Religious extremists will never succeed in taking over Pakistan
As long as we have our humanity, we will still remain united as Pakistanis, no matter who we choose to call our God
Bina Shah
Bina Shah is the author of two collections of short stories and four novels. Her latest novel is A Season for Martyrs, about the last three months of Benazir Bhutto's life. She is a contributing op-ed writer for the International New York Times, and has also written for the Guardian, the Independent, Granta, the World Post, and al-Jazeera.
Monday 28 March 2016 03.37 EDT
A week ago, on Palm Sunday, scores of Pakistani Catholics were lined up in front of a metal detector, waiting to enter St Anthonys, a small Catholic church 900 metres from Karachis Cantonment train station. Across the road, vendors sold religious paraphernalia crucifixes, prints of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, red and gold-spangled cloth to decorate shrines, garish reproductions of Da Vincis Last Supper.
A lone guard stood at the door waving people through, and a volunteer scout directed the traffic. The scene illustrates how vulnerable this particular minority is to the rage of Pakistans religious extremists, who have been trying their hardest to destroy the diversity that is so important to Pakistans slowly growing awareness of pluralism and tolerance.
Religious minorities are an indelible part of the fabric of Pakistani society; they are represented by the white stripe on the Pakistani flag. This is echoed in the words of founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnahs most famous speech: You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state.
While Jinnahs message of secularism never caught on in Pakistan, religious coexistence has always had a well-defined place in the Pakistani way of life. The horrific suicide bombing in Lahore on Easter Sunday once again reminded us of the vulnerability of Pakistans Christians, and of the fragility of coexistence.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/28/religious-extremists-will-never-succeed-in-taking-over-pakistan
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/27/dozens-killed-in-blast-outside-lahore-park-pakistan