How weak is your faith if the only way you can defend it is by using violence

We need to reject their demands, dismiss them, ridicule them, show them a mirror and make them see that we are not scared of them

A video surfaced of Junaid Jamshed being harassed and beaten at the airport by people chanting  'Labbaik Allahuma Labbaik' on Saturday night. These were just regular people like you and me with no affiliation to any political or religious group, who simply thought they were protecting their religion by physically punishing a man who they said, had committed blasphemy.

The airport security either seemed indifferent or more than likely agreed with the attackers and thought JJ was deserving of the beating.

Either ways the point is, this is how easily people take law and matters into their own hands without any repercussions.

Yesterday in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, over 25,000 people took to the streets to protest the ‘wrongful’ execution of Mumtaz Qadri. The ‘nonviolent’ protest by these‘peaceful’ folks included the burningof 7 containers, destroying numerous cars and disrupting traffic such that people could not go home. The sick could not get to hospitals.  Even the kids, who they had injured, had to wait in pain before being allowed to be treated.

This is how these Qadri fans deemed the appropriate manner to protect their religion out on the streets today.

A little further on, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a children’s swing area in a park playground in Lahore.  Over 70 people were killed (most of which were women and kids) and over 300 injured. The target this time were Christians who were simply celebrating Easter.  This was one of the busiest and most popular recreational spots in the area. The terrorists knew exactly what they were doing and who they wanted to kill.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahraar (faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) took responsibility for the attack and said:

“We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won't be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks."

They act and speak as if God Himself had come to their dreams and told them that the only way to protect your religion is to act as violently and savagely as possible. And the word tolerance? Just throw that stinky word right out of your vocabulary.

They are sending a clear signal to the country that there is no room for anything but their extreme and fanatical version of Islam. And they will simply continue killing people till everyone bows down to their demands.

Which not surprisingly they even made a list of:

1.      They want their version of Shariah in Pakistan.

(Kill, punish, slice, stone, kill, batter, and kill some more. Basically pretend humans are vegetables that you chop on a cutting board whenever you feel like it.)

2.      Blasphemy laws (Section 295-C) will not be amended.

(This is obviously so they can continue abusing it day in and day to settle scores and to have people they don’t like killed.)

A sample conversation:

Kid – Mummy, the Hindu teacher in my class said my hair looked too messy for school today.

Mummy – WHAT? But your hair is of a Muslim’s. OUR hair is never messy. How dare he! I will teach him a lesson. And how dare they have a Hindu Teacher teach Muslims!

Next day, the teacher is accused of insulting the Prophet and he is jailed. While Mummy gloats to her child “THIS is how it is done, meray laddoo.”

3.      To make 295-C more effective (wait, doesn’t this mean amendment) such that all convicts are immediately hanged.

(I am guessing that innocent and still ALIVE Asia Bibi in jail is really keeping them up at night and giving them nightmares. They probably see reruns of Kill Bill and see Asia Bibi everywhere in it.)

4.      Anyone who kills to protect the honor of the Prophet should be not be punished.

(Let’s just all pick up guns then and shoot whomever we want and move to the US and call ourselves Republicans then. Jokes aside, everyone in Pakistan thinks the other as a kaafir or a blasphemer anyway. Everything anyone does is apparently a ghushtakhi of some sort in motion. Maybe this is a good thing. Soon enough, there won’t be anyone left. Just the guns.)

5.      Mumtaz Qadri should be given the title of Shaheed and this title will be used by the media and everyone else as well.

(No thanks. Personally I feel ‘cowardly murderer who killed an unsuspecting unarmed man’ has a truer more accurate ring to it. If they really insist that Shaheed be used, I suppose I could say ‘Not-Shaheed Mumtaz Qadri.’ Win-win for both, I think.)

6.      Mumtaz Qadri’s cell should be part of National Heritage and a library in his name should be made.

(Yes, people have been known to build dungeons of horrors before and his cell would fit right in. I suppose the library would consist of books like-

“Different ways to kill the kaafir and still get your houri with your bits intact.”

“How to kill the person who you work for and still get roses on Valentines.”

Or

“Lawyer lawyer, fuel my fire.”)

7.      No attacks on mosques, Sunni scholars and tableegh movements. All educational curricula by Ahmadis and atheists should also stop.

(Yes, because bombing mosques is their job. And God forbid should one of their brainwashed sheeples read anything rational and *GASP* think for themselves.Wait, they said atheists. Does this mean the fanatics will leave Facebook now? Quick, someone tell them the tech in laptops was made by Jews!)

7b. No Sunni cleric will be considered a terrorist and their names taken out from all lists. They shall all be free always.

*Cough Burqa Mullah cough*

(Or rather “I am a Sunni and I am not a terrorist.”)

8.      Ahmadis and Atheists will have no role in the government. Only people of faith should have these jobs.

(So… does that mean Deobandi… Barelvi…or Wahabi? Which one is the right faith? I’ll just wait here while they fight this one out too. And wow, they really are scared of Ahmadis and atheists aren’t they?)

9.      Content which is vulgar and un-Islamic should be banned from media.

(Finally I agree to this one! All mullahs on TV advocating child marriages should really be banned. Oh wait… THEIR version of Un-Islamic.

I guess that means “100 kaafirs to kill before you die” will be on repeat as well as “Houris on camels.”)

10.  Anti-Islam NGOs should be shut down.

(People doing good for others for free is bad thing now? Good to know. Oh wait, they mean NGOs who are doing things THEY don’t like. *Must agree with fanatics/terrorists and their version of everything or be shut down.* Noted!)

How weak is one’s faith when the only way you know how to defend it is by using violence and threats. The only way you can make others do what you want is by hurting them. The only way you impose your power over them is by killing their helpless kids.

They are nothing less than vicious and cowardly savages.

They are killing our people without any remorse and if this does not wake us Pakistanis up, nothing will. Our kids are constantly dying while they roam free everywhere like they own the country.

They don’t! And it is high time they got to know that too.

We are all Pakistanis first. Everything else comes second. Our people come first.

We need to reject their demands, dismiss them, ridicule them, show them a mirror and make them see that we are not scared of them.  A simple glance at how everyone came together today to donate blood in Lahore shows how easily possible this is. They are rotting the minds of our youth and brainwashing them that hatred is the only way.

Any biases that we may have ourselves, we need to let go of. We all need to unite against them. And that means Sunnis, Shias, Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, and even the atheists that they fear so much.

As clichéd as this may sound, the fight should not be them against particular sects or a set of people.

It should be Pakistanis against them!

We are all Pakistanis first and if we are united, nothing can break us.

Shamila Ghyas is the author of the Aoife and Demon series. She also writes for Khabaristan Times, The Nation, Express Tribune, Dawn and other publicationsFind her on Twitter and Facebook

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