Kot Radha Kishan tragedy and unlearnt lessons from Gojra

The legal process fails oppressed communities

The world reacted with shock after a pregnant woman and her husband were brutally murdered and thrown into a brick kiln in a village near Kot Radha Kishan, about 60 kilometres southwest of Lahore. The couple belonged to the minority Christian community and worked at the kiln.

News of their killing went viral domestically and internationally and once again Pakistan was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Further investigations revealed that they were accused of desecrating the Qur’an and around 1,500 people from neighbouring villages gathered to beat and kill them. The local mosque was used to make an announcement urging the perpetrators to attack the poor couple.

Yet, this is not the only example of Pakistan’s religious minorities suffering extreme violence and abuse. Targeting vulnerable minorities is nothing new. In 2009, eight Christians were burnt alive in a Christian area of Gojra, near Faisalabad. The same blasphemy accusations were made against members of that community and the entire neighbourhood faced the consequences. Around 1,000 people marched towards the town after local clerics made announcements in mosques to target all Christians in the area.

This barbaric cycle of violence is a menace to Pakistani society, where laws of the land are exploited and religious sentiments of people are manipulated to marginalise minority communities

This barbaric cycle of violence is a menace to Pakistani society, where laws of the land are exploited and religious sentiments of people are manipulated to marginalise minority communities. Sadly, neither the state nor religious or community groups come forward to resolve interreligious tensions until the innocents lose their lives and properties.

Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws are a tool to target the poor – making it convenient for the perpetrators if the targets are non-Muslim. Our national tragedy is that we rarely learn from our mistakes. What has happened in Kot Radha Kishan is a continuation of the Gojra carnage. The target was the same religious community; blasphemy accusations were made against the victims; local clerics incited violence; the response from the local administration and police was almost similar; and the same pattern of mob violence was observed.

What is most shameful is the role of our mosques in inciting hatred and violence against members of a minority community. Ideally, the role of a mosque is to promote a message of peace, tolerance, diversity and inclusiveness. But here we see the opposite. The misuse of mosques’ loudspeakers to spread hatred is a common practice that must be challenged by the state and wider society.

Recent attacks against minority communities in Pakistan suggest that such rhetoric has an audience — extremists are quite successful in spreading violent prejudice and murderous hatred. The absence of legislation against hate speech has encouraged such viciousness. Today, we observe active hate campaigns against various minority groups including Shi’a Muslims. Numerous online and offline campaigns are running out of sheer hatred and hostility toward minority faith groups.There is rarely any mechanism in place in the country to report these crimes.

The lessons of the Gojra riots (and many other similar incidents) were not learnt and arguably created the environment that led to the Kot Radha Kishan tragedy. No justice was provided to the victims of the Gojra attacks and no perpetrators were brought to justice

Hate speech is one of the biggest threats to Pakistan’s diverse culture and this trend of broadcasting hate from the loudspeakers of a mosque undermines the peaceful teachings of Islam.

Another interesting element of Gojra riots was that none of the 1,000 accused were charged or convicted. A vast majority of the people nominated by complainants were granted bail before arrest. Some of the arrested were released after paying security bond worth Rs100, 000 (Approx. $1,000). The legal process failed a community whose members were murdered and their houses destroyed.

The lessons of the Gojra riots (and many other similar incidents) were not learnt and arguably created the environment that led to the Kot Radha Kishan tragedy. No justice was provided to the victims of the Gojra attacks and no perpetrators were brought to justice. The state continues to do little to stop hate speech and promote interreligious tolerance.

Atrocities in the name of religion will continue until we, as a nation, step forward and confront the extremist narratives spreading in our society. The state and its people must be on one page to protect the most vulnerable sections of society and protect Pakistan from religion-inspired fanaticism.