Ukraine and Pakistan: How are we different?
In distant Pakistan, a scandal is unfolding: a group of Islamists, in collusion with officials, has organized a large-scale persecution of Christians.
They fabricate blasphemy charges against Christians and then imprison them. Over the recent period, at least 450 such cases have been reported, with five people dying in custody.
During court hearings, Islamists shout slogans in the courtroom to pressure judges into convicting innocent individuals. Moreover, after guilty verdicts are delivered, Islamic leaders make statements against the victims in mosques, inciting local residents to turn against their families.
Why are we writing about this? Because if you replace Pakistan with Ukraine and Islamists with certain local denominations, you get an almost identical picture. The only difference is that Pakistan's Islamists haven’t yet started forming “religious communities” in local clubs or “converting” Christian churches into mosques. Perhaps they just don’t know it’s possible. Proven by Ukraine.
It seems we are striving for Europe, but on the way there, we’ve made a small detour of 4,000 kilometers.
