My Views - Experiences of Catholics in Pakistan ( Post Partition - 1947 onwards ) By Terry Andrade.
| >> Some of the folks on the Indian side “ could “ be pleasantly surprised ( or >> shocked ) to know some facts which they may have assumed to be true in their >> minds about Mangaloreans ( and catholics / christians in general ) in >> Pakistan - As an Example : The general feedback and comments I always got >> from many of the younger generation friends there when we visited Bombay : >> Pakistan & folks who live there ( implying most of the majority of course ) >> are the enemies of all the folks who live in India - How does one then >> think we felt hearing such comments >> Why ?……..I think it was mainly due to the 1965 & 1971 wars where many had >> bad feelings about the other side ? This was true for some people of both >> these countries >> >> However the Christians in Pakistan were treated very well and held in high >> esteem ( especially those who had achieved distinctions and accolades in the >> areas of academia , sports , Law enforcement ( Judges , Police Management , >> Lawyers ) , Customs , Airlines Management , Banking , Insurance etc etc……….. >> Yes there was always some discrimination by certain folks ( which occurs in >> every country of this world including India ) but as far as our Religion >> went it did not matter much to the majority as we were too minuscule in size >> to pose any real competition or threats in any field of endeavor - >> >> If there was any real prejudice or discrimination purely based on talent , >> then Wallis Mathias & Antao Dsouza ( Pakistan Cricket Team members in the >> 1950’s & 60’s ), John Permal ( Late - RIP ) the fastest man in Pakistan in >> the 100 Meters during the 1960’s & 1970’s , Yvonne Fernandes > ( National Table Tennis Champion ) , Victor Dlima ( goalkeeper ) & Myself ( >Left Winger ) in Field Hockey in the 1960’s & 70’s. ( 2 Catholics selected >to the Professional Club Teams ( KPT ) till I was there upto 1974 would Not >have had a chance to attain those distinctions ?………….however we had to prove >ourselves over and above the thousands of other very talented sportsmen in the >country - and demonstrate that we were indeed National & International Caliber >Athletes in those sports - Having said that there were also a handful of other >very Talented Christians like Michael Rodrigues ( Pakistan Table Tennis Team >Captain in the 1950’s & 60’s ) , >> >> Mennin Soares ( Pakistan Badminton Team in the 1950’s ) and a handful of >> other Post Partition Christians ( both Men & Women ) that excelled in >> Hockey , Badminton , Track & Field etc - > >> It is also true that no matter how outstanding some Athletes are in their >> respective Sports not all of > Them were selected for the Pakistan National , Olympic & World Cup Teams >due to varying reasons ( too many to go into details ) > >> Out of all the names mentioned above I happened to be the only Mangalorean >> Catholic ( the rest were all of Goan / Christian ancestry ) >> | | | | | |
