Pakistan may be far away from providing complete security to its minorities, but at least some recent steps have indicated that it is moving in the right direction – albeit at a glacial pace. On Thursday an Anti-Terror Court (ATC) indicted 106 people in the Kot Radha Kishan Christian couple lynching that took place last year; including the clerics that incited the mob and the brick kiln owner. A day before, on Wednesday, a prayer leader in Kasur was sentenced to five years imprisonment for delivering hate speech at a public gathering. While cynics will point out that these actions are outweighed by the number and magnitude of atrocities carried out against minorities everyday; even they will agree that one will be hard pressed to find such bold initiatives taken by the judiciary a couple of years ago.
Credit must be given where it is due; the nation is slowly building a narrative against extremism. Calls of ‘Go America go’ are replaced by ‘Go Taliban go’ – although the former can still be heard at times. The narrative feeds into practical steps; half a decade ago the cleric in Kasur would have not even been indicted and an incident like Kot Radha Krishan would have been another in the list of grisly tragedies that befell minorities.
We should not be satisfied with these small steps; these are drops in an ocean of extremism. Still the police constables who stood by and let the mob lynch to their hearts desire are not indicted, neither are the people who preach hate speech from raised podiums, under the banner of major political parties. Unless the state makes it clear that religious intolerance and sectarianism are punishable by law, regardless of rank, popularity or status; our successes will only be against the small fry, while the wholesale violence mongers will roam free.