Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Any Non-Muslim Leaders in Muslim Majority Nations?

Are there any non-Muslims in leadership positions in majority Muslim countries? This question is being repeatedly asked by many after the historic election of a British Pakistani Muslim Sadiq Khan as London's mayor.

The answer is: There are at least 8. Here's a brief list as reported in UK's The Independent newspaper:

Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama of Jakarta, Indonesia
1. The governor, equivalent of a mayor, of Jakarta, the capital of the largest Muslim country by population, has a Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. Indonesia is 87.2 per cent Muslim.

2. The city of Mardin in Turkey has a female Christian co-mayor Februniye Akyol. Turkey is 99.8 per cent Muslim.

3. In Bahrain, Alees Thomas Samaan became the first Christian and first woman to chair the country's upper house of Parliament, the Shura Council in 2005. Bahrain is 70.3 per cent Muslim.

4. Pakistan currently has a Christian minister of Ports and Shipping, Kamran Michael. Pakistan is 96.4 per cent Muslim.

5. In Egypt, Boutros Boutros Ghali, a Coptic Christian, was the country's Foreign Minister for 14 years. Egypt is 90 per cent Muslim.

6. The Palestinian city of Ramallah had a female Roman Catholic mayor, Janet Michael.

7. Senegal had a Catholic president, the late Léopold Sédar Senghor, for 20 years. Senegal is 95.4 per cent Muslim.

8. Lebanon had a Christian president, Michel Suleiman. Lebanon is 54 per cent Muslim.

This list defeats many Islamophobes argument that Muslims would never do what the Londoners just did: Accept a person of minority faith in leadership position.


Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Islamophobia in the West

Pakistani Diaspora

British-Pakistanis

Silicon Valley Pakistanis

Modi Accelerating Hinduization of India

Gujarat Pogrom under Modi

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sir Islamophobes Have Already Made Up Their Mind.These Idiots Are Not Open To Reason.There Is No Point Wasting Time Or Bandwith On Them

Rks said...

Haq sab:

Reality of Muslim nations from Pakistani magazine itself:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1102847/equal-citizens-eh/

Anonymous said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/indian-woman-dubbed-the-face-of-hindu-terror-to-walk-free/2016/05/13/bd0c034c-1909-11e6-971a-dadf9ab18869_story.html

there ends hindu terror, also hemant karkare's reputation is done.

Pigggleggg said...

Funny because in Pakistan according to the Constitution non-muslims cannot hold certain offices.

Riaz Haq said...

Pigggel: "in Pakistan according to the Constitution non-muslims cannot hold certain offices."

That's because Pakistan does not claim to be secular. It is a "Islamic Republic".

However, non-Muslims can still hold any office other than that of the president and prime minister.

Pakistan has had two non-Muslim Chief Justices: AR Cornelius and Bhagwan Das. Pakistan has many ministers, parliament members, top bureaucrats, judges, military and police officers etc who are not Muslim.

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "there ends hindu terror, also hemant karkare's reputation is done."

To the contrary, it raises serious doubts about justice under the government of Narendra Modi, the butcher of Gujarat.


Read the following from the Washington Post story:

Randeep Singh Surjewala, the spokesman for the Congress Party, which was in power at the time of Singh’s arrest, said the overturning of the charges “has shocked the collective conscience of the nation” and accused the Modi government of “blatant disregard and misuse” of the investigation agency.

In June last year, the case’s special public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, said that she was “under pressure” from the investigation agency to go easy in the case.

On Friday, senior Congress Party leader Digvijaya Singh said “it was a matter of shame” that Modi’s government was “trying to protect those who were clearly involved in terror related activities.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/indian-woman-dubbed-the-face-of-hindu-terror-to-walk-free/2016/05/13/bd0c034c-1909-11e6-971a-dadf9ab18869_story.html

Anonymous said...

Aha, so who is accusing Modi govt for misuse ??? COngress. the same congress which kept Pragya in jail for 9 yrs without proving she was guilty.

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "Aha, so who is accusing Modi govt for misuse ??? COngress. the same congress which kept Pragya in jail for 9 yrs without proving she was guilty."

It's an indictment of India's entire criminal justice system where innocents like Afzal Guru are hanged while killers like Pragya go free.

Afzal Guru was accused of carrying out an attack on Indian parliament in Dec, 2001. The Indian supreme court judgment acknowledged the evidence against Guru was circumstantial: "As is the case with most conspiracies, there is and could be no evidence amounting to criminal conspiracy." But then, it went on to say: "The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation, and the collective conscience of society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender." This shameful Indian Supreme Court verdict to approve Guru's execution is a great miscarriage of justice with few precedents in legal annals.

http://www.riazhaq.com/2016/02/massive-anti-modi-student-protests.html


Here's an excerpt of Financial Times story of what the Indian Chief Justice Tjakur said about India's judicial system:


India’s justice system is notoriously slow , with actions and appeals sometimes lasting decades. The longest case is thought to be a land dispute in Varanasi dating back to 1878, in which the Supreme Court has been involved for 40 years.

Another case lasting more than four decades involved a Delhi bus conductor accused of defrauding his employer of one-twentieth of a rupee by undercharging a passenger. Multinational companies are also embroiled in long cases, and if they can they typically seek international arbitration as an alternative to going through the Indian courts.


“We want people to come and ‘Make in India’, we want people to come and invest in India,” TS Thakur told Narendra Modi, the prime minister, at a meeting of officials and judges in the capital, referring to Mr Modi’s flagship programme to promote manufacturing.
“But those whom we are inviting are also concerned about the ability of the judicial system in the country to deal with the cases and disputes that may arise out of such investments,” Mr Thakur said in a choked voice as he wiped his eyes.


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/788fd8f8-0aac-11e6-b0f1-61f222853ff3.html#axzz48fsOmyG6

Unknown said...

Shouldnt Pakistan be secular?