While I admire the Hamid’s books, the article contains a somewhat simplistic analysis.
VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA: This is with reference to Mohsin Hamid’s article of March 3 titled “A country for minorities”.
While I admire the writer’s books, the article contains a somewhat simplistic analysis. Devolution by itself will not solve any problems. We need to consider the intolerance and bigotry shown by the village jirgas and the attitude towards minorities in villages (Aasia Bibi is a case in point where the village women refused to drink water that she had brought to the fields, as is Gojra, or the general attitude towards Ahmadis).
One can also look at Fata and see the prevalence of extremist views there, or look at the hold the Lashkar-e-Taiba and outfits like it have over the people of rural Punjab. The average Pakistani needs to change his attitudes of intolerance and also alter his opinion that violence is a legitimate response in sorting out issues or conflict caused by differences in belief. Devolution will do nothing to change our attitudes. Pakistan’s core problem is social and psychological, not economic or political.
S Shah
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2012.
