On September 7, 1974, Zulifqar Bhutto, secular himself, gave in to extremist Mullahs and have Ahamdis declared non-Muslims under Second Amendment. It was saddest day in the history of Pakistan. Under pressure from same extremist Mullahs, on September 7, 2018, a similar sad day occurred when Imran Khan removed Atif Mian, a proud Pakistani and brilliant economist, from the Economic Advisory Council just because he was Ahmadi. Decision by Imran Khan was especially painful because he promised the nation that only merit will count in his regime. Bhutto committed the original sin, but he let Ahmadis serve in important posts as citizens of Pakistan. Imran Khan went further than Bhutto and denied a citizen to serve his own country just because he was Ahmadi. Imagine if Bhutto have denied Abdus Salam to serve the country to help establish Pakistan’s Nuclear Energy program?

Imran Khan is also trying to go further than Zia to expand extremist religious ideology in education. He is trying to bring regular schools, colleges, and universities at par with Madrasas. Under new Single National Curriculum (SNC) elementary schools will have at least as much religious material as Madrasas, including memorizing verses. Hafiz and Qaris will be hired from Madrasas to teach in regular elementary schools.

Pervez Hoodbhoy writes following paragraph in one of his columns; “Still bigger changes are around the corner. The Punjab government has made teaching of the Holy Quran compulsory at the college and university level. Without passing the required examination no student will be able to get a BA, BSc, BE, ME, MA, MSc, MPhil, PhD or medical degree. Even the Zia regime did not have such blanket requirements. To get a university teaching job in the 1980s, you had to name all the wives of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and recite some difficult religious passages such as Dua-i-Qunoot. Still, students could get degrees without that. That option is now closed.”

It seems we have not seen the bottom yet.

f.sheikh