India Today: By Pervez Hoodbhoy
Blaise Pascal, the famous 17th century philosopher and mathematician, observed that “men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it for religious conviction”. His words could apply to Gujarat 2002. Or to today’s Pakistan, where your religious affiliation-whether by birth or conviction-can land you in your grave. The killers do their job fearlessly and frequently. The police and army don’t interfere much. Equipped with just enough religion to hate those having another faith-but not enough faith to love their coreligionists-many Pakistanis have turned their backs on religious atrocities.
What happened to Hindus and Christians is unsurprising. These communities were never enthused about India’s partition (even though some individuals still pretend that they were). Indeed, they were soon slapped with the Objectives Resolution of 1949 which termed them “minorities”, hence freaks and outcasts dispatched to the margins. Some accepted their fate, keeping a low profile. Others altered their names to more Muslim sounding ones. The better off, or more able ones, emigrated. They took valuable skills and capital along with them. The outflow has picked up again in past years.
Categories: Ahmadis And Pakistan, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Anti Islam act by Muslims, Asia