5/4/14 - Pakistan more religiously diverse than Turkey, Iran: study (by Dawn): The above caption (drafted by Dawn) seems to be celebrating religious diversity, but it is very misleading when you review the article and analyse the statistics: Pakistans religious diversity is only 0.8 on a scale of 0-10 and Turkey and Iran are even less than 0.8! Whereas, we may be better than the laggards on this index i.e. The three countries with the least religiously diverse population are the Vatican City, Morocco, and Tokelau – all with a score of 0. They are followed closely by Iran, Romania, Tunisia, Timor-Leste, Somalia and Afghanistan. But, the most religiously diverse & leaders - ranking the highest on the index include Singapore 9.0, Taiwan 8.2, Vietnam 7.7, Suriname 7.6, Guinea-Bissau 7.5, Togo 7.5, Ivory Coast 7.4, South Korea 7.4, China 7.3, Hong Kong 7.2, Benin 7.2, Mozambique 7.0. In Pakistan, there are 96.4% Muslims (of which the statistics do not disclose that almost 20-25% are Shia sects - Seveners (believers in 7 Imams or Ismailis), Twelvers (majority & traditional Shia sect, believers in 12 Imams), Bohra or Bohri community (or sixers); And then, within Sunni Muslims there are following major sects - Ahle-Sunnah wa Jama` - Hanafi School of Law, Ahl-e-Hadith, Deobandis, Barelvis, Sufis (various or probably a dozen or more groups or Tareeqas), Tablighi Jama`at, Wahhabis (the Fifth Column or Madhab or even Ideology, some would say), etc. etc., and Ahmedis (deemed as Non-Muslims since 1972 by President/PM Z A Bhutto arguably to appease the religious Political Parties!); Hindus 1.9 per cent ; Christians 1.6 per cent ; and All other religions less than 0.1 per cent. [But, more telling is the fact that there is a huge diversity of ethnicity or tribalism, which is increasingly not celebrated, as it should have been esp. after 1980s, and some may even call it racism-within; Most telling is the fact that sectarianism or prejudices between sects within Sunni Muslims and between Sunnis and Shias (albeit by a minority of insurgents) has made Pakistan into one of the worst countries in the World for tolerance of the Other i.e. by ethnicity, sects, religion (albeit, by the minority of violent people), and even gender inequality! Sadly and unfortunately, this is not the stable, pluralistic, progressive and tolerant Pakistan I and my generation and the first generation grew up in, up to the mid-1970s and Im sure many people of my generation will agree with me!] P.S. And, if I have missed any other religious sects, please do add in the comments section, below, that will be appreciated! There are so many ethnic tribes and languages that I would rather not go into that detail, to keep it simple and not digress into another debate on high ranking on ethnically-diverse spectrum, but marred by prejudices!
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 22:11:09 +0000
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