As long as we keep repeating the myth that everything can be solved with more religion, things will never get resolved
NIDDERAU, GERMANY: This is with reference to Sami Shah’s article of October 14 titled “Representationally yours”. As long as we keep on repeating the myth that everything can be solved with more religion in the public sphere, things will never get resolved. When people go to mosques and hear the prayer leader say that women must be made to stay indoors, we should not then be surprised that some among us attack a school full of girls, thinking that they are dressed inappropriately.
Christianity went through this phase in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and then too many an injustice was committed, in the name of faith. I am talking about a recent incident reported in this newspaper of a girls’ school in Rawalpindi being attacked by a large number of masked men, and the students and staff being warned to dress modestly. Most regrettably, a police officer is reported to have justified the attack. Which way is Pakistan heading? We persecute our minorities and support the ways of the Taliban. If someone is caught with an alcohol bottle we cry ourselves hoarse demanding that the person be sent to jail.
Sharif Lone
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2011.
