There have been very few times when I have not found the right words to express my grief, sorrow, anger or passion for something and today is one of those days as I write for my man, Prem Chand – A Pakistani Hindu, a true patriot, a social worker who spent his life trying to uplift the condition of his fellow countrymen, he gave sweat and tears to this land of pure. An elected member of PILDAT’s Youth Parliament, whose fellow YP’s say the following about him:
He greeted muslims with a warm Assalamo alaikum…he sent msgs of congratulations on shab barat and other holy days…..He used “Allah” hafiz to bid farewell…and he swore by this name…I hv been with him….He was more of a sufi who believed in all religions and the good things in them.
And it doesnt even matter if he was that intolerant about religious beliefs, even if he were a staunch Hindu he didnot deserve what we gave him. He was on board EQ-202 Airbus 321, Airblue’s flight to Islamabad which crashed in Margalla Hills leaving 152 dead and the nation mourned (officially for 01 day). He was not travelling on personal visit, he was meant to be present at Youth Parliaments session the next day.
And like said above, he gave his sweat and tears to this land of pure – and what did he get? Some religious bigot wrote “Kaafir” (English: Infidel) on his coffin. (Link) We are no short of these religious bigots whose favorite pass time is to judge and discriminate on Pakistanis on basis of their faith – but this sad incident, which killed 152 human beings was an opportunity for these religious fanatics to show their true face. The poor guy, who was born in a Hindu family and spent his life trying to work for the people of his country was given the title of “Kaafir” by someone amongst us. This particular segment of our society pounces on every opportunity to exhibit their religious fanaticism from the very beginning, when Quaid e Azam (the founder of Pakistan) was labelled as “Kaafir-e-Azam”.
Bear in mind, Pakistan was made because people of Indo-Pak subcontinent felt they were discriminated upon on the basis of their faith – The same we are doing with our minorities.
I would cross-post some of his words here:
I believe in democratic process, because true democracy can solve all problems of state. – Prem Chand.
Prem Chand’s last status update on Facebook was: “Comments Can Make a Person & Comments Can Break a Person.”So Be Careful and Ethical While Giving Comments for Someone.” – He rightly said so. A single word comment on his coffin has shattered many across Pakistan.
I protest against these religious fanatics and I salute Prem Chand – And all the Prem Chands in the making and I confess to the religious minorities of Pakistan – that just because of our silence, just because of our muted response to injustices done to you – we stand here after 64 years. I dig my head in shame, and I vow to fight for you, for us, for the Pakistan we were supposed to have.
Please join this page on facebook as we try to take it from, to pick it from here and voice out for minorities of Pakistan.
Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi
Below is the letter written by Zulqarnain, Prem’s friend:
Its very painful for me to write to defend such gem of a person. But in a society like ours where people are discriminated on the basis of their faith, Its essential to show these religious bigots their real face.
Prem chand was born to a poor family and was its lone feeder. He belonged to Sanghar, Sindh. He was 25 and was married and also had children. He, however, looked younger than his age and we also used to crack jokes on him for this which he thoroughly enjoyed. He certainly was not a “man” and had those boyish looks. He was doing masters from Sindh university, something pertaining to Social work. He not only called himself a social worker but his text messages also bore this signature. The signature was later changed to “YP Minister” when he was made minister for Youth affairs, culture and sports in previous session of YP. This honour was well deserved as he had prepared and presented a comprehensive research report on state of social welfare in Pakistan. He was hardworking, dedicated and sincere. His educational back ground was such that he could not make flowery speeches.
He was not good at speaking English and his Urdu also had that pinch of Sindhi accent but this never deterred him to stand up and speak whenever he wanted. He was a patriot and loved pakistan, worried about it as much as we “muslims” do, brought resolutions, prepared them, asked for help, tried to pinpoint and resolve all the problems that Pakistan faces, spoke against India on water issue and had no qualms on the prospect of going to war with her. I say all this to show that he was “normal”. He was not alien or “Indian”.
I have met many people from religious minorities. All of them have that peculiar air about them. they lack confidence, they have fears of the unknown, They are very cautious. Prem Chand also seemed to be the victim of discrimination. Though that did not make him a loner, but it sure taught him to love more. He over tried. tried to be more good to you than u wud expect, tried to make good friends of everyone. Most of the time he lived in the room right next to me during the sessions so he often came over to my room. Thats when I observed this. He would send u text messages just to stay in touch. he wont mind if u didnt reply. I guess, he could not afford to be egotistic.
He was very tolerant in his religious views. We never discussed religion much. Though once I remember a fellow colleague of us talked to him in good faith. He probably wanted to convert him to Islam. Though he never said so. There I came to know that Prem knew much about Islam. He liked Zakir Nayak and comparative studies of different religions. He was interested in Sufism as well. And he wont mind if u asked him questions about hinduism. When interacting with us he would use “muslim” greetings not to prove anything but simply to avoid putting others in a difficult situation.
I still remember the time when we used to hang out. He used to borrow cigarettes from friends and puff away scores of them just for the fun of it. He was not a smoker though. I also remember that prem did not have a FB account. He also did not know how to make one so Hassan Javed (the late youth prime minister) made one for him on his laptop. When the account was made he jokingly asked Hassan to allow him to add Hassan’s female friends as he did not have girlfriends of his own……Thats all I can remember right now hope it helps.
