Hundreds of people are killed in the name of religion
Many moons ago in a different continent a Pakistani acquaintance asked me, very seriously, whether she should attend the wedding of her friend’s daughter. Let me explain.
My acquaintance, her friend and their families had known each other for the best part of ten years since moving from Pakistan. In an immigrant’s life, particularly in countries far from home where fellow countrymen are few and far between, such friendships tend to develop faster and deeper than at home. The children of these two families had grown up together and were closer than they would be to their own cousins back in Pakistan. And yet this question arose because the news that the other family was Ahmadi had only recently burst like a thunderclap upon that circle of expatriates. My acquaintance worried that attending an Ahmadi’s marriage would compromise her iman.
Rendered speechless with disgust I advised her when I was able, to attend the wedding, adding that religious loyalty was in fact reason to meet people of other faiths, to show oneself as an example as it were (although, I felt this example was better hidden than not). My caustic under-thought was fulfilled when after declaring piously that ‘by the Grace of God a kafir had never once crossed their threshold, nor the reverse’, we parted, and she did not attend the wedding.
Today when this bigotry has spread and permeated Pakistan like poison, where is one to go, particularly when one has only just returned hopefully to this nostalgic jungle? Is one to be grateful that one belongs to the mainstream religion and sect and let all else go to hell? Given what happens to those who take a stand and speak out there appears to be little choice.
Hundreds of people have been killed because they belong not only to another religion, but to another sect of Islam. These incidents have become so common that they no longer elicit half the response they ought. Certainly nothing more than a token noise on the part of a government engrossed in ensuring it remains in power for another round of rapacity.
The involvement of powerful local political figures has often been mentioned. A Pakistan Today report quoted local Hindus, following the alleged kidnapping of Rinkle Kumari, as saying that a powerful local politician and Pakistan Peoples Party MNA brought armed men to harass them when they attempted to protest.
Similar allegations have been made in countless instances. Recently in a non-sectarian case, the SHO of police confessed to the police’s inability to arrest the suspects because of their (the suspects’) influence and political connections.
A horrific aspect of this trend are the forced conversions to Islam, where relatives of a growing number of girls have alleged kidnap and forced marriage of a female relative to a Muslim. The case of Rinkle Kumari mentioned above is one. Says Pakistan Today in a report dated 10th of April, ‘just like kidnappings for ransom (and) extortion by powerful feudal lords from Hindu businessmen…, forced conversion of Hindu girls in Sindh is a big problem for the Hindu community.’
The day that Rinkle was brought to the Karachi Press Club for a session with the media was reported in far more sinister language by yet another newspaper: ‘A couple of bearded people kept on giving notes to the girl during the press conference. A woman, who said she was a police constable, was also present at the press conference, which was abruptly cut short. The girl could not respond to questions asked by journalists and kept on saying that she had embraced Islam without any force and married of her own free will.’ When the conference ended, ‘two men came forward and said that the press conference was over. They held her arm and took her away. They boarded a waiting car and left along with a police mobile which was parked outside the Press Club.’
This is one of the most chilling reports I have ever read both in its content and all that it refrains from saying.
Last week members of minority groups and some social organisations protested against these incidents of forced conversions outside the Lahore Press Club’. ‘Down with mullah-ism!’ shouted the protestors.
‘It is a sin to take away someone’s rights like that,’ said one man. However, another, when questioned, responded in a way that was even more chilling than the report above: ‘Isn’t it a blessing when someone is being converted into a Muslim?’ he bleated.
Please someone force-feed this man prodigious quantity of something good till he explodes, just so he can discover the difference between a blessing and a bane for himself.