By Raza Ruman
“PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif’s vile anti-Ahmadi remarks, intended to malign former prime minister Imran Khan, are yet another reminder that our political leadership can go to any extent for political point-scoring,” Dawn columnist Aamir Rana writes.
The PMLN led government and it’s puppets like Javed Latif seem to have crossed all limits to use religion to target it’s opponents like Imran Khan.
“The use of religion is not new in our politics. Almost all political actors resort to it recklessly, without caring about the consequences for the smaller faith communities in the country and the overall impact on society,” Rana says.
He says PML-N leaders have themselves been the target of hatemongers in the recent past. For instance, one of their ministers was forced to resign, and another survived a murder attempt provoked by a malign, religiously motivated smear campaign.
“Sadly, the PML-N is now itself trying to play with fire. The use of the religion card by PML-N leaders reflects their frustration over how fast the party is losing political ground”
“It scarcely needs repeating that the plight of smaller religious communities in the country, both Muslims and non-Muslims, and reports about their persecution keep surfacing on mainstream and social media quite frequently. Nevertheless, both state and society are very keen that they should not be portrayed as bigots, in the manner that India is being depicted by the international media,” Rana says.
He says a civil society organisation, the Centre for Social Justice, has recently come under fire from the authorities for submitting a report to the UN Human Rights Council for allegedly being ‘contrary to fact’. Coming to its defence, the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights, Lahore, has said that the contents of the report reflect a verifiable situation on the ground, and state institutions should have taken it seriously to improve the state of religious minorities in Pakistan.
Latif should be condemned at every forum. PAK DESTINY
