JUST the ritual condemnation of incidents of attack on schools and mosques and merciless killings of fellow countrymen will take us nowhere. The latest Shikarpur carnage was heartrending, especially because it was an attack on a Friday congregation. If we decide to live with this state of mind then our very survival will be at stake.

The gravity of the problem demands for its solution introspection and self-reform. And this is possible only through education. The right kind of education alone will enable us to change our hearts and minds and make us tolerant and understand the values of peace and amity.

The growing tendency of imposing one’s own faith and religious beliefs on others is against the very spirit of true Islam and it is eating into the vitals of our nation. Unless this tendency is reversed through education in schools and colleges and, above all, in Friday sermons, the scourge of extremism and terrorism will stay and grow.

The ulema have to play a pivotal role, because in matters of faith and religious beliefs, people in general go by what they say and they do not believe ulema with a Western background. This education programme with focus on Friday sermons will produce results in the long run. This means this will reform the future generations. This is not a bad bargain. If we are suffering the consequences of terrorism and extremism, let us at least spare the future generations.

Abdul Jamil Khan

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2015

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