Religion and death

ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to a report in your newspaper of July 30 which quoted a member of the youth parliament as saying that Airblue crash victim Prem Chand’s coffin had ‘kafir’ written on it. I think it is more of an epistemological error than an attack on Prem Chand’s faith. Usually people confuse the terms kafir and Hindu in our society. I think just writing Prem Chand on the coffin should have sufficed for the rituals that are part and parcel of deaths.

Writing one’s religion on one’s coffin is utter stupidity. The presence of Prem Chand in the youth parliament, as a minister, is proof enough that Pakistani youth appreciate diversity.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2010.