Pakistan - CM PUNJAB - No light at the end of the tunnel

By MASOOD KHAN

I don’t know if someone is keeping a record of notices the Punjab Chief Minister has taken of the killings of alleged blasphemers in his province, the number of condemnations Prime Minster office has issued as soon a mob goes on killing and looting spree wherein mostly religious minorities are targeted. Nevertheless the extent of brutality and barbarity with which a young Christian couple in Kasur was first tortured by hundreds of people and then thrown in a kiln wherein they used to work, burned them alive.

These poor souls were in conflict with their employer on some payments issue; therefore, it was easy to blame them of blasphemy and kill two birds with one stone. But what’s new in these murders and loads of condemnation notices? Where was Punjab Chief Minster when in the last few years charged mobs attacked Christians and Ahmedis in Godhra, Joseph Colony and Lahore? Where were these centres of power when lawyer Rashid Rehman was killed in cold blood for taking up a case of an alleged blasphemer?

What happened to the imam who blamed a mentally deranged teenager of blasphemy, followed by uprooting of Christians from the land they had been living for decades? Has someone questioned how come Mumtaz Qadri, the convicted policeman who killed Punjab Governor Salman Taseer has been delivering religious lectures to fellow inmates and prison officials in the high-security Adiyala jail? It’s been reported that Qadri has been brainwashing fellow convicts to kill imprisoned alleged blasphemers to have a prosperous afterlife.

As a nation we are patients of delusions and gripped by fear of insecurity, and think the world is working against Muslims and their faith. Sadly we are not in a position to defend the blasphemy laws in front of an astonished world but we are ready to kill anyone who dares suggest even a minor amendment in the laws imposed by a military dictator.

What an unfortunate vicious cycle of hatred Pakistan is going through! There is no light at the end of this dark tunnel.