Communal Violence in Pakistan: Toba Tek Singh

There has been a new wave of anti-Christian communal violence in Pakistan, with a riot involving as many as 20,000 people in the town of Gojra, west of Lahore.

We normally use the phrase “communal violence” in the Indian context, but reading the particulars of this story in the New York Times, the idea of “communalism” (a particularly South Asian expression of communitarian religious hostility) seems to fit. The recent riots were not on a huge scale — 100 houses belonging to local Christians were burned (compare to 3000 homes of Christians burned in the violence in Orissa last year) — but it’s still frightening and sad.

There is a history of this kind of violence in Pakistan. I don’t know the history in great detail, but Wikipedia has links to several similar incidents in just the past few years. (It often starts with the claim that someone has desecrated the Koran.)

One oddity in the Times coverage was the way they described the size of the Christian community in Pakistan, as comprising “less than five percent of the population.” I gather the number is more like 1.6% — why not simply say, “less than 2%”? Maybe that’s a nitpick.

As a response, the Christian schools in Karachi are on strike for three days. A number of arrests of those involved in the attacks have been made, and President Zardari has strongly condemned them. The Daily Times newspaper has a story with a subheader that the DPO (police chief) in the district has been “booked” as well, but the text of the story actually states that authorities are at this point just thinking about charging him with failing in his duty to keep the peace.

Incidentally, the town of Gojra is in the Toba Tek Singh District of Punjab, an area made famous by Sa’adat Hasan Manto’s story about Partition, “Toba Tek Singh.” Though we’re no longer talking directly about partition, that story about the madness that can sometimes overtake people in the name of religion still feels relevant. Here is a translation of the story, and Professor Fran Pritchett has both the original Urdu and a Devanagari version of the story linked from her site: here.

277 thoughts on “Communal Violence in Pakistan: Toba Tek Singh

  1. I love the way the mob shouts “American agents” before they kill the Christians. Our lovely “ally” indeed.

  2. So basically the usually Sunni extremist groups that are tolerated locally turned their ire from the Shia/Ahmadi over to these poor Christians. The Sipah-e-Sahab is affiliated with the LeT so their local heroes. It’s beyond me how these people could butcher children like that.

  3. Who actually believes that someone would burn a Koran ? Why do these clerics seize on / create these rumours ?

    I hope the clerics are prosecuted as much as the actual perpetrators, but sadly that will probably not happen, as most of the rioters never get charged either.

    In this day and age – why don’t they teach reasoning skills in schools ?

  4. Have always wondered…who was Toba Tek Singh? Was he an actual person? I know it’s the name of a district in Pakistani Punjab, but was it named after someone?

  5. Amitabh —

    Apocryphal story on Wkipedia to the rescue!

    The town and district is named after a Sikh religious figure Tek Singh. Legend has it that Mr. Singh a kind hearted man served water and provided shelter to the worn out and thirsty travellers passing by a small pond (“TOBA” in Punjabi) which eventually was called Toba Tek Singh, and the surrounding settlement acquired the same name. There is also a park here named after the Sardar Toba.[citation needed] (link)

  6. Christians are the most vulnerable people in Pakistan. They are very poor and a very high percentage of them work as sweepers and in other menial jobs. I believe almost all of them are converts from lower caste Hinduism who continue to work in professions they were in before they converted. The jobs performed in India by lower caste people are almost exclusively performed by Christians in Pakistani Punjab.

    A shame at all levels.

  7. Why do these clerics seize on / create these rumours ?

    Not sure about the reasons here, but branding someone a blasphemer is an old way to settle scores. One of Zia’s many gifts to the region.

  8. 100 houses belonging to local Christians were burned (compare to 3000 homes of Christians burned in the violence in Orissa last year) — but it’s still frightening and sad.

    It is interesting you make this comparison. India being a secular nation, with all its flaws, has a much larger population of Christians, as well as other religious groups, well b/c it is a secular nation, unlike Pakistan who’s schools still teach hatred for other religions, that has not practiced genocide on minority religious populations, unlike the Pakistani govt. If there is apparently less violence against Christians in Pakistan, well there aren’t many christians or other minority religious groups in the country.

  9. If there is apparently less violence against Christians in Pakistan, well there aren’t many christians or other minority religious groups in the country.

    Christian population in India: ~2.4% Christian population in Pakistan: ~1.6%

    Not that big a difference, actually.

