[The interviewer was introduced to Mr. Tehman Lall, a young Lahore-based MBA student, during his trip to Pakistan in September, 2006.]
I'm glad to have Mr. Tehman Lall with me. Mr. Lall, you are a Christian citizen of a Muslim Pakistan. Are you a pious believer?
Hello Mayank. To be honest, I'm not very religious, but I do consider myself a practicing Christian. There are, however, some weak and strong points in the way I practice my faith, but that I believe is every individual's personal choice.
Who are in your family? Please tell us about them.
I have my parents - Philip and Priscilla. Their young lives were different from mine. They grew up and got married during an era when Pakistan was relatively a better place.
I'm not boasting, but my parents happen to be some of the very few respected and well-educated Christians left here in Pakistan. Most of the good families have migrated to the US or Canada. My father is a known figure in corporate Pakistan while my mother heads a women graduate college in Lahore.
I have two sisters. Sandhya lives in California while the younger Ratna works in an Islamic multinational bank.
Tehman, I found the comment about your parents having a different life rather interesting. What about your life? How was the environment you grew up in?
We children were raised with good Christian values. In fact my parents are living examples of those ideals. But at the same time we are secular in outlook, very different from traditional Pakistani households, Christian or Muslim.
Now let's come to the meat of this interview. How does Pakistan treat its minorities? What is the attitude towards Christians, Hindus and Sikhs?
Well, objectively speaking, minorities do have the legal right of practicing their religion. There are churches, temples, and gurudwaras (Sikh temples) for most of the Christian, Hindus, and Sikhs respectively. We are free to go there and do our prayers.
But in recent years, fanatic Islamic factions have tried to create religious unrest and terror for the minorities, especially towards Christians. Rape, blasphemy charges, and church attacks have increased over the years. But these are more prevalent in the rural and semi-urban areas of Pakistan.
Do you feel Christians are discriminated against? Do you have any personal experience of this?
Christians are not discriminated against overtly on a large scale but there have been and will remain instances of minority discrimination in this country. I have no personal experience of such discrimination but my father and my aunt's husband had.
My father was due to become the National Director of a prestigious management training institute but was succeeded by a junior. There was obviously a lot of politics involved, but it all revolved around religion. How could a Christian be at a senior governmental post! My father subsequently resigned. Something similar happened to my uncle, too. He was employed in the Foreign Service.
Article comments
1 - diana hartman
I am pleased to tell you this article is being featured in the Culture Focus today, November 2nd.
Diana Hartman
Culture Editor
2 - Roger Choate
Yet another insightful article! There's so much we don't really know about Pakistan, so I hope you'll keep at it, Mayank
3 - Mayank Austen Soofi
I have been e-mailed by Mr. Tehman Lall. He has (rightly) observed that I have not included all the questions asked to him for this interview. He feels that there is more to Pakistan than suggested by this published piece.
4 - Stephen
It is a very insightful interview and gives a depth to Pakistan that I had not thought existed. Thanks both to Soofi and Lall.
5 - Roger Choate
Would it be an idea, Mayank, to do a sidebar to your article incorporating some of the additional thoughts that Mr Lall may have?
6 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Roger,
It is a very good idea. Thanks. I'll work on your suggestion. But I miss your take on Sweden. Okay, elections are over but surely there is much more to that northern nation than mere national elections.
7 - Roger Choate
Good, Mayank, I'll look forward to that article.
I do agree that there's more to Sweden than the occasional national election. I'll try to correct my wayward ways and crank something out.
From your own point of view as an Indian, what do you think you would want to know or learn about Sweden?
8 - Verona Pinto
I am from Mangalore, India. I found the article very informative, interesting and objective. According to me, Mr.Lall is quite frank in the interview, regarding the position of minorities in Pakistan.
That's a really nice picture of Mr.Lall and his family.