WAF condemns Pastor William Siraj’s murder in Peshawar

LAHORE: Women’s Action Forum condemned the murder of Pastor William Siraj and the injuries suffered by Rev Patrick Naeem at the hands of religious extremists in Peshawar.

A press release issued by WAF Thursday said, “What is alarming is that this is not an act of random violence but of a mindset nurtured and supported by the rhetoric and policies of the state.

Reminiscent of the Zia years, when a dictatorial state used religion to justify its illegal usurpation of power, the current government is making a mockery of people’s needs and aspirations through the propagation of a singular religion-based nationalism.

This is borne out by the very obvious links between the stridency of hyper religious narratives that are infiltrating public life and private and public institutions and rising bigotry, religion-based violence and policy interventions such as the Single National Curriculum. “WAF questions and condemns this promotion of a singular religion-based point of view as a ‘great service to religion’. This disrespect for other faiths and points of view combined with the government’s ambivalent relationship with violent extremist groups such as the TTP and Tehreek e Labaik Pakistan (TLP) grants impunity to perpetrators and is a trigger to the heinous crime of forced conversions and acts of mob violence and the lynching of Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot.

“WAF reminds the government that the right to faith and belief is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right; that its responsibility is to ensure this right and the safety of all citizens regardless of religious or any other difference. That faith is a personal matter; as such it does not come within the purview of the state, which is not a proselytising entity. WAF urged the government to review and reconsider its self-arrogated proselytising role and bring the murderers of Pastor William Siraj to book,” the WAF statement concluded.