Following is a comment by another colleague of Prem:
I am Muneeb Afzal, a Member of Youth parliament of Pakistan and a Colleague and Friend of Late Prem Chand. An extremely hard-working person he was a symbol of tolerance. My last communication with him was on night before the Air Crash, he gave his greetings to me on ocassion of 15th of Shabaan.
At PIMS fortunately another friend of ours was there when Prem’s Cousin Nanik Das came to search for his body, he quickly hid the tag ‘kafir’ by putting marker lines on it, so that Prem’s family which is already suffering from great grief does not have to bear more hurt. Although later at a memorial session where media was present I criticized the inhumanity and intolerance of those who did this shameful act. I felt this was my duty to my Late friend Prem Chand that i make it clear to the world that we condemn this act of intolerance and Narrow Minded-ness. But a lot of my other colleagues have since objected to my speaking out, believing that my saying this and this news spreading in media would add to hurt of Prem’s family, and in a way they are right too. I would like you all to also keep this in mind as well…
Rest In Peace dear Prem Chand
Ali he gave us his tears and sweat and now his blood…
But They r the careless,worthless,selfish people…
They even don’t think about the lost they have to bear after that..they don’t think they lost country assets in face of These six Activist..
and i keep thinking while reading the whole article, does it matter!!!
the 152 onboard, lost the life to the tragedy, kafir or a non kafir, muslim or a non muslim, pakistani or a non pakistani, his belief or my belief .. does it matter??
all matters is that 152 lives were lost, HUMAN lives ie; isnt that enough for one to get into a deep state of shock.
my heart goes with the families of the victims …
and yes Prem Chand we are ashamed!
yeswe are ashamed we call ourselves human!
This goes beyond insensitivity. This is malice. And what’s worse, it’s self righteous malice. Made my blood boil.
I am Muneeb Afzal, a Member of Youth parliament of Pakistan and a Colleague and Friend of Late Prem Chand. An extremely hard-working person he was a symbol of tolerance. My last communication with him was on night before the Air Crash, he gave his greetings to me on ocassion of 15th of Shabaan.
At PIMS fortunately another friend of ours was there when Prem’s Cousin Nanik Das came to search for his body, he quickly hid the tag ‘kafir’ by putting marker lines on it, so that Prem’s family which is already suffering from great grief does not have to bear more hurt. Although later at a memorial session where media was present I criticized the inhumanity and intolerance of those who did this shameful act. I felt this was my duty to my Late friend Prem Chand that i make it clear to the world that we condemn this act of intolerance and Narrow Minded-ness. But a lot of my other colleagues have since objected to my speaking out, believing that my saying this and this news spreading in media would add to hurt of Prem’s family, and in a way they are right too. I would like you all to also keep this in mind as well…
Rest In Peace dear Prem Chand
I agree with you sobia! it doesnt matter whether the dead ones were muslims or nonmuslims.. all dat matters is we lost PRESIOUS HUMAN LIVES!! lives that would have lead our beautiful country towards bright future..
MAY ALLAH REST THEIR SOULS IN PEACE.AAMEEN
Niklay thay ghar se azizon k dais ko…
Manzil k pass pohanch kar safeena ujar gaya!!
@ agreed
@ musab agreed.
This Letter make me Cry……
I can’t say anything right now,Ashamed is a small word very small 😦
[…] […]
AAZ
Don’t know what to comment here. only I can say thank you for writing this .
its so stupid and non sense and ridiculous, first of all hindus are not kafirs at all, there status is like that of jews and christians, the get the elevated status of “ehl-e-kitab” as they have “Gita”, and “veda” which are law bearing books and are revealed like Quran. this is something idiot mullahs always failed to recognise, moreover hindu scriptures including vedas contained prophecies for coming of Muhammad(s.a.s.). in Gita hazrat Krishna(peace be upon him) asks Aryans to do “Ashtanga pranipat” as prayer, which is astonishingly same as Sajdah we do in Salat. so our faith is incomplete without respecting this faith. there is one prayer in hinduism “gayatri mantra” meaning of this mantra or prayer is same as that of surah faitha. its only in Islam that state should run on secularism, making no distinction amongst its people, its Allah who is gonna give distinction, not men or any state. it gives me so much of pain to see fellow muslims doing this thing, that’s also with a dead body…… they also forgot example of Rasul Allah(s.a.s) when he stood up in respect of a jew whose dead body was carried out by some other Jews for funeral in respect. if a faith or book has prophecies about coming of Muhammad(s.a.s), it can’t be from all of a sudden, it needs to have connection with Lord of heaven. being a muslim i condemn this.
Dear Al Azim,
First of all i would pay my homage to Late Prem Chand. A loss of man like him is a loss to whole humanity.
I am an Indian and I really appreciate u all guyz from Pakistan for all ur love and respect towards him. After reading about him i realized that only true democracy can bring peace in the country (whichever country it is). And only then we would be able to bring two countries closer to each other.
Due to our media & some politicians (both of them are sold) we never get to see such a soft side of people of Pakistan. But see, because of the death of Prem chand, now i got this oppertunity to know about ur respect towards other religions.
