As a nation, we Pakistanis have become immune to the tragedy of death; be it the extremists killing our countrymen or us killing each other. Extremism has become an intrinsic part of who we are.

The lynching of Mashal Khan was a proof of that, and one gruesome murder was not enough. So, we witnessed another incident in Chitral. A man, reported to be psychologically unstable, was beaten up in a mosque; a place we hold sacred. A place where violence should not take place. However, at that time, none of that mattered, not the illegality of violence, not the sanctity of a mosque. What mattered was one accusation of blasphemy and our urge to take a life.

On Thursday, a Hindu man was accused of blasphemy in Balochistan. It did not matter to the mob that the individuals had been taken into custody by the police to investigate the matter. They went to the police station and urged the police to hand over the accused to them.

One understands the sensitivity of the matter. However when a law exists, there is absolutely no justification of a mob taking the law into their own hands, and show such blatant disrespect to the police and legal procedure. Such people refuse to wait for a verdict and at the same time refuse any amendments in the law, so that false accusers can be punished. This has created a cycle of exploitation for personal rivalries and innocent lives are lost without a fair trial.

The irony is that the people who are supposed to be improving the system are also complicit in these acts. PTI Councilor Arif Khan was himself involved in the lynching. At the same time, the mob in Balochistan was led by Zia Shehzad, a politician from PML-N. The mob is made of the mainstream. It is no wonder that the masses agitated by the politics of the ruling party have taken to twitter to ridiculously accuse Maryam Nawaz of sharing blasphemous content.

We cannot profess to be peaceful and claim that true Muslims do not take lives, when such is the situation in the country. There seems to be no campaign by any party to moderate the conversation on blasphemy, and call for common sense to prevail. The blasphemy law has become a tool to exploit, rather than to protect religion. Everyone knows this, but is too scared to say anything to upset the mob.