in European countries, due to which there is no possibility of reconciliation between minorities and the majority population.
This tragedy of minorities exists in the societies of India and Pakistan. Here, minorities consider themselves unsafe. In the case of riots, massacres also occur. If minorities are not made a part of the nation, then the formation of the nation remains incomplete.
There is a need to benefit from the intelligence and abilities of minorities by giving them full rights. The common people basically want security and peace, and violence does not stabilize society in any case.
Note: The opinions expressed in any blog, comment or column of DW Urdu are the personal opinions of the author, with which DW does not necessarily agree.
Comments
Post a Comment