And i really appreciate ur knowledge on Hinduism, and also ur respect towards it. We Hindus really love our religion, and we are also very emotional about it…like u all.
Keep going guyz. Serve ur country, uplift the people in need.
Hello Ali,
I am happy there are Many Pakistanis who think like yourself. Like Prem Chand, I am one of the Hinuds born, raised in Pakistan. It is very common for Hindus to greet the way other people would do in a social gathering. Infact it is very difficult for me to say Namaste when I meet with other Hindu friends in Canada since I am so used to Assalam Alaikum. My feelings for Pakistan are as same as would be for a Muslim Pakisani. Yet, I was asked this question many a times,”Who do you support in India-Pakistan match etc.” I have always respected my country and have been loyal to it. When a friend died, I went to the mosque and offered Namaz-e-Janaza, the same way other would do. It might be difficult for you to believe but when my mom calls me and I ask them to shift here in Canada, all what she says,”We have to live separate then.” I await the day when all Pakistanis will be treated and respected regardless of religion.
God bless you,
Sunil
i didnt no him but reading wots been written about him, a gem has been lost.
i feel for him and all the people lost. a tragic day.
I wish I could just ONCE get the opportunity to speak to the individual who put the tag on. There is so much I want to say to this person, because to me he personifies everything that is wrong with us, the hatred, the intolerance and the petty self righteousness we are all so proud of.
Aadaab all
I am a muslim and does not matter prem was a Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Sikh. He was a human and a Pakistani. I am proud of him like other members of the youth parliment who died in this tragic event. I salute Prem and he will be remembered. If his wife or other family members read this they should know that there are people we cried for their son regardless of religion as there is no obligation in religion.
Its sad and disturbing that such nice person has given worst post death treatment. But I am very pleased to see that there are people who not only are sensitive to understand pain that can cause by this inhuman treatment but also have courage to express the same. Hope sanity will prevail soon and your efforts will make this region as wonderful place to live as transcendental sensation one gets while listening Sufi music…
untill humanity wins over religion, caste n creed!
in solitude with all the families whose dear ones have gone away from them!
AoA
Great work ALI ABBAS
jis ne bhi yeh harkat ki hai bohot he ghatiya aur giri hue ki hai
dnt know hum log etna neechay kyu ja rahay hain..
Sura Al-Kafiroon Ayat 6 is not just for non-muslims but for holier-than-thou muslim bigots.
If we still don’t get it, then reading paragraph 7 of Jinnah’s speech to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on Aug 11, 1947 is also not going to make a difference.
It was rather disheartening to know about how his coffin was labelled. But tell me, what is he but a kaafir?
Saying Assalam-o-alaikum and sending texts on Muslim festivals and other occasions may sound like an impressive idea but tell me, did he not belong to the same group of people who killed innocent muslim children in the pre-partition times? Who raped little girls, killed expectant mothers and ripped apart their unborns with swords while saying “Aik aur wala haram-zada tou gaya”, “Aik teer dou shikaar” and so on.
I assume most of you are muslims and i think it is time you start looking at things from the Islamic point of view instead of letting your emotions take the better of you.
The problems our country is facing these days is because we really arent good enough muslims. We can easily blame other without counting our deeds and without considering right or wrong.
Apart from that, there were some other serious hardworking muslims related to the Youth thing too on that plane. Why isnt there a page about them so far? The pretty much had the same moral values and ethically rich. Why not discuss them too?
There was this 19 year girl from Karachi who played excellent football, had an amazing character and everything a worth-mentioning human being should have. Why didnt mister Ali Abbas mention her somewhere?
Its easy to pick the odds and forget about what’s important.
And laslty, Ive spent 3 years living next to a hindu family in England. And Ive learnt a lot during that time.
Considering that, no matter how good and sweet they are and how hard they work, they’re all the same-terribly against muslims!
Take care and dont forget to widen your mental horizons. And dont just jump to conclusions. Because on the Day of Judgement, what really will matter is how well you performed for yourself. And screaming and crying for a HIndu whose intentions were not known to you will certainly not weigh down your balance of good deeds to get you to heaven.
Allah Hafiz.
PS. Calling me a prick or an extremist or a bloody Mullah will not get you anywhere.
Three years of living in the UK can do nothing for the betterment of the bigoted, snakes. Once a snake, always a snake. Are you any better than than your hindu neighbor whom you are so quick to judge, you demigod? You worship YOU.
At least make an attempt to shed your holier than thou skin and try to evolve into a human being. Otherwise, migrate to some cave to live with your ilk where your lazy, wretched mind can stay fossilize into a rock.
You hypocrite, get off the Internet and stop using the ‘infidel’ resources. Leech, go suck blood off of a hairy mullah’s body.
Read Manto and you will find out that Muslims were no different from Hindus when it comes to rape, and killing of women and children. And let’s not forget that the same is being done even today, throughout the length and breadth of the country.
