Laws targeting beliefs

KARACHI: This is with reference to Amina Jilani’s “Ganders and geese” (July 10). Discriminatory legislation targeting people’s religious beliefs has not only fostered an atmosphere of extreme intolerance but has worked as a catalyst in transforming peaceful citizens into wolves. The hate preached by the clerics is fuelled by these laws and ordinary citizens are engulfed in the resulting fire — becoming victims of their ignorance.

The muted response to the mayhem of May 28 reflects this as well. Sermons inciting people to violence have been delivered for decades, but they have been ignored by most citizens and overlooked by the state. The citizens’ lax response isn’t as disturbing as the state’s. The latter’s reasons for ignoring these calls to violence defy logic. Over the years, the state ignored rabble-rousing clerics and adopted hate laws to facilitate hate mongers. Most Pakistanis don’t approve of the discriminatory laws but they need to convey this to the state.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2010.