While in a Karachi park a frenzied, self-righteous TV show host chased couples out on a date filming them without their consent last week, in Lahore the Punjab assembly passed a resolution seeking a blanket ban on music concerts in educational institutions. Both are despicable acts of moral policing in a country which offers youngsters very few opportunities to mingle. What’s next, you may well ask.
A church in a Karachi suburb was attacked by Muslim extremists over Christmas and the celebrations were called off in the entire area by Christians under pressure; this too amounted to a ban being placed on their worship by sheer social pressure. No court, from the lowest to the highest in the land, took half as much interest in the incident as they did, say, in Basant.
The magistrate in Rabwah, Punjab, now rechristened as Chenab Nagar just to spite the majority Ahmadi community residents there, keeps renewing the ban on Ahmadis’ religious congregations month after month and year after year. There is legislation on the statute books that systematically discriminates against Ahmadis, and no one finds anything wrong with this witch hunt. No righteous judge finds this ungodly act a breach of the basic freedom of citizens to practise their faith as guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan.
Categories: Interfaith tolerance, ISLAMOPHOBIA, Law and Religion, Pakistan