  10. What’s the problem with communal riots and violence by the majority community against minorities, as long as the authorities say and think the right things?

  11. Christian population in India: ~2.4% Christian population in Pakistan: ~1.6% Not that big a difference, actually.

    Now compare the relative levels of political, economic, and cultural power enjoyed by Christians in the former against those in the latter.

    The most cursory study of history will demonstrate the religious tensions on such a wide scale are rarely motivated by disagreements on matters of theology. Numbers matter, but so does money, access to services, and more nebulous stuff like “prestige” and “respect.”

  12. Of course this is terrible shame, but the story has me wondering about the response of the victims. Why is there this knee-jerk reaction to go on “strike.” Maybe I just don’t understand the full dynamics of the situation, and I’m certainly only evaluating it from my own perspective which is radically different from those involved – I understand my own limitations of understanding this situation. And of course people should be keeping children home from school if safety is a concern. But I think, if the motivation is just for protest, isn’t there a better way to protest that to halt education? Undermine the education and disrupt the schedule of this community even further? Similarly, why do political parties protest elections by not participating? How does that help or solve anything other than to undermine the election process itself and help the other party – the supposedly corrupt one – get elected? (I’m talking to you, Imran Khan…)

  13. Jobs like…. – being architect of the Indian Constitution. – being the youngest minister and first Labour minister in Nehru’s government. – being chief minister of a the most populous state in India.

    I agree. This is almost as ridiculous as saying that there is any racism in America after November 4, 2008. Hindus and Christians in Pakistan are doing well to, in general, After all, they have both been able to make Chief Justice, the pinnacle of the legal system, in Pakistan.

  14. But I think, if the motivation is just for protest, isn’t there a better way to protest that to halt education? Undermine the education and disrupt the schedule of this community even further?

    Generally there isn’t any other practical way to make people who are more powerful than you listen. You could try reasoning, but if they are not of a mind to care about your concerns you options are to either get organized and disrupt day-to-day life until someone listens or to get violent.

    The latter might be satisfying in the short term but it almost never ends well.

  15. Sulabh and Rahul, I think you guys are misreading Pagal Aadmi’s comment above.

    He was actually trying to say that Christians in Pakistan are, in general, less well off economically than in India. While in India there is diversity as to who the Christians are (i.e., Goan Christians, Syrian Christians, Dalit Christians, etc.), in Pakistan the Christians tend to be within a somewhat narrower socio-economic range.

    He was not making any comment about the treatment of Christians in India.

  16. Some lines got crossed. Sulabh: Dalits are not doing that bad —> Rahul: Sarcasm. Back to scheduled programing.

  17. I wonder what kind of provocation these Christians engaged in that provoked the Muslims to act the way they did.

  18. Amardeep: Yes, that is what I meant.

    Sulabh: I was not suggesting that all lower caste people in India are doing menial jobs. My point is that in India, for example the toilet cleaning in most North Indian medium sized cities is done by Bhangis. In Pakistani Punjab, some menial jobs like toilet cleaning etc. are mostly done by the Christians who were former bhangis but have now converted to Christianity.

  19. Christian population in India: ~2.4% Christian population in Pakistan: ~1.6%

    I stand corrected on the numbers; I guess b/c in India so many Chrisitians are in influential positions and coming from Kerala their churches stand alongside the temples and mosques, it’s easy to forget their numbers are small.

    And that goes back the fact that Yoga Fire points out – it isn’t just numbers; it’s the freedom and ability to practice one’s religion how they want and become full participants in their country. I find your comparison about the 3000 homes of Indian Christians and the apparently 100 homes of Pakistani X-tians so misleading; the comparison isn’t there for a Christian in India and Pakistan.

    I wonder at the amount of Christian missionaries allowed into Pakistan? The amount of influence that a Christian can have in India as opposed to in Pakistan? What happened in India against the Christians, could have very easily happened to different castes of Hindus. India is not, despite the ongoing shenanigans of many Christian missionaries, in the same abhorrent religious oppressive league as Pakistan.

    Just looking at Wikipedia and Pakistani Christians and you see from the onset their lives are circumscribed and their basic human rights have for decades been violated. It’s just unfortunate that the only comparison of Indian Christian and Pakistani Christians that ur blog entry makes is on numbers on two separate persecution instances and the legal, historical, cultural,political, and financial contex is left out. Imo, it just would have been better not to make a vapid numbers comparison of this violence and if you are going to bring numbers into it, please bring history, laws, and political and financial clout into it as well.

