Standing up for Minorities in US and Pakistan
By Nasir Ahmad, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University
Tinton Falls, NJ
While rounding in the hospital this past weekend, I began to discuss the U.S. Presidential election results with a nurse. She is Jewish. Knowing that I am a Muslim immigrant from Pakistan to U.S., she asked, “What will you do if President-elect Trump makes you carry a special Identification card? I replied, “I don’t think that will happen.” However, she said, “If it ever happens, I will stand with you and will also demand a special Identification card.”
In the wake of U.S. presidential election results, many Pakistanis via social media have expressed concern about the rights of Pakistani immigrants who have made America their new home. Let me assure you that we will be fine. In addition to this nurse, innumerable colleagues, friends, neigbors, have reached out to me to assure that they will stand up along with me to protect my constitutional rights in case President-elect ever makes any attempt to discriminate against Muslims. In addition, many politicians have sent messages of solidarity to Muslim-Americans and visited mosques as a gesture of unity.
So, did you ever wonder, “What makes America great?” It is Americans staying united and standing up for each other’s rights, irrespective of religion, race, and country of origin, which has and will continue to “make America great.”
My dear fellow Pakistanis, what we need to worry about are the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan including Ahmadis, Christians, and Hindus. How many of us speak up for them and stand along with them when they are discriminated against merely due to their religious beliefs? How many of us visit their places of worship when religious zealots destroy them? How many of us speak up against the false blasphemy charges they are frequently accused of under the blasphemy laws? How many of us have protested against the special discriminatory ID for Ahmadis?
Let us stop worrying about America. Let us ponder upon what steps we Pakistanis can and must take to make Pakistan great. Speaking up and standing up for the rights of the religious minorities can be the first of those.
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