I AM often asked by friends and readers why I continue writing when it's obvious that my columns make no difference to anything. I reply that by writing, “ mein dil ki bharas nikal dayta hun ” . I think the closest English translation is that I vent my spleen.

All it takes to subject an enemy to the mischief of this malign law is for a few people to charge him or her of blasphemy and let injustice take its course.

While most politicians and the media in Pakistan have taken little note of yet another Christian being persecuted for her faith, the rest of the world is appalled and outraged.

Pope Benedict XVI could not have been more forthright in his condemnation, and his support for Aasia Bibi when he said recently: “Over these days, the international community is, with great concern, following the situation of Christians in Pakistan who are often victims of violence or discrimination. In particular, I today express my spiritual closeness to Ms Aasia Bibi and her family.…”

The death sentence passed on the hapless Aasia Bibi is entirely in line with this recent pronouncement by the Islamic State of Iraq, an extremist ally of Al Qaeda: “All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers are legitimate targets of the mujahideen.”

This declaration of war on Christendom followed an attack on an Iraqi church that killed nearly 60 Christians. While these words and actions from a vicious, bloodthirsty terrorist group is in keeping with their track record, the silence of Muslim leaders and the media is outrageous.

Had a mosque in the West been attacked with such heavy casualties, and an extreme Christian group had made a similar threat against Muslims, the outcry across the Islamic world would have been deafening. Western targets would have been attacked from Jakarta to Marrakesh.

As this anti-Christian discrimination, persecution and violence rises in many Muslim countries, we continue mouthing the mantra of Christians being Ahle-Kitab , the People of the Book. In actual fact, the Islamic State of Iraq has declared them wajibul-qatal , or 'deserving of murder'.

Thus, Christians have now joined the list of faiths and sects declared wajibul-qatal by extremists subscribing to an orthodox strain of religion that has infected so many Muslim radicals. Ahmadis have long been in this category. So are others, including followers of the tolerant, Sufi brand of Islam.

In Pakistan, these unfortunate people have been ruthlessly targeted by a number of radical groups that have been allowed to proliferate over the years. Secular Muslims, of course, have always been fair game.

Instead of acting vigorously to close down these terrorist groups, the army and successive governments in Pakistan have sought to use them to further short-sighted and entirely illegal agendas across our borders. The problem, of course, has always been that once these killers get legitimacy and support from the state, they turn their attention to targets within the country.

But the state is not alone in the spread of extremism: the independent media must share the blame. For decades now, a section of the Urdu press has carried a message of hate and intolerance, one amplified by the scores of private TV channels that are now the principal means of shaping public opinion.

Some time ago, one popular TV anchor on a religious programme almost urged a cleric on the panel to declare Ahmadis wajibul-qatal. Within days of the programme, two Ahmadis were duly murdered. But he is not the only one fanning the flames of this madness. Others hold forth in their studios and spew out this message of hatred against all those who do not subscribe to the belief of the majority Sunni doctrine.

There is a tendency in humans and animals alike to prey on the weak, and kick those below us in the pecking order. In today's Pakistan, non-Muslims have been assigned a place in society where they can be persecuted with impunity by those above them on the social ladder. People who accuse non-Muslims falsely of blasphemy just to settle a score or grab some property are never prosecuted. Those who murder Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis are never sentenced.

Time and again, the state has failed in its duty to protect all of its citizens. Several non-Muslim prisoners, accused of blasphemy, have been murdered while in police custody by fanatics who have then escaped punishment. And if the accused have been pronounced not guilty by the courts, their lives are always at risk when they are released from custody.

So if Aasia Bibi is freed on appeal, she won't be able to return to her village where a mob led by the local mullahs could storm her home. As far too many Christians know, this often happens in Pakistan.

The question is not why militants are targeting non-Muslims in Pakistan: the real question is why we are not angrier at this increasing persecution. Why don't our politicians and the media come out loudly and unequivocally against extremism? As it is, too many of us hedge our condemnation with ifs and buts. We bring in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan as though people like Aasia Bibi are responsible for western policies.

The grim reality is that whatever we may say about the protection non-Muslims are supposed to be accorded in Muslim societies, they are increasingly at risk at the hands of vicious fanatics. That they operate in our midst, immune from legal sanctions, is a telling comment on the majority.

Now that the extremists have declared war on all those who do not conform to their narrow, harsh version of Islam, we have no option but to fight them with every means available to us. Above all, we should not tolerate those who advocate their cause, and justify the slaughter of innocent non-Muslims. We could start by demanding a fair deal for Aasia Bibi.

irfan.husain@gmail.com