Attacking shrines

ISLAMABAD: Recently, news about the attack on a shrine of Mian Umar Baba in Chamkani appeared in the newspaper. Being a liberal I am not against the concept of shrines and if people like visiting shrines for any purpose, I respect their views.

This is not the first time a shrine or a holy place has been attacked by these demented terrorists who call themselves the defenders of Islam. In 2009 they carried out an attack on the shrine of a great Pashtu poet, Rehman Baba. I believe that was not an assault on the shrine but an assault to the literature and legacy of the Pakhtun people. These people want everyone to accept their version of Islam and don’t bode well with the idea of the fact that there is no compulsion in religion.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2010.