Pakistani legislator Farah Agha, a member of Imran Khan’s PTI party, has made a highly derogatory remark on Hindus.

During a discussion on Pakistani news channel BOL News, a news anchor brought up Indira Gandhi’s example to make a point about Agha, to which she immediately took objection, saying “How can you compare me to Indira Gandhi? I am a God-fearing person, how can you compare me to a Hindu? Please use better examples…don’t bring my religion into it…you are comparing me to people (Hindus) who don’t even know what mazhab (religion) is.”

The anchor smiles and says, “Your anger is justified, but you took me wrong.” The other two panelists on the debate look unperturbed, no one thinks even minutely bothered by this open show of bigotry.

Farah Agha is a Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Punjab province of Pakistan since August 2018. She belongs to the PTI party led by PM Imran Khan. Incredibly, this bigoted Hinduphobe is a member of the Punjab Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Committee! Is it any wonder then that Hindus, the largest minority in Pakistan, are brutally persecuted?

Her profile on the Pakistani government site tells us that she is well educated and clearly a member of the ruling elite class –

“Ms Farah Agha wife of Agha Muhammad Shah was born on November 12, 1966 in Rawalpindi. She graduated from University of the Punjab, Lahore. A renowned social activist, who has been elected as Member, Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in General Elections 2018 against one of the seats reserved for women. She galvanized women from all spheres of life to enter politics to ensure their representation in policy making and women empowerment. She is the Patron-in-Chief of Ahsas Foundation and a Board Member of Adal Foundation. She is serving as Member, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); and as Member, Syndicate, Fatima Jinnah University, Rawalpindi.”

Farah Agha is not alone. Pakistan’s ruling elites, especially Punjabi Muslims, are seeped in anti-Hindu hatred. Earlier this month, Pakistani ‘journalist’ Durdana Najam who writes columns for Arab News Pakistan, The Express Tribune and Roznama 92 News, went on an anti-Hindu rant on Twitter. In a tweet, Najam said, “So what, start worshipping Dogs. It would be a good addition to the list of animals you Hindus worship…from snake to monkey to elephant to rat and not to forget the sewerage laden waters of Ganga.”

A former CJ (Chief Justice) of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar has such contempt for Hindus that he couldn’t bring himself to even name the community during a speech lauding Aligarh Muslim University founder Syed Ahmed Khan, who came up with the two-nation theory.

Pakistani cricketing great Waqar Younis had commented that more than Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammed Rizwan’s batting in the T20 World Cup match that Pakistan won against Bharat, what gave him greater pleasure was seeing Rizwan offer namaz on the ground in front of Hindu (players).

Hatred for Hindus is a cornerstone of Pakistani society, and it is drilled into children’s heads right from school. The nation came into existence due to the two-nation theory which holds that Muslims are a separate nation, so the othering and dehumanization of Hindus is central to Pakistani self-identity. Pakistani migrants carry this hate when they migrate to UK, US etc. A Pakistan-born actor Marc Anwar was sacked from his job after posting offensive comments about Hindus calling them “bastards” and “piss-drinking cunts”.

Ever since Independence, Hindus of Bharat were kept under the illusion that if we put aside the ‘politics’ over Kashmir, there is nothing to distinguish us from Pakistanis and people on both sides of the border share ‘deep love and affection’ for each other. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the age of social media, finally the truth about Pakistan is emerging from the layers of propaganda woven by anti-Hindu Indian elites.