ONE could arguably posit that religious violence has been the defining characteristic of much conflict in the past few years. The after-effects of the Arab Spring, for instance, have unleashed ideological forces bent on drawing religious boundaries in blood to further their political agendas. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 198 countries — covering a reported 99.5pc of the global population — looks at the issue of faith-based violence from various angles. The results show that religious hostilities increased across the world in 2012. While this may not be surprising because such conflicts cannot be seen in territorial isolation and usually depend on both external and internal triggers, the numbers are nevertheless disturbing. Of the countries included in the study, 33pc — including Pakistan — saw “high” or “very high” levels of internal religious strife, including sectarian violence, terrorism or bullying in 2012, compared to 29pc in 2011 and 20pc in 2010. As expected, the report shows that the Middle East and Africa have experienced the sharpest spike, while China is included in the “high” category for the first time. Among countries with “very high social hostilities based on religion”, Pakistan tops the table, as it did in the previous year. This does not appear far off the mark. As we are all too aware, sectarian killings occur in this country with horrific regularity, mosques belonging to various sects are bombed, and blasphemy accusations trigger bloody reprisals.

While the percentage of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions on religion remained about the same as in 2011, there are several very populous countries among these, with the result that 76pc of the world’s population lives in countries with “high” or “very high” levels of restrictions on religion. Interestingly, in the report, the countries with the highest social hostilities involving religion (the number of these increased from 14 to 20 between 2011 and 2012) includes many categorised as having “very high” government restrictions on religion, suggesting that state-sanctioned discrimination of religious practice has a significant bearing on attitudes towards minorities that can take the form of violence. This causal link often finds expression in Pakistani society where religious affiliation can define the extent of one’s vulnerability to violence.