The Pakistani land mafia is active in all our major cities. In Karachi it is involved in drugs, illegal weapons, kidnappings, robberies and a host of crimes. In Lahore they have their eye on empty plots, and uses every trick in the book that they can to take possession, from fake ID cards to squatting. Earlier this year, the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency issued a notification for a blanket ban on unapproved new structures in Rawal Lake’s catchment areas. Yet, the building goes on without any control. The land mafia is embedded in local political systems and these goons have also gone under the radar with minimal discussion in the press. Perhaps they needed to burn people alive for us to wake up to the terror and destruction they have wrought in the lives of the common man, as well as on the environment in many cases.
The history of persecution of Christians in Pakistan is not very old. Just 15 years ago, a Christian, Ayub Masih, was the first to be convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death. He was accused by a neighbour of stating that he supported British writer Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses.” Auyb’s lawyer was able to prove before the Pakistan Supreme Court that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih’s family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih was resultantly released. But this is the curx of the violence against the Christian community. Many Christians live on prime real estate, and many churches are also built on such land. The desire is to drive them out, and what better way to do this than religiously justified hate crimes.
Those who support the Blasphemy laws, and goad on violence against minorities based on spurious claims of religious disrespect, are either in the pay of the land mafia, or are violently ignorant and gullible. Our national gullibility has destroyed the lives of countless Aasia Bibis, Rimshas, Shamas and Sajjads. The Christian community has been at pains to mask itself, to appear more Muslim. Many have adopted Muslim names, tried to integrate into the majority, follow Muslim customs, just so they don’t make themselves ready targets for conservative hate. All the while the Muslims have been at pains to paint big targets on the backs of these people, along with Ahmadis, Shias, Sikhs, Hindus, and whoever else is different. This has to stop, before a time comes when a mullah gives a fatwa against the white stripe in the Pakistani flag, and we end up burning it in the streets.