Minorities and Nationalism

I find national identity of minorities very interesting. However, my interests lie in the need of minorities to constantly defend and justify their loyalty to a state in which they are not accorded the status of equal citizens. This becomes particularly important in the case of minorities that believe in a religion that differs from the religion of the majority, given that the state is based on religion.

Not only do minority citizens face the need to constantly reiterate their loyalty but their contributions towards the well being of the nation are often undermined by their minority status. Two examples of this are Dr. Abdus Salam, the first Muslim and only Pakistani to be a Nobel Laureate, and Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan,the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan to the UN and the President of the 17th session of the UN General Assembly. You will rarely find the names of these two in a history textbook in Pakistan. The former lived in self exile by virtue of religious persecution and the later resigned in the face of demands from extremist factions and the inability of the state to respond appropriately. Both were haunted by doubts casted on their loyalty to the Pakistani nation on the basis of their minority status.