PAKISTAN, the land of institutional hatred and Islamic zealots.  

  Lee Jay Walker Dip BA MA

In the land of Pakistan hatred continues to grow.  This hatred, inspired and ignited by Islamic extremists, is directed against all moderates and all faiths.  To make matters worse the institutions inside Pakistan, notably the government, judiciary and police, are also part of the problem in this land of hate.  

For last year in 2002 a brave Muslim cleric spoke out against discrimination and he condemned religious Islamic extremism.  This brave cleric called Mohammed Yousaf Ali was therefore a threat to Islamic militants, for he happened to care for people from all faiths and in the eyes of Islamic extremists he was no longer a Muslim.  Therefore, Mohammed Yousaf Ali made many enemies and last year he was murdered.  

To make matters worse, this brave Muslim cleric was not only killed by an Islamic zealot, but he was also condemned by the judiciary of Pakistan and the government which allows people to be put in prison on the grounds of blasphemy.  This means that Mohammed Yousaf Ali was murdered collectively by the judiciary who put him in prison, by the Islamic zealot who killed him and by the government of Pakistan which allows blasphemy to be a criminal offence.  

The gunman who murdered Mohammed Yousaf Ali showed no remorse, on the contrary, he believed that this was is Islamic duty.  For the alleged killer, Tariq Mota, stated that 'I now feel spiritually satisfied.  It is the responsibility of every Muslim to kill these infidels.' More alarming, is that according to the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed all Muslim apostates must be killed; and this implies that from an Islamic perspective that Tariq Mota is vindicated by his actions.  For according to this Muslim he believed that Mohammed Yousaf Ali had become an apostate, therefore, it was is duty to kill this person in accordance with the teachings of Islam.  

If this fact alone does not alarm you, then think about other crimes which go unpunished in Pakistan.  For example a 14-year-old Christian girl was taken prisoner by Islamic zealots, however, her gang-rape ordeal at the hands of these Islamic zealots was merely the beginning of her torment.  Her crime prior to her kidnap was sharing her Christian faith with Muslims, and once more this is against the teachings of Islam.  Yet not only did this young Christian girl after overcome her terrible ordeal, but after being gang-raped she was forced to convert to Islam and they forbade her to see her parents.  

On this occasion the judiciary nullified this forced conversion, however, the police have so far refused to take action against her tormentors and have done nothing to help this girl or her parents.  Therefore, it clearly shows that rape in Pakistan is not deemed to be important.  Indeed, according to the judiciary of Pakistan this Christian girl could have been put in prison, like hundreds of Muslim women and Christian women have been in the past, for in Pakistan four male witnesses must prove that rape took place. If four men did not witness this crime, then women face not only prison for so-called adultery, but they even face the death penalty. 

This problem is endemic in Pakistan and hundreds of women are currently in prison for being raped, the majority of these women are Muslim, yet non-Muslims are further discriminated against because their testimonies are not valued and they can be forced to convert to Islam by their rapist.  This situation would normally shame a nation, but not in Pakistan, and not for that matter does it appear to concern Western nations who ignore these crimes in this land.  

Given this, young Christian girls like nine-year-old Razia Masih and ten-year-old Natasha Emmanuel, will continue to be victims in Pakistan.  For Razia Masih was sexually assaulted and Natasha Emmanuel was raped.  Yet these disgusting crimes in Pakistan go unpunished and their testimonies, being non-Muslim women (or girls in their case), are worthless.  Despite this the world remains overwhelmingly silent and female victims of hate crimes in Pakistan will continue to suffer at the hands of Islamic zealots, the judiciary and the government of Pakistan which allows this to continue.  

Surely this nation should be shamed by the global community and these crimes should not be hidden from readers in the West.  Instead people like Mohammed Yousaf Ali should be remembered for speaking out against hatred, if not, the only winners in modern day Pakistan will be Islamic zealots and criminals who are abusing women.  Are you not alarmed by this, if not, why not?