    With the governments of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Zia ul-Haq, more stringently Islamic laws transformed Pakistan. While conversion to other faiths than Islam is not prohibited by law, culture and social pressures prohibit such conversions. Extremely controversial were the blasphemy laws, which made it treacherous for non-Muslims to express themselves without coming off as un-Islamic.

    Pakistani law mandates that any “blasphemies” of the Quran are to be met with punishment. On July 28, 1994, Amnesty International urged Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the Nawaz Sharif administration.

  20. Some lines got crossed. Sulabh: Dalits are not doing that bad —> Rahul: Sarcasm.

    🙂 Yep.

    I was just commenting on whatever pafd wrote while Rahul was being Rahul.

  21. I believe almost all of them are converts from lower caste Hinduism who continue to work in professions they were in before they converted.

    Source please. For one, except for some communities like the Ashrafs this definition can apply to people of the majority religion in Pakistan. For another it is unclear if Christian evangelism is or has been as active in Pakistan among the lower castes or tribals.

  22. Gurmando – “Who actually believes that someone would burn a Koran ?” Even if the Quran or the Gita is burned, or if a lower caste Sikh dresses up as guru Gobind Singh, it should not become an excuse for Hindus to kill Muslims in India ; Muslims for killing Chirstians in Pakistan or upper caste Sikh fundamentalist to assassinate lower caste Sikh gurus.

  23. Even if the Quran or the Gita is burned, or if a lower caste Sikh dresses up as guru Gobind Singh, it should not become an excuse for Hindus to kill Muslims in India ; Muslims for killing Chirstians in Pakistan or upper caste Sikh fundamentalist to assassinate lower caste Sikh gurus.

    Manpreet –

    You are applying logic here and that is not going to work.

    Burning Quran is not equivalent to Burning Bible : Bible does not have a clause which says that the Bible-burner should be punished, however for some interpreters of Quran, a Quran-burner should have his/her gene pool finished.

    Painting pictures of naked Hindu deities is ok as none of the Hindu scriptures explicitly prohibit that -however, some one wearing a fancy dress costume of Guru Gobind has to die as some Maryada was violated.

    As long as it is NOT explicitly prohibited in the book (with a prescribed punishment) it is fair game.

    It seems even Amardeep is not conflicted about this.

  24. I’m not sure if that 2.4% number still holds true. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public LIfe’s survey on pentecostal and charismatic movements in ten countries, including India, found that adherents to just those movements alone comprise around 2-6%.

    “In China, Indonesia, India, Lebanon, Malaysia and Singapore, pentecostals and charismatics combined represent between 2-6% of the national population.”

    http://pewforum.org/surveys/pentecostal/asia/

    There’s pretty great information on the history of pentecostalism in India in there, like how the the movement’s growth in India directly influenced its growth in Korea and interestingly enough, Chile.

    Sorry for going off-topic.

  25. As long as it is NOT explicitly prohibited in the book (with a prescribed punishment) it is fair game.

    I disagree. Even in the absence of books, popular culture and morality automatically provide codes which should be enforced by those who understand the religion best, and can grok the message of the religion even when commoners are unable to. It is just like how different people interpret religious books and their inherent contradictions differently, but there are those who are able to interpret them correctly.

  26. I think you guys are misreading Pagal Aadmi’s comment above.

    Amardeep, I didn’t misread PafD’s comment. It was clearly an argument to try and garner some understanding for the plight of the minority community.

  27. Manpreet – I wasn’t at all implying that by asking who would / or why a Koran was burnt that the punishment or subsequent actions were justified. Just the ridiculousness of the rumours.

  28. Pakistan’s blasphemy law has been criticized as too broad, and many legal experts say it has been badly misused since its introduction in the 1980s by the military dictator Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq.

    The straightfaced description of blasphemy laws being “broad” and “badly misused” was the most hilarious part of an otherwise grim article.

  29. Manpreet – by the way – officially, there are not supposed to be any castes in Sikhism – the very tenets of the religion state equality among all peoples. (This is not to say that the culture as it has developed over time isn’t a different story – some still follow caste mentality).

  30. Manpreet – by the way – officially, there are not supposed to be any castes in Sikhism

    “Officially” North Korea is a Democratic People’s Republic. I’d like to borrow a line from Batman Begins and suggest that it is not what we say, but what we do that defines us.