“The problems our country is facing these days is because we really arent good enough muslims”…No, the real problem is our holier-than-thou attitude.
dear usama:
i am in indian national by birth and a hindoo. here is what i have to say to you. please be patient and understanding. thanks for your support.
i understand your anger at the violence at partition, but, you must understand that the partition of india happened not because of hindoos or musalmaans, but, because the british rulers divided us on religious lines. they filled the poison inside us, from way back 200 years. as far as hindoos and musalmaans living together are concerned, the country prospered greatly under the mogul rulers, like akbar the great, shah jahan and aurengzeb. hindoos and musalmaans have always lived in peace until they were torn apart by foreign people.
i urge you, to please reconsider your opinion, for today this is what we dont need. anger and hostility. every day a pakistani soldier and a hindoo soldier dies on the front, and for what? just because our politicians decide to make war or peace. an educated person like you must not make comments like hindoo’s are the same people who killed our people at partition. i, personally, am against the violence and against the political parties in our country that espouse nationalism and religious violence. i am sure your country must also have such radical groups. see, this is for sure, that fighting and blaming each-other will never solve anything, ever.
please reconsider your opinion and i hope you will be led to believe in time that hindoos and musalmaans can live together in peace and prosperity.
wishing you luck and best,
take care,
god bless.
Guys like you will burn Pakistan. But others give hope.
dear usama
you say that he ‘belonged to the same group of people’ who committed those attrocities during partition. you might want to check your facts, there was fault on both sides. the muslims weren’t the only ones victimized, many muslims also killed hindus and raped their sisters and mothers ! and your post clearly justifies THEIR acts ! and being prejudiced against an entire group is not what even our Islam teaches us !
read the Quran with meaning and you will get to know that Allah ordered The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w) and the Muslims of that time not to harm the Kafirs if they hadn’t harmed them so it is wrong to say that we should be hateful towards all the Hindus of this world !
and no one is feeling any less sympathetic towards the other precious lives that were lost in the plane crash but this act of labeling a person and discriminating him purely on the base of religion is some what a tad bit more tragic and condemnable.
and what you have advised to the larger crowd, you need to do it yourself.
A/h
WHY ON EARTH DID THE HINDU-MUSLIM DEBATE EVEN COME INTO THIS?! Yes Hindus carried out those atrocities. Yes, Muslims did so too. Its sad, indeed.
But people; is it really the right domain to discuss this? The reason I wouldn’t comment on Usama is because I do not even find that worthy enough of even being repied to. Such people are not humans. They are gods, to themselves. And really, if this is how you choose to label someone as kaafir, then yes, I’m one too. Maybe we all are. Even you. Because unlike your holy self, I choose to judge people not by their beliefs, not by their religion, not by what their grandfather did; but by what they are.
R.I.P Prem Chand.
@THe person who wrote the first comment
Bigot never accepts that he is a bigot, so I won’t call you that. The fact you cannot see insensitivity of this act is enough evidence of the type of person you are. The fact is that one should respect fellow Human beings.
To me Prem was a dear friend, it did not matter whether Prem used to congratulate me on Muslim festivals or that he was interested in Sufism. Even if he was a staunch Hindu believer my respect for him would not decrease even by an iota.
For those who wanted to segregate bodies By religion, Prem’s faith was Hinduism, he should have been tagged ‘Hindu’ if it was really necessary to do something like that….
Who is kaafir who is not, who is going to heaven who is not, is not up to me or you or self-righteous bigoted Mullahs to decide… It is upto God and leave that to Him
@ Usama,
I normally don’t post on the internet, two quick comments;
– Muslims did exactly the same thing at the time of partition, I am sure you are not old enough to know any of this , but go and ask someone elder whether the Muslims were any better at time of the partition. (and I don’t judge them one way or the other for it because those were extremely painful and confusing times).
– Secondly mate, one thing I have never been able to understand and digest is why such strong upholders of the muslim faith are doing in a country like England, why not go back to Pakistan and live there in the heat, electricity cut outs and all……I am a muslim myself living in that side of the world, friends with people from all religions here and its people like you ( and others in my mosque) that scare the hell out of me because you’ll are living in a non muslim country and are convinced you are better than the non muslims and want to change things ( perhaps not you, but the thought process is so similar) and I am always scared of where this is going to lead. I just wish all such people would just go back and live peacefully by themselves, if one can’t assimilate , one should return.
Who were those a#*&^&*$ who wrote Kafir on his coffin. Its extremely sad.
I am ashamed while watching different clowns on tv on crash day, those clown anchors didn’t realize how hurtful would it be for victims family and now This is some thing more shameful and just made me angry again.
this soo saddddd… we alll need to stand upp for our minoritiess and protect them from the fanatics,, this guy was probably better pakistani than any one i know since he was in youth parliament and he probably was going to do some thing veryy good for our country in future may allah bless his soul and i will pray for himmm
What a sad and pathetic lot of people we have become, for someone actually thinking like this and then letting it actually happen….
I am so happy Ali Abbas, that u have the courage to come out and write such an article Hats off to u !!!! I am truly ashamed to today of our Country….how very sad.
@ Al Azim Dear if there are more people on earth like you then this Hindu-Muslim fight will end for all. even though we are different by religion our Race is one , we are one our land is one.
when i read about the treatment given to Premchand by some idiot i was very angry but when i read this blog i found the other side of pakistan also , there are people like you who are really of balance mind . hats of to you I pray to Bhagwan Vishnu to give Premchand a Place in his abode.
I would love to have a friend like you in that part of my forgotten land calld Pakistan. God bless you
shameful act indeed. every Pakistani should feel ashamed of oneself. today with the demise of Prem Chand the humanity has demised..
