Shameful attack on poor Christians

by: Iqbal Tareen, Washington, DC

August 2, 2009 – I condemn this barbaric attack on unarmed and peaceful Christian people of Pakistan. It is a shameful act, which reveals an alarming mindset emerging out of an Islamic extremism that has been brewing in Pakistan for decades especially after the advent of Zia era. Right wing political parties and state agencies have been busy perpetuating various internal and external hot spots to justify their consolidation of power and to divert attention from the real issues faced by 160 million peoples of Pakistan.

I urge progressive forces in Pakistan and around the world to become a formidable force and rise against the forces of hate and evil. Let us embrace diversity in Pakistan and create an environment where peoples of Pakistan are not judged by their color, nationality, ethnic background or a religious faith passed onto them by their ancestors just like a color of skin or a chattel.

Let us make Pakistan an inclusive country – a nation of many nations. Let us promote brotherhood and sisterhood, progressive people to stand like a shield of steel between the forces of pillage and destruction and the noble causes of 160 million innocent peoples of Pakistan who are yearning for peace, prosperity, individual and collective dignity, justice and democracy. The time has come to take politics out of the business of religion and religion out of the business of politics.