    After all, Hinduism also says that one who has awakened to the true nature of reality no longer sees the petty distinctions between crude matter so they will regard everything with the same love and respect. That’s not necessarily how it turns out though is it?

  31. I wonder what kind of provocation these Christians engaged in that provoked the Muslims to act the way they did.

    Do you really have to ask.

  32. Gurmando- I was just adding to your point; i know you were not implying that Quran desecration should be punished violently.

  33. This was in the NYTimes story

    Christians, who make up less than 5 percent of the entire population, are often treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan, where Islam is the official religion. Non-Muslims are constitutionally barred from becoming president or prime minister.

    It’s sad that little sikh,hindu and christians children growing up in Pakistan know that they will never be able to become president or prime minster because of there background.I wonder if people of Pakisani background living in the west who complain about racism will help fight against racism in there homeland.

  34. You are applying logic here and that is not going to work. As long as it is NOT explicitly prohibited in the book (with a prescribed punishment) it is fair game.

    seriously? maybe some logic SHOULD be applied in this case. i realise that pakistan is not a secular country, but, then, what role does the law play? and, as rahul mentioned, what about morality? this is a weak and cowardly argument, and it doesnt excuse an individual’s actions while blindly following faith…

  35. It’s sad that little sikh,hindu and christians children growing up in Pakistan know that they will never be able to become president or prime minster because of there background.I wonder if people of Pakisani background living in the west who complain about racism will help fight against racism in there homeland.

    Do any one of us labor under the delusion that little Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim Children growing up in America have a realistic shot in hell of being Head of State?

    I can imagine the swiftboating ads already with images of Kali dancing across the screen with severed heads dangling. . .

  36. Do any one of us labor under the delusion that little Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim Children growing up in America have a realistic shot in hell of being Head of State?

    Forget little Sikhs, Hindus or Muslims. Little people, in general, do not have a shot at being Head of State.

  37. Uhhh–Yoga Fire, you’re kidding, right? Obama shows that a little Muslim kid can make it!

  38. and, as rahul mentioned, what about morality?

    In defense of Sulabh, he was not justifying the action, just explaining the primitive nature of certain religions with rules in the book. What I was saying that what matters at the end of the day is not books, but how the religion is practiced and interpreted, whether there are books or not, since all these books are replete with contradictory statements. And we can always trust those who know better than us and are able to divine the true meaning and intent on the framers and the originals to tell us what is and is not justified by the religion, whether these justifications evolve from selective interpretation of books, or selective interpretation of history.

  39. Obama shows that a little Muslim kid can make it!

    A Muslim born in Kenya to an African, nonetheless!

  40. Christians, who make up less than 5 percent of the entire population, are often treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan, where Islam is the official religion. Non-Muslims are constitutionally barred from becoming president or prime minister.

    That makes sense. In an Islamic country dhimmis (non-muslims) cannot be in positions of authority over Muslims.

    In America it may be hard for a non-Christian to be President, but there is nothing legal or constitutional to bar it. It is up to the people through democratic process, which is why we were able to witness the first African American to be elected President last fall.

  41. GurMando – “Glad we got that straightened out 🙂 We cool. No communal violence here”

    Of course, we are cool :). I have enough arguments with cousins and assorted relatives, who keep reminding everyone within earshot of their “Jatt” heritage, and what they think about papas, labanas, ramgarhias and chamars,

  42. Rahul – “Forget little Sikhs, Hindus or Muslims. Little people, in general, do not have a shot at being Head of State.”

    Except in Lilliput and Blefuscu 🙂

  43. We normally use the phrase “communal violence” in the Indian context, but reading the particulars of this story in the New York Times, the idea of “communalism” (a particularly South Asian expression of communitarian religious hostility) seems to fit.

    Doesn’t seem particularly South Asian though there are probably particularly aspects of it that can be tied to common origins in British India for Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh at least. Politics, community identity, and possibly resource distribution are inseparable in understanding communalism as a way of organising politics and society. Possibly other places that experienced British control (Norrthern Ireland,.Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Palestine, Nigeria – maybe include Canada in this). In this sense, you can sometimes change the labels (Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Tamil, Sinhalese, Arab, Israeli, Greek, Catholic, Protestant, West Pakistani, East Pakistani, etc.) and possibly see some common outcomes and maybe trends.

    Just a working hypothesis.