Mushtaq Ahmed, 41, was lynched by a mob on Saturday 12/2/22 in Punjab province, Pakistan, for having allegedly burnt pages of the Quran. The police had already arrived but the 300-strong mob stoned the man to death and hung him from a tree.
One can only shudder at the readiness for violence the men, who were on their way to the evening prayer, displayed and the extent of self righteousness that lies beneath. The hysteria of the blind enslavement to the sacredness of religions and their ‘holy’ books comes at the exclusion of many things but especially reason and humanity.
80 men have been arrested and prime minister Imran Khan tweeted: “Zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands”. But the law is the problem. The Islamic law that governs Pakistan and the blasphemy law that carries a potential death sentence for anyone insulting Islam. The government is the problem. A government that promotes and feasts on a herd mentality of religious sanctity, made untouchable to keep the leaders leaders.
Where in a country that has made freedom from religion impossible is the space for reason you might wonder.
There is a space, it’s deep within the hearts and minds of freethinkers. A demographic the government tries to extinguish with its laws and bulldozer-riding henchmen but that is growing nevertheless. It’s the freethinkers who will eventually destroy the construct of a religious people and thus create a space for all Pakistanis to breathe freely.
By Patty Debonitas
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