Well appreciated …for your contribution to a legend for Pakistani Youth … I don’t care if he wasn’t a Muslim.. May be we won’t have been too if we were to be born in a non-muslim gharana … Oh please stop discriminating each other on the basis of color, caste or even beliefs..
We follow what we are taught .. what are parents are ..
Being a Muslim .. is just not the It .. Islam teaches humanity first. We are humans act like Humans.. God Sakes ..
May God rest his soul in Peace .. In allah e wa in allah e rajaoun.
i dun know the guy but since from above article it seems he must have been a legend , a true human being , a true Pakistani …its really disgraceful to treat such a patriot with such stupid comments written on his coffin which should have been wrapped in a national flag to honor this guy ..
But the dilemaa of this country is Heroes are forgotten ..
May His Soul Rest In Eternal Peace !! Ameen
Hey, yeah, its been indeed a matter of intense grief and sorrow to label someone infidel just on the sheer basis of his/her belief….but, i guess such particular section of our society needs to reevaluate themselves thoroughly and good for them, literacy has already shunned down most of those and this particular radicalized group of people is on the verge of extinction. On a different note, its awesomely pleasant to see someone bringing this issue on a public forum that too in a positive direction!
So sad….. we cant give respect to one who gave life for the country…. Please get out of all this non sense and try to feel being a Pakistani… without any sect., religion and cast etc… PREM CHAND A SALUTE TO U MAN…..
such a pathetic condition..m an indian not pakistani..but still i feel sorry for such a pathetic treatment a pakistaani got…m not sad coz he was a hindu…m sad coz he was a HUMAN BEING…i think country shud not be d limit of humanism..i kno in every part of d world minorities are treated lyk dis only…but i dnt undrstand wht d hell do some idiots get from creating divisions between HUMANS..y cant dey think dat we all are human and nothing else..if we test blood of a hindu ..muslim..christian or an indian..a pakistani or a british d result will be A or B or AB or O ..dey wont gat hindu..muslim..indian..pakistani..
so sad to hear it…damn it..
whn will we learn dat we r himan and nothing odr dan dat??
And please do lecture us on how you feel about censorship and muzzling of free speech? A little hissy fit and some melodrama wouldn’t go amiss at all!
🙂
This is ridiculous….
We salute Prem Chand for his contributions to our society,
and we completely respect all hindu Pakistanis…
May his soul rest in peace…
Inna lillahe wa inna ilehi Rajeoon
Js streamz of tearz:-(
Streamz 0f tearz:-(
Why are so many people sad. Every Pakistani I know would not waste time caring for a Kaafir.
You Sufis are too soft.
How can you kill a DEAD PERSON by labelling him “KAFIR”, simple.
but so glad to see people who have risen beyond the boundaries of nationalities, religion, beliefs…kudos to you all on this blog.
PS: Rest in peace, departed souls of the unfortunate crash and strength to their loved ones.
This is intolerable. People who did that must be brought to justice.
I am kafir like prem chand and I hate the musliums who are muslum by name. they are really Kafir of Humanity
To hindus/Non Muslim brothers and sisters,
I wanna clear something.
I am also a fundamentalist practicing Muslimah from Pakistan, a hard core Muslim but I STRONGLY and STRONGLY condemn this shameful act. It just brought tears in my eyes 😥 and my blood is boiling….
Believe me It is not Islam which teaches us to act like this. Some arrogant people think that they have tickets for heaven just because they are born in Muslim families so they act in this way. It is just their arrogance which make them proud. There are black sheep in every society….
Although the word Kafir means “non believer” but we know that non Muslims(whoever they are, either Christians, Hindus or Jews) take offense in this word so no body has the right to hurt anyone or play with their emotions by using this word.
I don’t call or consider such fanatics “religious”…. If they would be religious they would never ever humiliate, insult or hurt any human being.
Firstly, May God rest his, and of all the other 151 victims, deaparted soul in peace and give the families courage to bear this irreparable huge loss of their beloved members. Amin!
Ali I am glad to see you raising this point and reading such positive comments. Yes it is shameful but believe you me this is not a surprise, nothing unusual. Hindus are called Kafir’s, very loudly, in Pakistan and no matter whatever we do for Pakistan we will always be looked upon with cynical eyes. Our homeland is pakistan and we are real Pakistanis but not in practical terms. Even the educated lot at times questions me as to why did i come to live in Pakistan whereas we are original Karachites living here since 1872. Let me add here, I travel a lot and have been to some parts of Pakistan and trust me many people are not even aware that hindus also live here. People changing their gestures when they know the identity is a common thing. I have personally experienced it all many many a times and am now immuned to it. What else can you expect in Pakistan?
This mindset and attitude of an idiot Pakistan writing “Kafir” on Prem’s coffin does not surprise me. After all this is a so called Islamic Republic and anyone follwoing any other religion is a sinner. Today, knowing about this stupid act on Prem’s coffin, i am cent percent convinced that what the world thinks about Pakistan is so very true, a country full of fanatics and people with limited horizons. Very sad to note this especially on a coffin of the person who was a social worker having lost his life in a tragic accident. But in a counry where Muslim’s are discriminated on firqas how do you expect a reasonable treatment to the minorities. What an extremist and discrimation filled society we live in. How biased are these bunch of illiterates letting Pakistan down. I pity this country which is amongst the best pieces of land on earth.
