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| India-Pakistan |
| Violence in the name of religion -- Syed Mansoor Hussain |
| 2013-11-30 |
| [Pak Daily Times] For quite some time we in the Punjab sort of pushed sectarian violence under the rug. When Christians were attacked, it was not really about religion -- it was paid rioters trying to get them to vacate some choice bit of 'real estate' that developers had their eyes on. The Ahmedis, well, as long as they mind their own business and do not act like Mohammedans nobody is going to bother them, at least not too much. As far as the Shia are concerned, there are just too many of them to put them in their place but, then again, they would be left alone if only they would stop taking out their mourning processions and stop using derogatory language for revered religious personages. As far as the 'blasphemers' are concerned, they deserve what they get. We can always make excuses about the 'sporadic' incidences of religious violence in Punjab, blame even the occasional attack on Sufi shrines as an aberration rather than the norm but then this year everything changed. The violence during the Moharram procession in Rawalpindi proved once and for all that sectarianism is alive and well in Punjab and that the religious bad boys, as an article of their faith, believe in killing 'non-believers' and are just biding their time. As far as Shia-Sunni conflicts are concerned, everybody parrots the line that they have been around for centuries and can never be suppressed; if only all of us just became 'good' Mohammedans, everything would be fine. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... therein lies the problem. There are as many definitions of a good Mohammedan as there are sects. More importantly, any form of religious conformity imposed under the law is not going to work at least not in the modern world where completely isolated communities do not exist anymore. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 pretty good parody it is parody, right? In Pakland one can never be sure |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-11-30 13:54 |
| #1 When Christians were attacked, it was not really about religion -- it was paid rioters trying to get them to vacate some choice bit of 'real estate' that developers had their eyes on. Interesting perspective I hadn't heard before. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2013-11-30 12:24 |