IN grim and troubled times, it is both welcome and necessary for the political leadership of the country to articulate a message of inter-communal peace and coexistence and to preach a message of tolerance and inclusivity. On Wednesday, on a visit to a Hindu temple complex in Chakwal, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif struck a sensible note in speaking about the equal status of non-Muslim citizens and the need to ensure progress for all religious communities in the country. Indeed, in a week in which controversial remarks have been made about what ought to be properly considered as militancy and with social activists still missing, the prime minister’s comments may help tilt the PML-N’s rhetorical balance at least towards what a democratic, constitutional order ought to represent.

Yet, words alone cannot and will not be enough. While the federal government and at least two provincial governments, Sindh and Punjab, have taken up progressive legislation to protect and enhance the rights of non-Muslims, women and disadvantaged groups, there is still an immeasurably long way to go before Pakistan can truly be regarded as a country of equal rights and protections for everyone and where all communities can progress together, free of fear and intimidation. Indeed, among the many areas in which the political leadership of the country has come up short in the nearly decade-old transition to democracy, it is the intersection of the law and social interventions that continues to be deeply problematic. Consider the example of the PPP in Sindh: while the party continues to take steps on occasion that hew to a secular political ethos, the terrible state of administration in the province has allowed a law and order breakdown to become a threat to entire communities. The spread of extremist networks in the province is increasingly documented and a dire threat to the well-being and safety of non-Muslim communities.

Meanwhile, the PML-N, which rules at the centre and in Punjab, appears almost determined to prevent the state from a root-and-branch attack on extremism in Punjab and the country generally. Surely, while it is well and good for the prime minister to garner praise for himself with his progressive pronouncements, the tolerance that the PML-N has for sympathisers of extremism within the party’s own ranks is part of a national, political problem. The recent religiously tainted unrest in Chakwal was an important example: when faced with actual violence by extremists, the state prefers to hush matters up and seeks to deter the affected communities from seeking justice and the true protection of their rights. If Pakistan is to become the country that Mr Sharif has now repeatedly said he wants to see, then the political leadership needs to be both bold and determined. Political rhetoric will never mask real inaction.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2017