“Is NAP napping?” It is a common phrase heard from political opposition and liberals. However if the National Action Plan appears to be napping while militant groups like Jamaatud Dawah and ASWJ continue acting without any concern of being approached, the government is taking action against others.
National Action Plan is being used to discriminate against Ahamdis in Punjab, where their books and literature have been banned by authorities who accuse them of ‘promoting feelings of enmity and hatred between different classes of citizens’. ASWJ is allowed to promote an ideology of hate against an entire class of citizens, but Ahmadis are being accused of ‘promoting feelings of enmity and hatred’ simply by existing.
It is not only Ahmadis who are being targeted. Human rights NGOs are also in the government’s sights. The latest victim is Christian human rights worker Rubina Feroze Bhatti who has received multiple international awards for her services to society’s downtrodden including the UN’s prestigious N-Peace Award.
To repay her services, the government has sent teams of police to harass her and a few days ago her NGO Taangh Wasaib Organization (TWO) was shut down by police and 8 of her staff were detained. According to officials, her work promoting communal interfaith harmony has ‘defamed the country’.
Militant groups like Jamaatud Dawah and ASWJ roam free in the streets spreading their violent ideologies and the government sits quietly as if nothing is happening. Is its silence a quite approval? Some say that there is nothing that can be done because these groups are not breaking the laws, but then what laws are religious minorities breaking by merely existing? By ignoring extremist hate groups and targeting minorities, the government is sending a clear message about what the real national action plan is.
