Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
On a day Pakistan was celebrating its independence, President Asif Ali Zardari spoke about the country’s Hindu minority in a way that shows how Pakistan views its religious minorities. Zardari, often called “Mr 10 Percent” over corruption allegations, said Pakistan amd its Muslims “tolerate” Hindus, who he claimed make up 3–4% of the population. Does a state merely “tolerate” its minorities, or is it expected to treat them as equal citizens?
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Also, Pakistan‘s latest 2023 census puts its Hindu population at 5.2 million, or 2.17% of the country’s population, lower than what Zardari asserted.
Zardari’s choice of the word “tolerate” is striking for a President speaking about a religious minority whose rights his country’s Constitution promises to safeguard. The question is particularly relevant in Pakistan, whose Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion.
“The Indians have a different point of view. They have their own agenda in mind. They believe in Akhand Bharat. But there is a lot in between which they have forgotten,” said Zardari, adding, “We are Muslims. They are not. But we are Muslims of the mindset that we tolerate 3-4% Hindu population.”
They are as free, as good as anywhere else they were,” he added, “They would rather be with us than be with them.”
This comes amid persistent speculation that Pakistan’s powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has his eyes on Zardari’s chair.
Zardari’s remarks came while addressing a gathering at the Yadgar-e-Fatah Victory Monument ceremony in Islamabad on August 14. Yadgar-e-Fatah Victory Monument is a monument which Pakistan built to mark “the remarkable triumph in Marka-e-Haq”, the name it has given to the 2025 mini-war with India.
His comments also drew sharp reactions in India.
Advocate Rohit Madasseril of the Kerala High Court said of Zardari’s remarks, “Have seen different versions of psychosis, but first time seeing such a terrifying version of psychosis. Pakistani brains should be in a lab for scientists to study.”
Lawyer, author and Observer Research Foundation researcher Amit Krishnakant Paul said: “It is unfortunate that, even after 80 years, the President of Pakistan is trying to fan divisions by talking about India on Pakistan’s Independence Day and that too erroneously…”
WHAT ZARDARIS CHOICE OF WORD REVEALS ABOUT PAK’S TREATMENT OF MINORITIES
Zardari’s use of the word, “tolerate”, is striking when used by the President of a country to describe the treatment of a religious minority whose rights are meant to be guaranteed by the Constitution. Though Pakistan’s constitutional framework gives Islam a special position, it formally guarantees religious freedom to its minorities.
It is also a particularly loaded choice of words in a country where Hindu and other religious minorities have faced forced conversions, abductions, discrimination and mob violence.
Pakistan’s latest census, conducted in 2023, puts its Hindu population at 5.2 million, or 2.17% of the country’s population.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the country had 52.1 lakh Hindus. The figure combines 38.68 lakh people recorded as “Hindu Jati” and 13.49 lakh recorded as Scheduled Castes.
That is lower than the 3-4% figure cited by Zardari. But the more important issue is what happened to Pakistan’s Hindu population over time.
Persecution in Pakistan is not confined to Hindus. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims have also faced mob violence and attacks, while Hindu and Christian girls continue to be vulnerable to forced conversions.
A LOOK AT HINDU POPULATION IN PAKISTAN OVER TIME
First, it is important to get the numbers right.
The often-repeated claim that Hindus constituted about 14.6% of Pakistan’s population at Partition is misleading. The 14.6% figure is from the 1941 census for areas that now make up Pakistan.
Pre-1971 figures can also be misleading, because Pakistan then included East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), where the Hindu population was substantially larger. The 1951 census, for example, recorded religion separately for West Pakistan and East Bengal.
So it would be inaccurate to simply say that Hindus fell from 14.6% of “Pakistan’s population in 1947” to 2.17% today without explaining the territorial changes following Partition and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
FORCED CONVERSIONS, PERSECUTION, AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HINDUS
Even after accounting for the population caveat, Pakistan’s Hindu minority has faced serious discrimination and insecurity.
There have been dozens of instances in the last decade alone when Hindu families from Pakistan left the country and relocated to India, citing religious persecution, insecurity and limited opportunities as among the reasons for their decision to migrate.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a domestic rights watchdog, has repeatedly documented threats to religious minorities. Its 2025 report highlighted the vulnerability of Hindu and Christian women and girls to forced conversions and underage marriages, particularly in Sindh and Punjab.
In 2024-25, reports continued to emerge of Hindu girls being abducted and allegedly forced to convert and marry Muslim men. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has documented several such cases involving minor Hindu girls in Sindh, including cases in which families alleged abduction, forced conversion and marriage.
Pakistan’s religious freedom record also complicates Zardari’s assertion that Hindus in Pakistan are “as free, as good as anywhere else”.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented how Pakistan’s blasphemy laws leave religious minorities vulnerable to arbitrary arrest, prosecution and mob violence. HRW’s 2025 report said blasphemy-related violence against religious minorities had intensified, while authorities failed to adequately hold perpetrators accountable.
The contradiction, therefore, is not about population statistics, it’s about the difference between having a minority population and guaranteeing that minorities equal citizenship.
Zardari presented Pakistan’s Hindus as a community that is “tolerated” and would rather live in Pakistan than India. Tolerance is a very different standard from equality.
Pakistan’s human-rights record shows that numerical presence alone cannot be treated as proof of religious freedom.
Zardari’s assertion runs into Pakistan’s own record.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
