Christians fear Islamists and common Pakistanis alike

ICC Note: On March 9, some 180 Christian homes were torched by an enraged Muslim mob following reports that a Christian man had blasphemed Islam in Lahore, eastern Pakistan. The incident is a clear example that religious extremism and intolerance is escalating in the country and are no longer isolated phenomena, Deutsche Welle reports. “Everybody says that religious minorities should be treated well, but when it comes to issues of blasphemy, even a common Pakistani starts behaving like a fanatic,” said S. Siddiqui, a secular Pakistani businessman.
3/11/2013 Pakistan (Deutsche Welle) – Pakistani activists say that religious extremism and intolerance in their country are no longer isolated phenomena. The recent attack on Christians’ houses in Lahore, they say, is a clear example.
“The punishment for insulting the Koran or Prophet Muhammad is death. No Muslim can tolerate it,” Ahmed Jehanzaib, a shopkeeper in Karachi’s posh Defense area, told DW. The shopkeeper, however, said that those who torched more than 100 Christian-owned houses in the central Pakistani city of Lahore on Saturday, March 9, did not do the right thing.
“It is not right because those who did not commit the crime of blasphemy also suffered because of one person,” Jehanzaib said, referring to Sawan Masih, a Christian, who allegedly made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad the previous Wednesday. The police arrested him on Friday under the blasphemy law, but on Saturday, hundreds of Pakistanis decided to “punish” the Christians in the lower-middle-class Badami Bagh area of Lahore. They burnt over 125 houses, a church, and several shops, and forced the Christian families to flee the area. No casualties were reported.
Most Pakistanis condemned the Lahore incident. Mainstream political parties held demonstrations in solidarity with Christians, who make up about two percent of the 180 million people living in Pakistan, most of whom live primarily in the central Punjab province’s impoverished towns. The Pakistani apex court has also started an inquiry of the incident.
But if you ask people on the streets whether they are in favor of the repeal of the controversial blasphemy law, their answer would most definitely be a no.
“It is not about amending or repealing the law (blasphemy law), or making new laws; those who insult our religion should not go unpunished,” Ali Asghar, a student in Lahore, told DW.
S. Siddiqui, a secular Pakistani involved in trade business, thinks it is hypocritical on the part of his countrymen to believe in such “extremist ideas” and at the same time say that Islam is a peaceful religion. “If Islam teaches you tolerance and peace, then it should be manifested through your actions. Everybody says that religious minorities should be treated well, but when it comes to issues of blasphemy, even a common Pakistani starts behaving like a fanatic.”
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