The news of a suicide bomber killing over 65 people, mostly women and children in a park in Lahore, is more evidence of the fault-line that runs through Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed the attack and we saw, first hand the impacts of extremism and sectarianism when attacks against other minorities have taken place in Pakistan since 2012. Through the Musawaat project, we have worked with minorities in Pakistan who have been at risk of such real and life threatening attacks. Sadly, this attack today, has claimed the lives of many Christians and we must all mourn and their lives have not been lost in vain. Their lives will be remembered as we take on and uncouple extremism from the lives of Pakistanis through all means possible. Pakistan deserves peace and to be away from the clutches of extremists.
The suicide attack also injured 300 people and many of the Christian community had gone to celebrate Easter in the famous Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore. In order to celebrate the message of love and hope, they were attacked by extremists who have sought to destroy the pluralism and an Islam that historically has lived with and protected minorities. Islam in the sub-continent has mainly had a history of accepting and co-existing with other faiths even at a time when colonial rule brutally wiped out many Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities.
Let us also not forget that the founders of Pakistan included Shia, Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims, in alliance with the Sunni majority. Quad-e-Azam, or Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founding politician of Pakistan repeatedly stressed the Islamic nature of Pakistan based on pluralism and tolerance. What we see now through extremists, is a direct threat to the state of Pakistan, and its entire population. Yet, today, we stand with the Christian community whose lives are under threat and whose future is one of uncertainty.