One of the great historical tragedies of the South Asia region over the last century, was in my view the failure of the British governors of India and what is now Pakistan, to do more to ensure that the new state of East and West Pakistan were thorougly secular. The founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to a large extent feigned a public image as a secular leader, whilst in his heart wanting to make Pakistan an Islamic state. Maybe if the last British Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten had known that Jinnah was dying of lung disease, then more could have been done to ensure that Pakistan did not turn out to be the complete shithole that it now unfortunately has become.
The ultimate result of Pakistan becoming a state that was guided and underpinned by Islam was the creation of an environment that lacks the basic freedoms that we in the West have somewhat taken for granted. Pakistan has no freedom for women, no protection from abuse for children and the rights for those of faiths other than Islam are extremely curtailed. The vast majority of these problems stem from Pakistan being an Islamic state.
I’ve wtitten extensively before on this blog about the dire state that those from minority religions exist in under Pakistans thoroughly Islamic government. Life for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and others is precarious to say the least and as the influence of Islam grows in Pakistan, the lives of those from minority religions is likely to get much worse.
Some idea of the utter contempt that non Musilms are held in by Pakistani citizens and the government can be had by a recent story about a Catholic church in the Punjab region of Pakistan. According to a report on the Asia News website, a site that covers Christian oppression in the Islamic world (h/t ROP), a Muslim mob attacked a Catholic church. The raging Islamic mob destroyed one wall and the door of the church and used the lame excuse that the church did not have the requisite permits. The police, who should have been expected to stand up to the mob and for the rights of the Catholics to worship in peace, stood by and did nothing whilst the Muslim mob went on orgy of destruction.
Asia News said:
A mob of Muslim radicals demolished a wall and the front door of a Catholic church in the village of Waqya Chak, district of Arifwala, in the Pakistani Punjab. The destruction took place on November 4th under the eyes of the police.
The official reason for the destruction is that the Christian community did not have the necessary permits. Speaking to AsiaNews, however, Catholics complain that it is the fruit of “envy” against Christians. Naseer Masih, a church catechist, declares: “Muslims do not want the church in the village because they have bad feelings towards Christians”.
About 4 thousand people live in the village. There are 70 Catholic families, and now they live with pain and anger. Naseer has been leading prayers since the place of worship was built in 2007. This is not a real building, given that the resident Catholic community does not have the funds to build a church, but a small fenced plot, given by a member of the community. Inside there is a modest construction where the masses are celebrated and the parish priests of the nearby churches officiate the liturgy on the major Christian feasts.
Muslims oppose the presence of the wall. On 4 November 50 policemen arrived in front of the gate and asked Catholics if they had ever had problems praying in church. Christians have responded that they had never had difficulties. Meanwhile, a crowd of 60 people gathered to bring a tractor and hammers. With the tractor they knocked down the door, then the Muslims completed the destruction with hammers.
Unfortunately, this was not the end of the matter for the poor long suffering Catholics of this region. The leaders of the Catholic community were visited by police who, as the article explains, seem to have sided with the Muslim mob. The police have told the Catholics that they cannot build their church until they have all the requisite permissions. In Pakistan’s current state I can only guess at the massive number of hoops that the Catholics will have to jump through in this process, a process that may not even go in their favour.
Pakistan, as well as being an abhorrent shithole, should also serve as a cautionary tale for the entire world. Those who mistakenly believe that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ and that Muslim majority nations are ‘tolerant’ of other faiths, are either lying or are exceptionally stupid and naive. The poor quality of life, the lack of freedom and the constant fear of violent Muslim mobs that are the lot of the Catholics of the Punjab are not just local issues, but a true example of what Islam does when it controls a nation or a region. Pakistan is what happens when a nation has far too much Islam for its own and its peoples good.
