THERE have been a number of cases of people getting killed over allegations of blasphemy in the last few years in the country, and that is quite alarming. The latest incident in Sialkot saw a Sri Lankan factory general manager, Priyantha Kumara, tortured to death by the workers in the wake of blasphemy accusations.

A little while ago, another incident had taken place in Charssadda where an angry mob set a police station on fire as the police were not ready to hand over the person who had allegedly committed blasphemy.

The duty of police is not to allow people to go violent; they are bound to keep things under control at all times and under all kinds of situations.

Yet, policemen, too, are members of the same society that we are all part of. As individuals, they have their own emotions and thoughts, and there is a limit to what a uniform alone can do to let their emotions get the better of them. Sometimes some of them look the other way and the mob prevails.

The clerics are the real influencers in our society and people follow what they preach. They easily mobilise the masses. We have seen that people losing their lives or getting imprisoned on allegations of blasphemy are not always non-Muslims; many have themselves been Muslims.

Our mosques can be turned into community centres to spread the message of love and kindness, and should help the police in handling situations arising out of emotional hyperactivity. Our youth need to realise how blissful it is to be a true and knowledgeable Muslim.

Bacha Hussain
Lahore

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2021