On March 4, 2016, in a protest-rally held in Lahore against the execution of Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed assassin of former governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, things took a turn for the ugly. The rally led by the Sunni Tehreek Lahore leader, Mujahid Abdul Rasool and Sunni Ittehad Council leaders Razai Mustafa Naqashbandi and Muhammad Ali Naqshbandi, instead of registering a peaceful protest ensured that it made a mark in the wake of an almost complete media blackout of reactions against the Qadri execution. Not only were some policemen and lawyers beaten up by some unruly protesters, even clergy members like Allama Ahmed Ali Kasuri were harassed, and Razai Mustafa attacked with a baton. Posters, banners and signboards on the Mall Road were torn, a DSNG van of a television channel, and check post at the Punjab Assembly damaged, while some stone-pelting protesters marched from Data Darbar to Charing Cross. Another Friday, a day marked for special Juma paryers, saw violence from a huge rally of people who profess to be following a path of unity and peace.
In a country like Pakistan where there is an ongoing war against terror, and which is debilitated by issues of poverty, inflation, unemployment and lack of opportunities for its young population, it is extremely unfortunate to see harming of people, and destruction of property to lodge a protest. In a democratic dispensation, to protest is the right of every citizen, but the keyword being peaceful. Pakistan, an Islamic country, with almost 97 percent of its population Muslim, has seen its non-Muslim population decimated to three percent from the 1947 number of almost 20 percent. Religious persecution of Christians, Hindus, Shias and Ahmedis has wreaked unmentionable havoc, making it impossible for Pakistan to become a pluralist society envisaged by its founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. There is not merely discrimination against non-Muslims, the “wrong” kind of Muslims, but also against Sunni groups who do not endorse the ideology of mainstream groups. Pakistan has suffered unquantifiable destruction because of its religious divides, delineating the unity of people in bloodied boxes of the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.
Faith, something deeply personal, and the connection of the mortal to the divine, is used as an exploitative tool, a means to widen schisms, a ploy to enforce hegemonic agendas, and a manipulation to incite fear among the public. Faith is the thread that connects disparate viewpoints, enlightening minds to respect all other faiths, even those in direct opposition to an individual’s own faith, but in Pakistan it is used to create an environment of fear, paranoia, hatred and violence. Religious groups wield a great deal of power in their agenda of influencing gullible minds to view the world in a regimented “us against them,” thus manufacturing a tinder box ready to explode at the slightest provocation. Instead of using their influence to impart a message of unity, brotherhood, kindness, empathy, compassion, and forgiveness, there is unfortunately, a great deal of emphasis on inciting hatred and violence. The voices and messages of enlightened religious scholars is overwhelmed by the cacophony created by all those self-avowed vigilantes of religion who believe destruction of property, life, unity and peace is the most effective way to register a protest. Be it against blasphemous cartoons made in Denmark, a film made in the USA, a book written in the UK, or a judicial execution of a self-confessed murderer of an unarmed man, the modus operandi is almost identical. Distort the truth, add layers of untruth to reality, paint it with a patina of piety, use the pulpit and loudspeaker of mosques to announce your declarations of hatred and vengeance, and watch ordinary people turn into killing machines.
Painful it is to witness the disintegration of brotherhood of a nation being divided on religious lines. Painful it is to witness the exploitation of a magnificent religion, the 113 surahs of whose holy book begin with “In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, and whose Messenger preached tolerance and compassion for all human beings. Painful it is to see young Pakistanis being turned into tools of hatred and violence, justifying it in the name of God who sanctions no injustice, and to whom “whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind.” (Holy Quran 5:32) *