Mob violence in Mangalore

In a story out of Mangalore, India, a Muslim man and a Hindu woman were physically abused by an angry mob for conversing with each other. The enraged mob stripped and lashed the man and slapped the woman for engaging in the harmless act of speaking. This is nothing but a form of religious extremism and intolerance, prevalent and widespread in much of South Asia today. Regardless of which sect or religion the perpetrators belong to, religious extremism, especially if expressed in a violent manner, deserves severe consequences. This incident also reminds us of the pseudo-honour that women in the subcontinent are associated with, across various countries, including our neighbour India, as well as our own.

As is evident, populations in both India and Pakistan have violent tendencies. While the rest of the world attempts to promote camaraderie and cross-cultural and cross-racial friendships in a 21^st century increasingly characterised by globalisation and integration, the people of the subcontinent still seem to be stuck in medieval times, getting entangled in spurious debates about whose religion is superior and who deserves to be discriminated against, and, in this case, members of which religion can talk to one another.

What we are seeing is a stunting of our societies as we seem to be going farther back into primitive times. Here, we are also reminded of the various cases of public beatings and lynchings in Pakistan on account of blasphemy charges, like that of Shahzad and Shama in Kot Radha Kishan. In response to this tragedy, our prime minister had said, “A responsible state cannot tolerate mob rule and public lynching with impunity,” and yet, it continues to do so. The people of the subcontinent need to calm down, keep their communal and violent tendencies at bay and stop being edgy over matters of faith, which should be considered an internal experience and a private, spiritual matter. Certainly, no religion forbids simply talking to someone of a different faith.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2015.

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