AT its own peril does the state take lightly the threat that has been issued to the Kalash people and the Ismaili community in Chitral. The TTP has, in a video that surfaced recently, said that these people will face armed attacks unless they “convert to Islam”. The Kalash are well known within and beyond this country because, over the decades, governments have projected their existence as proof of a multicultural, inclusive Pakistan. Yet on Thursday, KP’s advocate-general shrugged off the threat as “more of an external than internal matter”. The fact is that while TTP militants may move between Pakistan and Afghanistan with ease, they still constitute Pakistan’s own problem and a formidable internal threat.

It is as yet unclear how serious the threat to the Kalash actually is; the area they call home is — relative to the rest of the northwest — more peaceful as a result of low levels of penetration by militant groups. Nevertheless, there are two strong reasons why it is essential that the state take a far harder position on the issue and make it clear that threats such as these will not be tolerated and that every group, be it non-Muslim or a Muslim minority, within Pakistan will be protected. First, there is the fact that should any extremist group try to perpetrate violence on or intimidate these communities, it will be fairly easy to do this. Consider the manner in which violence is unleashed at will even in cities and areas where there is heavy security. The remoteness of the Chitral valley makes its inhabitants vulnerable, which is all the more reason the state must beef up security there. Second, in not taking a harder stance, the government is allowing those who have levelled the threat to set a dangerous precedent. If today these groups are being threatened for not ‘converting’, who will it be tomorrow? Followers of several different faiths as well as Muslim minority groups already feel threatened. Those who aim to impose their narrow version of religion by force must be resisted.