Daily Times

People cheering on as vigilantes attacked a holy symbol perched upon a place of worship; hundreds of smug men vandalising cemetries and setting scores of houses on fire as helpless members of the law enforcement agencies tried to explain the supremacy of the law. This is not a raging war zone but a thriving medium-sized town in one of the fastest developing industrial centres in Pakistan. Tragic footages of men armed with batons and sticks going on a rampage in Jaranwala over so-called allegations of desecration of Holy Quan would go on to haunt our cause for religious liberties and crusade against Islamophobia for years to come. That a local Christian family had been accused by a group of religious zealots carried in itself mounting signs of how unendurable our intolerance problem had become. Just one spark was enough to tear down the centuries-old multicultural social fabric. Although a scathing condemnation by members of religious elders as they constituted a committee to investigate what had actually transpired, this refreshing breath of fresh air ushered in albeit a little too late. It would have been much more fulfilling to step in and stop the madness before the sensationalised preaching by a few of their own brethren had motivated the masses to become a law unto themselves. What purpose could an outrage over the so-called desecration of one Holy book achieve by a drawn-out round of desecrating countless Bibles (another Holy book)? Violence in the name of religion is dangerously rampant in Pakistan. As many as 70 people accused of blasphemy were tried by mob justice between 1990 and 2021. Sensing a similar fear for their lives, dozens of families were quick to take refuge in nearby villages. And while paramilitary forces have been called in, the fact that those living under the green-and-white flag showed an unmistakable doubt over the ability of their own state to protect them should lead all discussions centring around religious policies. A handful of condemnations just because we’ve been caught with eggs on our faces would not do. Pakistan, as a state, would have to consider the dire implications for the continued impunity with which perpetrators of these chaotic episodes roam around. If the political parties are not ready to compromise their voting bank by raising “objectionable” issues, they should come up with a plan to redesign the national flag. *