Your courageous editorial should be an eye-opener for our people in authority
LAHORE: This is apropos your editorial, “Mobs and minorities” published in The Express Tribune on November 6, regarding the tragic and horrific death of a Christian couple at Kot Radha Kishan, who were first beaten to death and then their bodies were burnt at the same kiln where they used to work. Such a barbaric and horrific act by a mob has once again refreshed the memories of the unfortunate incidents at Gojra and Joseph Colony.
Your courageous editorial should be an eye-opener for our people in authority. On almost all such occasions, our media has failed to fulfil its obligations. It is the foremost duty of the media to educate the people on the subject of the blasphemy law and the status of minorities granted to them in the Constitution of Pakistan, with particular reference to the teachings of our religion, regarding how non-Muslims were treated and respected during the early period of Islam and how they enjoyed complete freedom of worship and movement, along with enjoying all the rights and privileges granted to Muslims. But in our Land of the Pure, the case seems to be the opposite. We have failed to uphold the teachings of our religion, as well as internationally recognised norms and practices. The minorities in Pakistan are forced to live as third class citizens and are always afraid of being attacked and killed on one pretext or the other. They have never been treated as first class citizens. Even our lawmakers have never raised the question of the rights of the minorities in an effective manner in parliament.
Aamir Aqil
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2014.
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