http://www.politicoindia.com/newsreader.aspx?id=609
Blow By Blow
Krishan Bheel, an enraged Hindu MP, slaps Qari Rehman in the national assembly. Pakistan's woeful minority tale.
Itwas an occasion quite rare for the national assembly (NA): PrimeMinister Shaukat Aziz had finally taken time off from his foreignsojourns and sumptuous banquets to participate in the December 7proceedings of the Lower House. His presence spurred MuttahidaMajlis-e-Amal's Qari Gul Rehman to laud Aziz in a remarkably floridlanguage for providing gas connections in precisely those areas Qarihad recommended.
Aghast at the brazen display of themullah-military link, despite the MMA projecting itself as anOpposition party, the 'real' Opposition—members of the PakistanPeople's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)—began tohoot Rehman. "Stop it, you durbari maulvi. Enough of buttering,"someone shouted. Soon Opposition members began to chant in unison,"Durbari maulvi, durbari maulvi". Particularly vociferous were PPP'sNaheed Khan, a close confidant of Benazir Bhutto, Khawaja Asif, adie-hard supporter of Nawaz Sharif, and Krishan Bheel, a Hindu memberof the PML(N) who hasn't deserted his party even in the politicalclimate that is inimical to minorities.
As the NA hallreverberated with the chant of "durbari maulvi", Rehman, self-righteousand bigoted to boot, turned around, stared at Bheel and said, loud andclear, "You Hindu bania, how dare you."
And then history of sorts was created: Bheel languidly walked a fewsteps and slapped Qari on the face. Then another slap. He was about todeliver the third when others intervened to grab his hand inches awayfrom Qari's hirsute cheeks. The House was stunned; it had never beforewitnessed such an incident in its chequered history.
ForRehman, though, Bheel's slaps weren't just a violation of the rules ofconduct governing the house; the slaps were, more gravely, an insult toIslam. A Hindu hitting a Muslim in the land of the pure? Worse, alow-caste Sindhi slapping a hafiz (a person who has memorised the Quranverbatim) which is what Rehman is?
Rehman and his party refused to accept the PML(N) and Bheel's apology.
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Nothingdoing, they declared; Bheel's membership to the NA must be cancelled.To mount pressure on the speaker, the MMA stalled the house for thenext two days.
Finally, the two warring parties agreed to patchup, a compromise deal was hammered, and the NA began to functionnormally from December 12. But let's leave the contours of the deal forthe end. For now, ponder over the political significance of the episode.
Quiteunderstandably, the slaps grabbed the front pages of newspapers. Theyspeculated on the number of blows Bheel had delivered. Two or three?Most thought it was two and a half, counting as half the slap othershad prevented from landing on Rehman's face. But such jocularspeculations barely concealed the glee of many who thought Rehmandeserved the treatment meted out to him, though they, of course, agreedthat Bheel's behaviour had set a terrible precedent.
In a more serious vein, Nusrat Javeed wrote in The Post,"Bheel represents the low-caste Hindus of Sindh in this assembly. Hisremaining an ardent loyalist of Nawaz Sharif makes him more vulnerableto whimsical ire of our elite of all varieties. The politicalmaulanas...have also been pushed to higher classes. They are incurablyangry and self-righteous."
Others derided Rehman.
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The Nation'sAbsar Alam wrote about his hilarious encounter with Rehman. "When askedin the lobby by journalists why he isn't forgiving a person tenderingapology, which is a tradition of the holy Prophet, Rehman said, 'Thisis a constitutional matter now'". Given his great reverence for theConstitution, shouldn't he ask Gen Musharraf to address a joint sessionof Parliament, as not addressing it is a violation of the Constitution?To this question, Alam writes, "Rehman said, 'I can't say qabool hai,qabool hai, qabool hai,' rendering the meaning of the vows the groomutters at nikah. Then asked why he was giving such a non-serious pitchto this issue, Rehman laughed and started giving details of the numberof wedlocks he had solemnised so far. At the cafeteria, Sindhijournalists who know the Karachi-based Rehman started narratinganecdotes of his worldly affairs and how he makes the best of them."
But the two-and-a-half slaps had already quickly become a symbol of thedeplorable condition of Pakistan's minorities, of the humiliation theyhave to endure daily—and their seething rage. As Bheel waited for theMMA to retract from its stubborn position of no compromise, he told Outlook,"Whatever the decision, I leave it to the court of God. After hearingday in and day out abuses against my religion, that day I rose andcontrolled my tongue. But I could not control my hands. I had just nopower over them."
He also underscored the MMA's attitude to theHindus. "Not only me but there were Naheed Khan and Khawaja Asif whowere among those shouting the slogan of durbari maulvi. But because Iwas the most vulnerable, Rehman bad-mouthed my religion. I could nottake it anymore," Bheel said. In the past too, he claimed, Rehman hadsaid on the floor of the house that since non-Muslims were killingMuslims, it was time to reverse the equation. Bheel bemoaned, "All thetime we have to hear taunts from Muslims about our religion. This timeit was a learned maulvi, a member of the house, who taunted ourreligion. Our women are picked up in Sindh, converted forcibly and thenmarried off to Muslims. Jobs are a problem for us. Where is thisenlightened moderation? The West is blindly helping the government. Ourplight should also be highlighted. You must come to Sindh and see foryourself what Hindus and their women are undergoing. Our voices do notreach Islamabad."
Indeed, President Pervez Musharraf's'enlightened moderation' has yet to leave its imprint on the Pakistanisociety. Just the other day a church in Lahore, as much a heritagebuilding as a place of worship, was burnt; a mandir was ransacked andburnt in Nowshera (NWFP) recently; members of minority communities areroutinely brought to courts for violation of the Blasphemy Law. AgreesSamina Ahmed, director, International Crisis Group, "The intolerancereflected in the NA clearly reflects the level of intolerance towardsthe minority in Pakistan."
However, Sabah Khattack, who headsthe Sustainable Development Policy Institute, feels intolerance is anurban phenomenon; that the virus of hatred hasn't yet afflicted ruralPakistan. "While conducting research in the NWFP we came across a Hinducommunity which has lived in Kohistan for 400 years. When the BabriMasjid was demolished, villagers from the neighbouring areas came todestroy the religious site of the Hindus. But when they were told thatattacking it means attacking the community, the angry villagersreturned. Even during the Partition, non-Muslims in the NWFP were nottouched."
As the MMA stalled the house, the leaders of both thePPP and PML(N) got into the act. PML(N) leader Chowdhury Nisar Ali hadseveral meetings with MMA leaders in the speaker's chamber. Finally,the compromise deal saw Bheel tender a public apology from the floor ofthe house. Qari then got up and embraced Bheel.
But what Bheelstill remembers of the moment when his arm defied his will, is theprecise numbers of times he had slapped Rehman. "I didn't slap himtwo-and-a-half times. I slapped him thrice," he said to put the recordstraight.
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