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Pakistan: deadly cost of religion in politics |
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Oxford, 22 March 2013 |
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First the good news: for the first time in Pakistan’s history a civilian government has completed its full five-year term—a development that has momentous value for a country whose political history has been dominated by army intervention. Now the bad news: during the same period, religiously-motivated violence has killed nearly 40,000 civilians and security personnel; over 250 Shias have lost their lives in three major bombings in Karachi and Quetta since January; and nearly 200 Christian homes were set ablaze in Lahore earlier this month. Such is the bloody price citizens have to pay when a state fails to separate religion from politics. Internally, Pakistan is gripped by a pattern of cyclical violence being expressed intermittently in the form of Taliban terrorism, violent sectarianism, and persecution of minorities under the notorious blasphemy laws. These violent religious groups also continue to jeopardize its regional s
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