I am sure with this act of fanaticism the entire hindu minority must be very griefed and sad. I hate it too!
I am not sure how many people may read this comment but just to clear somethings
1. Its not about Hindu Muslim
Please try understanding the fact that our majority of people are un-educated we might have passed some classes but we never understand what things mean what. The person who wrote Kafir on the coffin did not wrote it for the purpose of disgracing Late Prem Chand but ONLY to MAKE A MARK that he is hindu and he should be cremated accordingly.
BUT My great Youth Parliamentarian INSTEAD OF BURYING THIS THING MADE A BIG ISSUE OF IT and is now disgracing Late Prem Chand and His Family. As I said educated is not how many classes you have Passed Educated is how much mature you are.
Both of them were immature the person who wrote Kaafir and the Stupid MYP who made a fuss out of it.
Who ever that idiot was he could have written his name Prem Chand and left it. Why does he need to write :”Kafir” with his name. This is the height of religious intolerance. I am a hindu and belive you me i face it very often in Pakistan and have also heard people calling me a “Kafir” infornt of me. To a point where people think i am an indian. It’s all about mentality. I have personally experienced it.
P.S.
I salute the works of Mr. Prem Chand and I wish this article had only highlighted the great works of Prem Chand instead of publicizing the Un-Intentional mark on his coffin.
Moreover Mr. Al Azim, Please read history, religion and comparative religions before commenting anything like this. I am not a Maulvi , but religions have always been my topic of research and the things you have mentioned in your comment though true yet DO NOT MAKE HINDUs as Ahl i Kitab. So Please think and research before you write.
its not about a legend, its not about being called a sufi, neither its to be brought to justice, nor it requires any judicial body to be set …
its about treating the tragedy with respect… lost of human lives any life should be treated with homogenous respect, regardless of caste creed, race and religion.
lost of human life is the lost of humanity its simple as that!!
if we individually understand this, this world can be a habitable place, a place to live with PEACE
It is so unfair someone being called a martyr and other being a Kafir. Prem, wherever you are, you are also a martyr. Thats the only reason, Pakistan is behind all other countries because we reward all those who are like us. We never respected Abdus Salam nor anyone who can get us out of this shit. Usama, partition is more than 60 years old and when Quaid forgave them why don’t you?
[…] Prem Chand We Are Ashamed! There have been very few times when I have not found the right words to express my grief, sorrow, anger or passion for […] […]
After reading this a few times, I finally figured out how to comment. But before that I guess I figured out how to blog myself. Anyways, now its good to see many Pakistanis against such acts, not that this act should have happened in the first place.
And, nice blog.
if feel really bad for all the passengers and their families.i completely agree that the use of word kafir for a person like prem chad was very inappropriate.he was a pakistani who was making a difference by working hard for not only pakistan but for all of us.we will always remember you.may your soul rest in peace.
plane crash was disturbing incident , but that “infidel” marking event is heart wrenching incident ….RIP Prem Chand
Mr. Zaidi,
I am impressed by your contributions towards a constructive and productive goal.
I wish you best of luck.
Javed
@ Usama this is not right forum to say anything but the fact remains that if you read the history you will find that it was muslims were the oppressors, killers, rapists.
whenever muslims & Christians have gone they have destroyed the local culture. it is in there blood to loot than to create. but there is a hope there are millions of muslims who are against such atrocities on other religions.
remember we Hindus are in mejority in Hindusthan thats why 20 crore Muslims are living is peace in Hindustan.
Unlike your pakistan where Sunnis are killing Shiyas , Ahmadiyas and god knows how many other sects. muslims in Hindustan are safest in world . Hindustani muslims are not treated as terrorist worldwide, the same thing does not applies to pakistani muslims.
think logically and rationally i’ll give only one example of hatred of islam towards Hindus.
the all hindustan including Bangladesh, Pakistan was a land belongs to only hindus and Hindus are living here for more than 10000 years unlike islam who is just 1400 years old.
muslims have raized our temples and build mosque on them on more than 14000 sites in hindustan alone. just answer my one question why there is a mosque infront of every major temples of hindus ?
it’s only to insult hindus.
please note we hindus are victims of islami fundamentalism.
our religion does not teaches us hatred towards other religion but islam does.
and yes I’m a Kafir since i do not believe in your god . we have a word here for muslims “Landa” it means short and usama people like you are real short on everything,
but there is a hope i have found that there are millions of muslims like Sayed Zaidi , amna , sobia kapadia, Musab, Muneeb Afzal, Maria Siraj Khan,Abid, Al Azim, hadia khan, Salman Haider, Shahid Batalvi, Javed I. Sheikh and many more are not like you.
we are Hindustani first then we are Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Our Land and forefathers are one.
only religion is different
Together we can win the world divided we will slit each others throat
There are times when the beliefs and thoughts of my own people amuse me a lot. Amuse, really. This time however, there is none. The crash in itself was tragic enough. But, to be honest, this article actually brought tears in my eyes.
For all it matters, a human being just died. These lunatics, even if they don’t care about them being from the same country; then atleast for the sake of humanity. HUMANITY, ladies and gentlemen.
