"You are free to go to your temples; free to go to your mosques, or any other place of worship in this Pakistan you may belong to any religion, caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State."
It is hard to think today, that there was once a time in the not too dim and distant past that Pakistan was formed as a secular state. That all changed in 1956 when a new Pakistani constitution was adopted, after being declared an Islamic republic.
With stories coming out of the Commonwealth nation of assassination of Christian ministers, the death penalty being applied in alleged trumped up blasphemy cases and even attacks against popular Islamic mysticism, Sufism, by hard-line fundamentalists, it is difficult to see any hope for a meaningful peace.
Pakistan is a troubled country, for sure. Religion runs roughshod over the Government, making it all but impossible for the rule of law to be justly applied. Subjective religious interpretations are held to have higher authority than objective civil laws, which only further the country's problems.
I don't honestly know what can be done with Pakistan. It is a failed state; its population long ago discarding any semblance of coherent nationhood or civic responsibility, beyond a mutual support for their national cricket team.
One wonders if that is secular in nature?
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