Not just our problem

It is all too easy to see extremism in Pakistan as a local phenomenon and that is not so. Extremist views and expressions are on the rise globally. The subcontinent is just one of many parts of the world where extreme positions politically or in terms of religious adherence are rising, in some instances quite sharply. India since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has experienced such a rise, and in the last week, the Indian opposition MPs protested in parliament against Hindu nationalist groups that have been converting members of religious minorities to the Hindu faith. Those doing the conversions, forced or voluntary, argue that those they are converting are in reality returning to their original faith — Hinduism. Parliamentarians have complained that Prime Minister Modi has done nothing to stop the activities of the hardliners, and protesters forced an adjournment of the upper house of the Indian parliament after abuse was hurled by all sides.

Prime Minister Modi was elected on a Hindu nationalist ticket and has a questionable background when it comes to the protection of the rights of minorities. Conversions in India are legal so long as they do not involve fraud, force or inducements. Both of the latter appear to have played a part in some if not all of recent conversions that have been reported. Conversions in Pakistan appear to be at a different level, and often involve the kidnap of Hindu or Christian young women who then ‘convert’ and are forced into marriage. Protests against the practice of forced conversions are few, and rarely amount to more than an outbreak of angry tweets or Facebook petitions, which quickly fade to nothing, but there is an undercurrent of pressure to convert reported from within all the religious minorities; the Hindus of Balochistan who have lived there for generations have now mostly left as a result. Extremism is growing everywhere, and is closely linked to societies becoming less tolerant of ‘the other’. This now seems to be the case in India too and is already the case in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th,  2014.

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