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Pakistan: The surrender to religious cleansing

1 October 2013

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The surrender to religious cleansing

Farahnaz Ispahani

October 1, 2013

AP UNDER SIEGE: While the Pakistani state frequently encouraged a national narrative of Muslim Pakistan versus Hindu India, Christians were often not attacked. That has changed. The picture is of a church in Peshawar, the site of a suicide attack.

The Taliban attack on the Peshawar church that killed scores of people was an opportunity for Pakistan’s leaders to rally the nation against Islamist extremism but they squandered it

Pakistan’s leaders have squandered another opportunity to rally the nation against religious extremism. The terrorist attack on one of the oldest churches in the country, Peshawar’s All Saints Church, stunned all. For a couple of days, people wondered aloud about the depths to which Pakistan had sunk. But soon after the initial reaction, the media and politicians’ simply continued pandering to the Taliban and other terrorist groups.

It is now a familiar pattern. Pakistanis censure acts of terrorism but refrain from condemning or acting against terrorist groups. The terrorists are emboldened with each attack, noting that their ideology is finding space in the political mainstream.

The All Saints Church, established in 1883, symbolised the history of Christian presence in Pakistan. Christians have lived in Pakistan long before it was conceived as a separate country. By attacking this historic place of worship, the jihadi terrorists signalled their desire for religious cleansing of Pakistan. This was yet another moment for Pakistan’s leaders to say “No†to the extremist vision of Pakistan as excluding non-Muslims (or, for that matter, Muslim sects other than the hardline Sunni version of Islam).

Instead, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) responded with calls for conciliation with the Pakistan Taliban (TTP). Mr. Khan even insinuated that the church attack may have been a “plot†against talks with the Taliban even though the TTP had publicly claimed credit for the terrorist bombing. Although Mr. Sharif backed away from talks on terms set by the Taliban ahead of his trip to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly session, his government remains committed to talks with a group that murders innocent Pakistani citizens.
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