There does seem a tendency among some of the country’s political and religious parties to “misuse Islam” for their own purposes. And that, very sadly, is what seems to be happening in the aftermath of the unfortunate confrontation between the government and Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). Mufti Muneeb, former head of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, and Maulana Fazlur Rahman were at the forefront of the call for shutter down strike on Monday, which the religious right responded to with full vigour. But clearly both gentlemen had their own axes to grind and didn’t mind at all that they seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be hijacking a very different sentiment to improve their own positions. It needs to be noted that the objectives of groups like TLP and the government are, in fact, pretty similar if not just the same. There can be no denying that no matter is as sacred to all Muslims, and naturally to all Muslim Pakistanis, than respect for the Prophet of Islam (PBUH). The government of Pakistan has no need to seek any justification for its position on the matter because the PM himself has been seen time and again, at practically the biggest and most important forums of the world, making the same point very forcefully. This is also not something that anybody has to be educated about because everybody knows the centrality of this point for all Muslims. People also understand very well that the noise that some western politicians make, and involve our noble religion in it, is also only for political and electoral gains; nothing more. The solution, then, lies in framing laws in all countries that protect all rights of all people, especially minorities. If people in the west knew that they would be made to pay for insulting the sentiments of Muslims in any way, just like everybody gets a prison sentence in Europe for talking down the holocaust, then they would definitely think twice before uttering insulting remarks no matter what good such thing can do to their electoral prospects. That must be what everybody takes from all this. And we must also realise that our actions echo across the world, and a very biased international press is just waiting to take advantage of our mistakes, which their politicians can then spin for their own schemes. Therefore now that we have our priorities settled, we must also be very clear about the correct ways of pursuing them. *