Manic mobs

This refers to the editorial ‘March of hatred’ (February 15) Yet another horrid mob has become the ‘judge’, ‘jury’ and ‘executioner’ in the name of religion. It is unfortunate that mob justice is increasing to such unprecedented levels. It is particularly dangerous because in such circumstances, offering any kind of reason or help to the victim would itself be considered blasphemous, so even the police are reluctant to help.

There is no doubt that arrests will be made yet again, but will that change anything? After the Sialkot incident, were any measures taken by the government to curtail extremism? Was any formal process of de-radicalisation looked into? Did any ministry take any initiative to pre-empt and stop such incidents in the future? If the answer to all these questions is ‘no’, it is no surprise that intolerance and extremism continue to grow. It is now high time all stakeholders worked to come up with solutions to this problem to protect people.

Anas A Khan

Edmonton, Canada