THE western media has times without number mischievously referred to the two principal sects in Islam as 'rival sects'. What is worse is that sometimes our own media, unconsciously perhaps, use the same expression.

I was horrified to see that a Pakistani English daily (not Dawn) has used the same term in its issue of Jan 7, not just in the report but also in the headline.

It's about time we understood that the two sects are not rivals but they are merely two schools of thought, just as Protestants and Roman Catholics have different approaches to their religion — Christianity. They are not rivals either.

Likewise, it was shocking to see that the form, sent out by the DHA to the people who have been allotted plots in the DHA City scheme after balloting, carries a section where the applicants are expected to mention their religion and their sect.

What makes this information necessary to the DHA or to anybody else is a question one can't find an answer to. For that matter, why should they even want to know about the religion of a person who is planning to build a house in the new housing scheme? Will the DHA please withdraw this clause from the form and until then at least give an explanation to what can at best be described as a sin of omission?

MANZOOR ELAHI
Karachi