Angry protesters

The interior minister, Shehryar Afridi, gave a whole new twist to the TLP dharnas in the wake of the acquittal of Aasia Bibi by the Supreme Court. Afridi has said that workers of the parties sitting in parliament were involved in the violent protests in which property worth million was destroyed. The only proof that the minister has to back his allegations is that when video clips of the violent protesters were shown to the TLP, the party refused to recognise the demonstrators as its workers.

What is amusing is the fact that it did not matter to the minister that the leadership of the TLP was openly abusing state institutions. As far as the signing of the agreement with protesters is concerned, Afridi said that it was signed as there could be no bloodshed in Naya Pakistan. It is disappointing to see that instead of resolving the matter in an effective manner – so that no one is allowed to hold the country hostage for days – the leader of the ruling party has given a new look to the entire event.

Akbar Jan Marwat

Islamabad

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It is unfortunate to see that in our country instead of exercising and promoting critical thinking, Pakistanis tend to take sides and are quick in passing judgments. The environment in which we are living is not conducive to intelligent debates. It is true that the ruling governments deserve criticism for being soft on radicals. But it is important that we ask our ruling governments what they have done to deal with hardliners.

We cannot handle these challenges by merely criticising extremist people who wreak havoc in the country. Has any scholar questioned the people why they torch public property? Is somebody there to tell them that our Prophet (pbuh) never harmed anybody?

Riaz Mahar

Sukkur