By Waseem Altaf
Whoever thinks rationally and has seen the harrowing video of lynching of Mishal Khan, accused of blasphemy, a final semester student of Mass Communication at a university in Mardan, KPK, is in a state of shock since!
But let us not be shocked!
Let us not be shocked because Jinnah, the father of the nation himself pronounced that the Constitution of Pakistan would be based on Islamic Sharia. And the first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan personally ensured the passage of Objectives Resolution which led to state’s fundamental shift towards theocracy.
The all-powerful dictator Ayub Khan added the prefix Islamic Republic to the 1962 constitution of Pakistan. And Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first democratically elected Prime Minister was instrumental in declaring Ahmadis as non-Muslims.
General Zia-ul-Haq, the dictator, “Islamized” the state by introducing the blasphemy law while all attempts to change blasphemy laws have been defeated in the past. So the state itself has been actively engaged since its very inception in promoting religion in state affairs.
Hence, the groundwork was already complete when the dead body of Mishal Khan was being stoned!
Let us not be shocked because Molvi Abdul Haq translated “secular” as “ladeen” whereas the correct translation had been “herdeen.” And Jamat-e-Islami and other religious parties which had actively opposed creation of Pakistan took charge of policymaking and began blackmailing successive governments to mold all policies towards making this country a theocratic state. And all so-called opportunist liberals occupying seats of power never resisted their demands.
Hence, the groundwork was already complete when the dead body of Mishal Khan was being stoned!
Let us not be shocked because the son-in-law of the former Prime Minister, the then Chairman Senate and the then Interior Minister, the then Senate and the National Assembly, the Punjab Assembly and so-called liberal members of the same, provoked the people of this country against almost every freethinker.
Hence, the groundwork was already complete when the dead body of Mishal Khan was being stoned!
Let us not be shocked because the judge and the bureaucrat, the journalist and the columnist, the uneducated and the educated ,the illiterate and the university going, the bearded and the un-bearded, the veiled and the unveiled, all believe that whatever happened to the accused in cases of blasphemy is justified.
Hence, the groundwork was already complete when the dead body of Mishal Khan was being stoned!
Let us not be shocked because textbooks of madrassas and elite schools, academies of civil/military institutions, public and private TV channels, English and Urdu dailies and mammoth hate literature available in the market, mosques of Deobandis and Brelvis, Shias and Ahle-Hadis without exception keep propagating religiously influenced hate-material.
Hence, the groundwork was already complete when the dead body of Mishal Khan was being stoned!
Today, April 13 is the fifth death anniversary of Mishal Khan who was lynched by religious fanatics in a university campus in Mardan.