Thursday, April 30, 2009

Like we didn't have enough to deal with already...


Pashtuns (Afghan immigrants/refugees concentrated mostly in the big cities, Karachi and Lahore) and Muhajirs (people who migrated to Pakistan from India in 1947) clash in Karachi unleashing a fresh wave of ethnic violence. Pakistan already harbors sectarian tensions between the Sunnis and the Shias and political strife is rampant among the so called "liberals" and the "fundamentalists", the Taliban militants and the army and various political parties. All this only serves to undermine the already fragile central government. Pakistan is living a political nightmare and the nation of 160 million continues to live in denial ignoring the fact that the country is at war. Students suffer as exams are postponed due to the violence.  

At the time of Pakistan's inception, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, described the ethos of Pakistan with the following words: 

“You are free to go to your temples … to your mosques or any other places of worship in the State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State…. We are all citizens and equal citizens of one State…. In course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus, and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the perceived faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”

With the world's second largest Muslim population, even Islam has failed to unify the country. And now, the peaceful minorities are being targeted by the Taliban. I'd like to apologize on behalf of my country... 

   


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