Schisms and Slaughter of the Religious Mindset

It’s something that’s gone on for centuries and suddenly the world seems a bit surprised. Rioting continued in Pakistan as Muslims attacked Christians, burning homes and killing six in a violent rage.

Religious zealots or Islamic extremists, all exert and defend their way of  life. The difference here was an enclave of Christians were caught up in a Muslim world.

Muslims, led by radical extremists, set out to purge their community of Christian infidels, killing six and wounding ten. Four women and one child were among them. The violence started on Thursday when, according to Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities, hundreds of Muslims took to the streets in the village of Gojra, where accusations surfaced about Christians defacing the Koran.

In Pakistan, minorities are faced with a number of discriminatory laws. One particular law is the death penalty for using derogatory language against Islam, the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad. Often the law is used to extract personal vendettas against rivals, rather than its original religious intent.

On Saturday violence flared again when shots were fired at a Muslim rally that passed by a Christian neighborhood.

“It was not clear who fired the shots,” said a local minister, Dost Mohammad.

Crazed mobs ran through the streets, blocking traffic and swinging batons as they ransacked homes, Christian homes. Buildings, blackened and burning, stood vacant as gunfire could be heard off in the distance. Mr. Bhatti reported forty Christian homes had been burnt since Thursday. According to Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, paramilitary troops were sent in to help police control the situation.

The enclave of Christians is surrounded by 160 million Sunni Muslims. Usually the factions get along and live peaceful lives, but on this occasion, as in several of the past, Muslim radicals instigated a violent and deadly attack.

Mr. Bhatti informed the press that the attackers were part of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group. A group that has been accused of recent bombings in public places and attacks against national security forces. Also on Saturday, police officials said they arrested a member of al Qaeda who was suspected in the beheading of Daniel Pearl. The police confirmed as well the arrest of Rao Shakir, a reported member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, in Islamabad on Friday.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is another militant group that has been linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Members of this organization have been accused of attacking Westerners in Karachi and the September 2008 bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. As well as Mr. Pearl’s demise.

All the efforts of the well intended go for naught. The fighting goes on and the mindless, religious zealot’s fall prey to those who stir them. For what purpose? Would a real God, a creator of all that is good, wish such destruction and mayhem? Would any logically thinking person, regardless of creed, be willing to relinquish their soul and the joys of heaven for such madness?