Religious extremism is the enemy within

Pakistani establishment and society have kept their eyes closed to religious vigilantism too long. Mashal Khan’s brutal lynching and murder show how a handful of manipulators can use blasphemy to rouse crowds to attack and kill any person without giving him a chance to prove his innocence. Four years back a young Christian couple was burnt alive by a violent mob of about 1,000 villagers on the charge of blasphemy. That those who attacked Mashal Khan were students of a university shows that even the educated youth is not immune to extremist religious impulses. Unless urgent and effective measures are taken to curb the trend no individual or institution would be safe in the country. It was proved in the court that Mashal Khan was entirely guiltless and the issue was used by a handful of people to implicate him for sheer personal motives.

One person has been sentenced to death, five to life imprisonments, 25 others to four years in jail, and 26 acquitted by an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC). None in the large crowd that attacked Mashal Khan had heard him utter anything blasphemous; some might not have even known him but they got charged when mischief mongers spread the rumour. What should further make the establishment worry is that the workers of a prominent religious party took out a procession in a KP city against the ATC judgment soon after it was announced. Critics have raised questions about the reasons behind the acquittal of 26 accused who were arrested on the basis of a video of the tragic incident. Also about the failure to arrest one of the accused who happens to be an office bearer of the party ruling KP.

The question that remains unanswered is how to ensure that tragedies of the sort do not take place in the future. Is there any way to build a firewall against the misuse of blasphemy allegations? Unless the state deals with extremist tendencies on a war footing, it cannot hope to win the battle against extremism.

Source: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/02/09/religious-extremism-is-the-enemy-within/