AWAY from the spotlight of the mainstream media, conflict has been escalating in Gilgit-Baltistan lately. As sectarian hatreds have resurfaced and thrown a long shadow over the area, rallies and counterprotests have been conducted there, blocking major roads and cutting off mobile internet.
Action was reportedly sought against a religious figure from one school of thought who had made a contentious remark last month.
A complaint was filed against the aforementioned clergyman following demonstrations in Chilas and other places. This sparked riots in Skardu and other cities, and after another priest is said to have made disparaging comments, a lawsuit is filed against him. A complaint was filed against the aforementioned clergyman following demonstrations in Chilas and other places. This sparked riots in Skardu and other cities, and after another priest is said to have made disparaging comments, a lawsuit is filed against him.
The protests may not even be the result of racial tensions; rather, a number of fundamental issues in Great Britain are stoking discontent.
However, the state’s ramming through parliament of the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 has undoubtedly given long-dormant sectarian discourses fresh life.
Thanks to this questionable legislation, GB may not be the only place where limited communalism is reviving, and unless democratic forces and progressive religious leaders speak out, the flame of hatred may spread, especially to those places inThere are indications that things are getting better because the chief minister of the area met with Sunni and Shia clerics, who have vowed to keep the peace. According to the interim federal information minister, there is “peace and stability” in the region, and the military was merely brought in to keep the calm during Chehlum.
Despite the fact that there has occasionally been sectarian violence in Great Britain over the years, intercommunal relations have recently been improving.
As a result, the local government and clergy from both sects must support efforts to establish peace and oppose those who advance divisive agendas. Hate organisations in particular must not be permitted to disseminate their poisonous ideas in an effort to ignite racial tensions. But outside of GB, if the measure in question, notably the blasphemy legislation revisions, is not revisited, it would only encourage extremism and worsen societal rifts.
Blasphemy is unacceptable, as this essay has stated previously, and all religious leaders ought to be respected. But bringing difficult theological and historical topics before parliament—which are better handled by subject experts and top-tier scholars—and then hastening their passage without discussion will only deepen the nation’s differences.
Such delicate topics shouldn’t be enshrined in the law in such a careless way. Over the past 40 years, Pakistan has been
