Daily Times

It is another sad day for Pakistan. After all the hullabaloo and loud noises that have recently been made in the aftermath of the Peshawar school attack about overcoming the spectre of extremism and hate, yet another Ahmedi has been gunned down in the kind of crime that has become all too common: killing someone because of their faith. On Saturday, 27-year-old Luqman Ahmad Shahzad, a leader of the minority Ahmedi community in Gujranwala was shot in the back of the head — a truly cowardly act — on the way to his farm. As usual in such circumstances, the perpetrators have gotten away and it seems unlikely they will be caught. This attack comes just five days after the bigoted Amir Liaquat once again allowed anti-Ahmedi vitriol to be spewed on the show he hosts on a private television channel. The Ahmedi community was labelled the “enemy” of Pakistan by three Islamic ‘scholars’ followed by much clapping and nodding by Mr Liaquat and the people in attendance. Now we have the dead body of an Ahmedi male in the aftermath of this provocation. This is not the first time Amir Liaquat has instigated Pakistanis against the Ahmedi community; he did it once before in 2008 and two Ahmedis were killed immediately after. While one cannot say with any real evidence that the killings were in response to the television personality’s warped sense of entertainment and religion — the killing of Ahmedis has become a regular travesty — there are too many coincidences. Why this hatemonger is still allowed airtime is a question that defies all logic.

Much is being said about the government’s National Action Plan in the wake of the massacre of scores of school children in Peshawar, a plan that promises, among other things, to curb the belligerent spread of hate speech. What transpires on Mr Liaquat’s show from time to time is the kind of hate speech that has had devastating effects. It is the kind of instigation that moves people to murder, endangers an already ostracised community and encourages the spread of extremism and terrorism. Something must be done about this and soon. We have just seen our precious children mercilessly gunned down by the Taliban in Peshawar and Amir Liaquat is back to his old tricks. The much touted action plan against terrorism must block the transmission of this man’s show to let the people know that it is serious about beating back the terror threat. We have had enough of people like Mr Liaquat, we have had enough of seeing our minorities being killed because of their faith. Enough. *