A tale of bigotry

Not without reason is Pakistan considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for minorities. Hidden underneath the more publicised and shocking incidents of massacres and mob lynchings are incidents of ordinary bigotry. A general sense of superiority and entitlement in the majority, discrimination in educational institutions and workplaces are so common that they by their very prevalence have gained a high degree of acceptance. This low-level bigotry keeps intercommunity tensions simmering constantly and all it takes is one spark for the situation to boil over and turn into yet another massacre, burning or lynching. The Kalash people of Chitral, a tiny minority of a few thousand individuals, have become the most recent victims of mob mentality that took over their Muslim neighbours due to a single but crucially important incident.

On June 16, a teenage Kalash girl, who had recently converted to Islam and moved in with a Muslim family, returned home, stating that she was forced to convert to Islam. However, it was assumed by the local Muslim community that she had been taken back by force. A clash resulted when a large group of Muslims gathered around the home of a neighbour where the girl was present. The local police eventually intervened in order to disperse the crowd and prevent bloodshed. A clear message has been sent to the Kalash community and other minorities in this country: forced conversion is a one-way street and there is no going back. As they slowly dwindle in numbers by moving to safe havens abroad or merging with the majority either by choice or by force, our religious minorities continue to be made to feel increasingly isolated and unsafe. From the law enforcement agencies that are slow to take action against religiously-motivated hate crimes, to clerics who are quick to call for action against ‘blasphemers’ and a public that is at best indifferent to the suffering in their midst, there appears to be little recourse available to our minorities when made to suffer indignities such as the one witnessed in the Chitral incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2016.

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