His loss is indeed immense for family, friends and the nation too indirectly. But even more tragic is the attitude of his fellow countrymen. I do not care if he was a non-Muslim. He had Pakistani blood flowing through him. And most importantly he belonged to our race; the HUMAN race. I cry at the total loss of feelings and emotions from these bastards.
We failed you, Prem Chand, and you cannot imagine out grief. We, however vow to change this. Maybe at some point in time, the minorities will be provided with the rights Quaid promised them. We vow to fight for them.
1) Kaffir = non-believer, you can call someone kaffir, but you should be assure of it as if u r not then according to hadith, it is the fastest way of leaving Islam i.e calling someone kaffir and he was not. Thats why a word non-Muslim would have sufficed there even if they have to right it on his coffin.
2) Hindus are not Ahl-e-Kitab.
3) Read the comments of ‘Naeem Akhtar’ for once, the guy makes total sense.
4) All those giving history lessons, plz, everyone thinks that his version is correct, it is a sort of endless debate and there is no point discussing it here.
1) Kaffir = non-believer, you can call someone kaffir, but you should be assure of it as if u r not then according to hadith, it is the fastest way of leaving Islam i.e calling someone kaffir and he was not. Thats why a word non-Muslim would have sufficed there even if they have to right it on his coffin.
2) Hindus are not Ahl-e-Kitab.
3) Read the comments of ‘Naeem Akhtar’ for once, the guy makes total sense.
4) All those giving history lessons, plz, everyone thinks that his version is correct, it is a sort of endless debate and there is no point discussing it here.
Just one question…
Does a soul have religion?
Oh very well said. Also there can not be made any difference between any souls. That is exactly what was preached by Sant Kabir Das Ji.
There is also one very good example —–
As the different earthen toys which are made of earth have the source as earth only while these toys have different looks. In the very same way our source remains soul with whatever different looks, different religion, different caste we the peopleof this world may have. But one similarity which is the essence of life is common among us and that is our soul, which is also known as energy.
Being a Minority in India, i never felt like one.So its not the religion, its the mentality of the countrymen. Their is hell lot of difference between minorities in India and Minorities in Pakistan. at least i never see felt being left out or abused in South India.Remember Pakistan was created to safeguard minority interest, but now only after 64 years its going to repeat history.
I cent percent agree with you Ateeq.
You will be pleased to know that Pakistan has declared Shias, Ahmedis, Bahai’s, Ismailies, Khojas, Bhora’s, etc as minorities (the people who migrated to be a part of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan) you could well imagine what would be the treament with the minorites. It’s all about education (not limited to academics).
Dear frenz of Pakistan,
May God bless da souls of all those who died in an unfortunate plane crash. My homage to Late Prem Chand. After reading about him i ve come to know few things about him ie; He was a true patriot and social worker who was working for society…rather i say…for people in need. It was a sheer act of HUMANITY. There r people who doesnt get enough meal a day (and also for ‘days’). I m pretty sure, none of the religions in this world can solve their problems. Then who will?
It was great to know about some people in Pakistan who are putting their soul for the upliftment of the people.
A person who wrote ‘kafir’ is really condemnable. One should ask him from did he come to the conclusion that Late Prem chand was ‘kafir’. Was it written on his body? or by just knowing his name as ‘non-muslim’ he declared him so?
I agree 100% with Mr Naeem Akhtar, who seems to be the only one here actually in his right mind. This whole article is a paradox in its self. Why do we as a nation have to be so hard on ourselves and punish and complain and reach ‘blood boiling’ temperatures before we realize what happened?
Just like we believe Prem shouldnt have been ‘judged’, we need to stop judging the one who wrote it, most likely a commoner with little understanding of the real impact/meaning of the word, and in his own way, he was prolly doing a favor letting people know that this particular body be treated in the way its owner would have wanted and not be buried, although the word did shock me at first too.
We need to be proud of ourselves for being such open and accepting people as to have a humble person as him in our Youth Parliament which is a very small group. Give yourselves credit and educate people, Pakistanis are by far more tolerant than most you will find, some of us are so tolerant we forget who we are and are ready to mix up facts just to appear friendly, which is obviously wrong. I believe that we all need to stick to our OWN religious beliefs and respect others beliefs even if we DONT agree with theirs. After all, if I believe in one god I dont see how i can ALSO believe in a hundred, although I can respect someone who does. Yes, Tolerance IS possible with Integrity! Thats how simple it is.
And btw, hindus are not ahl-e-kitab. Get your facts straight. And they dont have to be to deserve respect and tolerance.
