Justice Rana Bhagwandas died in Karachi at a local hospital after a long illness on Monday 23 February 2015, at the age of 72. This is not an obituary of a single great man, but of the passing away of tolerance, the single human quality which once defined the character of the people of Sindh.
Sindh is the only one of the four provinces whose typical spirit, character and attitude was tolerance from the beginning of her history. In our own time Sindh does not reflect that ethos. The province is now known for her national and social prejudices, divisiveness, religious persecution and Muslim bigotry. The capital Karachi is known to the world as the most dangerous place on earth, home of terrorists.
Sindh not only has the largest Hindu population but a large concentration of Christians and Parsee communities among her citizens. Her Sikh population is negligible, nothing to compare with the thousands who live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There are also Budhists, but most of them are Burmese refugees or Ceylonese maids. Religion did not defined the social or cultural attitude.
Muslims and Hindus never thought of themselves as anything but Sindhis. Take the case of Sufi Kalam; it is sung by people of both religions. Rana Bhagwandas did his masters in Islamic Studies. He was not an exception. I know of several Hindu Sindhi girls and boys who still study Islam and have graduated with Islamic Studies is one of their subjects. Another peculiarity is that in the same family there are both Hindus and Muslims members. Diwali and Eid are celebrated with equal fervour by all the family. Even within the ambit of Islam, it is not unusual to find Shia and Sunni members of the same family living as one. There was no enmity, these was always, tolerance for that is the Sindhi character. Actually I should be using the past tense, since this is no longer true.
Religious and sectarian bigotry was late to rear up its ugly head in the province of Sindh. The two non-religion based parties of Pakistan are Pakistan People's Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. They still attract those who think politically rather than colour politics with religiosity. (Historically, the National Awami Party of NWFP, which is now Awami National Party (ANP), was the first secular party. ANP is not so secular, however). The full blown effect of Zia's so-called "Islamisation" was evident in the last decade of the previous century. There was no forced conversion before that time. There were no kidnapping of Hindu girls to marry them off to Muslim boys, which has become common feature of Sindh.
The bigotry was evident even in the case of Rana Bhagwandas. In 1994, he was made judge of the Sindh High Court and elevated to the Supreme Court in 2000. His appointment to the superior court was challenged through a constitutional petition on the grounds that he was a non-Muslim, but a full bench of the court threw out the plea. It was good to know bigotry had not subverted the judiciary, but that such a petition should have challenged the appointment of Rana Bhagwandas who was known to be a staunch believer in constitutionalism and rule of law, indicated the growing influence of fanaticism even in the halls of justice.
Justice Rana Bhagwandas has been described by all who knew him as the most just and tolerant man not only in his judicial capacity but in all walks of life. He was the epitome of Sindhi tolerance for he was a product of the age of tolerance which no longer defines Sindhis (I say this with due respect for the heroic few who are true Sindhis, tolerant and struggling to revive Sindh's lost ethos.) He was born on December 20, 1942 in a Hindu Sindhi family in Naseerabad, Larkana district, now Qambar-Shadadkot district. The most dramatic event of his career was when he served as acting Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2007 during the judicial crisis, following the sacking of CJP Iftikhar Chowdhry. He was in India on a yatra. He is believed to have been approached there to delay his return and extend his stay so there would actually be no one to man the post of Chief Justice, and Musharraf could do as he pleased. Justice Chaudhry was sacked on March 7, 2007 and most people believed Bhagwandas was deliberately held back in India.
He returned on March 23 and served as acting CJP from March 24 to July 20, 2007, and ensured the apex court restored Justice Chaudhry. "How could (any) one dare to dictate me to pen the decision of his choice," said Bhagwandas. He was a bold and honest judge.
Comments
Comments are closed.