
“I have a problem with the use of the term ‘minority’. It only serves to otherise religious groups within the country and reinforce existing divides. We are all equal citizens of Pakistan.” Christians like Pastor Daniel were among hundreds gathered at Karachi’s YMCA on Sunday for the Minority Rights March, which, ironically, was celebrated a day earlier since “minorities wouldn’t get a day off to celebrate it”. Jinnah’s oft-quoted speech of Pakistani citizens being free to go to temples and places of worship remains relegated to the history textbooks since the lived realities for religious minorities across Pakistan are far from that freedom once promised. “Christians like me aren’t allowed to preach their religion, and seldom can we practice it without the fear of the supposed majority,” said Daniel of Karachi’s Philadelphia Pentecostal Church. Jinnah’s speech and his very upbringing were woven through the day’s itinerary. The speakers emphasised that his early education was at schools founded by religious m...