Get a hang people, PLEASE!*sigh*
iam a pakistani…..what ever happens is sad and discriminative!!and this is a regular thing in pakistan..cuz govt and extremist mzlms r one side!!and innocent minorities at other side..lacking basic human rights even!! FOR MR.USAMA….. muzlims were nt that pure at parttion…the destructed temples even today tell people waht happens to hindus….there low population as compare to hindian muzlims clear ones vision..except for ur biousness…hindus in pakistan have experienced more problems,issues nad unsafe situation in pakistan as compare to mzlms in hindia…every month ACC TO U.N.O…25 HINDU GIRLS R ABDUCTED,RAPED AND FORCELY CONVERTED TO IZLAM IN PAKISTAN…it is the worst situation for minority in whole over world……is same thing happens to hindian muzlim?? pakistan is 3rd countery in world which lack human rights for minority and forced them to be a second class citizens..where as there have been 3 presidents mzlms in hindia…how ever any way in 1992…… 172 hindu temples were martered and 300 hindus were even martered…for 1 single disputed mosque!! how ever any ways…india is been found treating minorities well wher as in izlamic socities ..its nt hidden the tratment of minorities!! talban imposing jazya and all that stuuff is also exposed..so plz have an eye on pakistan first……..for ANGELOS….. sir hindi and syed ahmed shaheed barelvi..uses the word of hazrat RAM (A.S) and mzlm ulemas have diclared with entering hindia thats hindus r ahle kitab..i guess u should learn on it!! even though today when u have nt ulemas lyk them…..still many religious book of that tym copied it…and there is aa lot to be on proofing…one jst need to learn…..
we are ashamed…
“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers” __Kahlil Gibran
Ali God Bless You for this selfless act. I have read your blog & read about Prem Chand.. I didnt know him before, but I am saddened by his death & others who had their last breath with him.
May Allah save us from discrimination & May Allah save our beloved country Pakistan 😦
Accept my salute my brother,
U have very rightly said that one should love one’s country above any other thing. This should be the guiding force behind every citizen of every country without considering one’s cast creed and religion. After all we have emerged from that one all mighty God. How there could be any sort of descrimination among us?
I admire u my brother. Here in India also some politicians do descriminate between the citizens of this country on the lines of religion and their cast and creed, this descrimination makes them devided. But it is fruitful for these politicians.
I believe one should treat one’s country on the top of anything irrespective of one’s religion, cast and creed.
[…] A friend of Prem Chand made this comment on Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi’s blog: […]
One less bloody hindu
The Good News here is…..things are changing. In Pakistan, in a communal government based on strictly one religion, selected only by one religious voters, there are some young people are raising voice of multifaith & interfaith at least ……in the context of Pakistani citizen.
I respect this revolutionary young “Muneeb Afzal”. God bless him. In fact, every body must have respect for him. You never know how much price he has to pay for his revolution against a government system, which don’t want to listen liberal views in respect of other religions.
From this News:
“It was shocking. He could have been marked as Hindu or non-Muslim, but using the word ‘kafir’ is the worst example of intolerance.’’ Muneeb Afzal, a Member of the Youth Parliament (MYP) was quoted as saying
Several members of the Youth Parliament wrote, “Literally labelling someone’s coffin as ‘kafir’ and not even giving them the respect to list their religion by its proper name is a shameful and disgusting way to disrespect the last remains of anyone. All the more so the last remains of a patriotic Pakistani, who was on that plane solely to represent Pakistan, and to seek to be a better citizen, deserved a much better treatment.’’
MYPs, in a good gesture, later wrote on his coffin, “We love you – from the Youth Parliament’’
My God, this post is a revelation. I’m an Indian and neither Hindu nor Muslim. Reading all these posts, it’s clear, what the common Pakistani feels about India and Hinduism is a lot different from what our media, politicians and right wing maniacs keep telling us. Even where I live, I’ve found Pakistanis friendly and unassuming. I guess it’s this radical minority on both sides, which wishes to stir up hatred.
May Premchand’s soul rest in peace like all the others who were on that flight. May God give their families the strength to overcome such personal tragedy.
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Prem chand may his soul rest in peace, well there in Pakistan we need likes of Prem Chand and the very Pakistani who have written about their disgust of intolerance towards minority, is a true vision of many Pakistani’s that deep inside our society and family has taught values to love people of different belief or caste and that will take Pakistan to real progress and will compete with the likes of Malaysia.
I have lived in London for the last 30 years and share the love of humanity and respect others in same way as I would who belonged to my religion or background
It’s very sad how we have forgotten humanity in petty religious ignorance =(
R.I.P Prem
How I fell in love with your blog post. If this kind of thought prevails and if this kind of thought is understood, accepted and worked upon. If your kind of people are able to take over the world, we can say there will be much lesser things for people to be worried and we can try fighting the real issues like hunger, poverty, environmental problems. I am an Indian and we too have both kinds of people with power swinging between both kinds now and then. But we literally can see the country and the society pushed slowly to dark age when a bigot takes over and we emerging over it and progressing forward when a liberal and open minded government takes over. In our country also lots of things take place like the one said above which makes 70% of the nations blood boil. I truely wish the best for your country to prevail over bigots and progress to a modern well thought progressive society. Truely felt happy seeing the post…. All the very best.
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Well All I can say that Five Things in your Life are not your Choice,Understand
That we are all from God and No one is better than others except by deeds
1.Name 2.Nationality 3. Race 4.Mother Tongue 5. RELIGION
Religion is not your choice it is What you are born into.Every one has the right
To worship according to their faith,Prophet SAW took loan from Jews and dealt
With Non Believers with great conduct.Now you find the Mullahs of our time selling Fatwas and Religion creating Extremist people who are bad mark on the
Islamic faith. MInd it INDIA has more masjids and more population of Muslims than any other country on earth .More than 90% Muslims of INDOPAK have Hindu Blood inheritance so if you can not respectful to others at least have
Shame and give respect your Great Grand Fathers who were Hindus.