Settling scores

Religious frenzy has entered into every sphere of our society. The lessons of tolerance have been forgotten. In our country, the religion has often been exploited to settle personal scores. The manipulation of a religious issue for personal gains is becoming easy. Exploiters appeal to the religious sentiments of the people and then the rest is done by the mob. The blasphemy law has been misused many times to settle personal scores. This was done in Mashal Khan’s case when he was killed on false accusations of blasphemy.

The same practice was witnessed during the Faizabad sit-in when a charged mob took control of an important thoroughfare and then subdued the government for their undue demands. There is a strong need to build a counter narrative in the country. The state and society should not be allowed to be held hostage by religious fundamentalists. There is a need to make laws that religious issues must not be exploited for political or personal gains. The civil society and the media must play their roles in this regard.

M Sayyad Alam Khan

Peshawar