Fate of ancient Hindu temple in Peshawar tells a tale

Churchill was no fool and believed Britain had to exploit Hindu-Muslim differences. In a Cabinet meeting he once said “that he did not share the anxiety to encourage and promote unity between the Hindu and Moslem communities. Such a unity was, in fact, almost out of the realm of practical politics, while, if it were to be brought about, the immediate result would be that the united communities would join in showing us the door. He regarded the Hindu/Moslem feud as a bulwark of British rule in India.”

In yet another manifestation of how Pakistan’s ‘blasphemy’ laws — laws penalising criticism of Islam and its founder — are repeatedly used for persecuting religious minorities, a Hindu man has been found not guilty of blasphemy, after spending five years in jail amid death threats.

The west has diametrically opposite standards for dealing with issues in its own backyard and that of non-western fast-growing economies like Bharat.