BY SHAD SALEEM FARUQI
Shad Saleem Faruqi – file pic
The view that the protection of the Constitution is restricted to the public sector is based on a bygone political ideology.
SOMETIMES trivial issues ignite tremendous debates.
If a laundromat owner running a public utility business that is licensed by a local authority excludes non-Muslim clients, is his discriminatory conduct counter to the uplifting message of our Constitution that “all persons are equal before the law”?
Is his conduct a violation of the provision that “except as expressly authorised … there shall be no discrimination … on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender…”?
Opinions are deeply divided.