There is the unique case of the Hindus of India%u2019s Kashmir: about 10 per cent of the population in 1947, they have been reduced to a tiny number (5,000). The rest numbering about 4,00,000 have been compelled to abandon their home and hearth and made refugees in their own land.While Hindu population is falling steadily, the Muslim population is increasing. This is too well known.
The series of reports on the under-representation of the Muslims in services etc (obviously being presented as a monolithic community) and their over-representation in the jails and more such disclosures through the Sachar Committee%u2019s report, are meant to portray the overall image of a deprived community while implying that the Hindus in post-Partition India have an over-representation in services and other arenas, which is neither warranted by history nor by their number.
But first, the very methodology of producing this genre of statistics and its derivatives, which leave out the context and other parameters.
In this arithmetic, it is imperative to calculate what the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians have lost for ever in what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Their losses were entirely appropriated by the Muslims. This never happened in India. The relative position of religious communities in India can never be seen in isolation: that would make sense only when the overall scenario%u2014the political status, economic condition as well as the security concerns of both Hindus and Muslims i
RE:Sachar report defies logic, Muslims are better off
by antonio on May 14, 2008 02:28 PM Permalink
in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and also in India%u2019s Kashmir%u2014is taken into account.
While Pakistan and Bangladesh have carried out a religious and ethnic cleansing of its minorities, the Muslim population in India continues to rise at a rate higher than that of the Hindus.
Since the Muslim community looks at itself as a part of the fraternity of the believers world-wide, they are generally concerned at the fate of the Muslims outside India. This prompted Gandhiji to take up the Khilafat issue.
That justifies rallies against Bush when he visits India but red carpet for Musharraf.
Hence GoI espouses the Palestinian cause while smothering the horrible plight of the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Softness towards the latter are explained because of the exigencies of the vote-bank politics and the role of petro-dollar.
It is because of this umbilical chord that Pakistan keeps harping on the (so-called) %u201Cplight%u201D of the Muslims in India.
The projection of the Muslims as the only losing community is unconvincing if the totality of the picture is not smothered. Historic problems can%u2019t be viewed from arbitrarily selected starting points.
Additionally, there is the unique case of the Hindus of India%u2019s Jammu and Kashmir: about 10 per cent of the population in 1947, they have been reduced to a tiny number (5000). The rest numbering about 4,00,000 have been compelled to abandon their home and hearth and made refugees in their own land.
