ON Tuesday morning, on the Karakoram Highway … 18 Shia (bus) passengers were shot dead [by assailants who checked their identities] while seven were injured of which two died in hospital.

Unfortunately, there is no government hospital in Kohistan district, hence the difficulties [in getting the people to the hospital on time]. Section 144 was imposed in the district. Three days of mourning were announced and educational institutes were closed for three days. As per routine the president, prime minister, governor, chief ministers …

issued condolence messages condemning the heinous act. …Rehman Malik announced a joint inquiry team consisting of officials from the ISI, IB, FIA and the police…. The loss of 20 lives is not an ordinary happening for which formal condolences are enough. But this has been routine on the part of our rulers. …All that is possible is a paltry amount for the next of kin….Sectarian thinking is an evil which … with the passage of time is on the increase. No doubt sectarian differences are a centuries-old matter.

But in Pakistan this has emerged in its worst form where opponents are declared infidels to be wiped out from the face of the earth. Thus there is no space for tolerance. …During the regime of the military dictator Ziaul Haq this trend got an immense boost…. The maulvi … was raised to the status of an alam-i-din … an authority on religious matters. This was a status he never deserved. …During the same period, separate courses on Islamiat were introduced…. Previous textbooks were censored and chapters relating to Islamic brotherhood and human values were torn out. They were replaced with venomous lectures creating more hatred not only towards different Muslim sects but also religious minorities. The generation that was taught this lesson of hatred is now active in our national life… Narrow-mindedness is on the increase….

For the government it is easy to put the blame on India or anti-Islam agencies…. Even if that is true, the fact is that this venomous crop is, after all, our own doing. Today, the most proper step would be to review the textbooks of Pakistan Studies and Islamiat …—(Feb 29)

Selected and translated by STM.