Yet more hatred

For years Pakistan has been plagued by hatred, based on ethnicity, religion and other factors which include gender and sexual orientation. The attack on a Hindu temple in Rahim Yar Khan, which has been taken note of by government authorities, is shocking. The scenes of men armed with sticks, attacking a place of worship show what hatred can bring people to do. According to reports, hundreds of people vandalized the temple and blocked the Sukkur-Multan Motorway (M5) after a nine-year old Hindu boy received bail from a local court on August 4, 2021 after having been accused of blasphemy. The video circulating clearly shows the faces of some charged people wielding clubs and rods storming the temple and smashing its glass doors, windowpanes, fixtures, and sacred items of worship of the community. The motorway too remained blocked for over three hours. Though the situation is now under control, the level of intolerance that people have developed in Pakistan can trigger a similar response any time. Since the accused is a minor, law enforcement should have been more cautious before registering an FIR. Here the question is not only about the implementation of the law, but also about the pressure that right-wing extremists wield in Pakistan and the readiness of the police itself.

While this incident is shocking, it should not really surprise us. There has been a consistent history of attacks on the places of worship belonging to non-Muslim communities in Pakistan. From the attack on a temple in Karak and objections on the construction of a temple in Islamabad to bomb attacks on churches and burning of a Christian couple a few years ago to forced conversions of underage Hindu girls in Sindh, there is a long history of crimes against minorities.

This is the result of a sustained policy of overlooking – and even encouraging – extremist tendencies in society. The curriculum itself is coloured by more and more religious content that promotes self-righteousness and discrimination against the Other. This is coupled with a set of laws that are highly discriminatory against minority communities that are increasingly feeling helpless in this country. There is a need to detoxify the entire society and train our youth to be tolerant and accommodating towards other religions and sects. Those who incite people to violence against minorities need to be dealt with sternly, as their impunity encourages others too to commit similar crimes. It must be made clear that attacking any place of worship is simply unacceptable. Communities need to learn to live together once again as they did in the early years of Pakistan's history and indeed well into the 1970s. In this, it is the state that has the utmost responsibility to ensure that all of the people that make this country are safe, no matter what religion, sect, ethnicity they belong to.