Different but same

While humanity has made tremendous progress over the last century and is getting ready to reach for the stars, we still have many steps to climb on the ladder to true enlightenment. Our world is still rife with irrational bigotry and intolerance, in fact, they appear to be on the rise. Be it the discrimination against Muslim women who choose to where the hijab in the West, or the discrimination in some Muslim countries against those who choose not to, they are both equally bad and different versions of the same wrong. In both cases, people are policing what women can wear, violating their individual liberty.

In some cases, this discrimination is enforced through threats and violence. It is quite ironic that we live in a world where we have the capability to talk to anyone in any country and yet we still have not learnt how to respect each other’s most basic rights. Such chauvinism and zealotry have no place in the 21st century.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore