Desecration and discrimination

New tales of intolerance seem to drift in from across our country with every passing day. Last week, following the death of a member of the Hindu Dalit community in the town of Pangrio in Badin, whose body was buried in the local Haji Faqir graveyard, an enraged mob had dug up the body within hours, tied it with ropes and unceremoniously dumped it in the lands of a local landlord, protesting the burial of the Hindu in a Muslim graveyard. For some five days, the body lay out in the open. It is reported that seminary students from a neighbouring town had instigated the mob.

For some days, things looked especially grim. Influential local people, including clerics, landlords, politicians and others backed those behind the act, trying to protect them. But the good news is that good sense has finally prevailed. Following protests in Karachi by NGO activists, minority leaders, politicians and citizens, attention has been drawn to the issue. In Pangrio too, members of political parties, notably Sindhi nationalist groups, met the bereaved family. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned the treatment of the deceased individual’s body. As a result of all this, those backing the act of crime have backed down. This opens up a greater possibility of police action against those who dug up the body.

We certainly hope this will take place. It is badly needed to send out a strong message that crimes against minority groups will not be tolerated, and equal respect is demanded for all citizens of the land regardless of belief or creed. We also see, once again, how intolerance is spreading in our society and how it emanates frequently from seminaries. This, too, is something we need to think about in order to escape the web of hatred we have become trapped in and create a more harmonious society, and a more decent one, in which incidents of this kind do not take place. At present, they seem to be becoming more and more frequent, and that is alarming. We need to turn things around as quickly as we can.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2013.

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