Mixing religion and logic is often futile. The former is a set of beliefs and the latter is derived mostly from available facts and evidence. Hence, to argue with someone about their belief system is rather immature. People have their convictions and they follow those convictions no matter what. All is well and good so long as it does not infringe upon another person’s right to exist. The otherwise ‘shining India’ has been eclipsed by the recent rise of right wing extremists garnering attention for the wrong reasons. Somehow these people have nothing better to do in life other than becoming self-proclaimed and self-appointed moral police on the streets or, for that matter, any form of media that gives them any form of undue attention. The idea that is being peddled is that it is their responsibility bestowed upon them by none other than the Almighty to act as saviours. Therein lies the fundamental problem. Do you honestly think that God will be appointing these seemingly aggressive individuals, who want to enforce their personal belief systems by force? Something does not add up here. There is a common thread that runs through most right wing zealots regardless of the country, its strong leaning towards religion and hard core alignment with certain strong convictions. Absurd as it may sound, unbelievable as it may seem but, in this day and age, people can bludgeon someone to death on the mere suspicion of beef consumption. On top of that, there is no remorse for such behavior, only callous justifications for such a cruel act. Agreed, most religions have their dietary sensitivities and people act all pious and ultra-cautious when it comes to this particular issue. Well and good but the sensitivity of a particular group of people cannot be imposed on the other. Muslims in general refrain from eating pork but in the same vein cannot force non-Muslims to not consume that particular animal. Understood, an animal may have religious reverence to the extent that it is even worshiped, fair and understandable. But what to do if the other group does not believe in that particular animal being any religious symbol, especially in a country that prides itself as a secular nation? Bigotry and intolerance are wrapped in so-called societal correction and groups of self-appointed moral policemen take to the streets to propagate their perverted agendas. After reading some sane voices in print from across the border, one can sense that even India is going through a change, a change that it will perhaps grapple with in the coming years. Most narrow-minded net warriors see Pakistan from their jaded lenses and often ridicule average Pakistanis when it comes to these topics. Yes, Pakistan has been self-sufficiently gifted with a lot of religious hardliners. You find them a dime a dozen but it seems, as one scribe from India very articulately put it, India may transform into a country much similar to its pesky southern neighbour. Unregulated social media gives one an unscientific sample of the pulse of the nation. When a popular actor from Bollywood with a Muslim name expressed his outrage over this horrific incident, he was labelled with the ultimate slur of being a “Pakistani”. How do you reason with such people? The poor chap sarcastically asked the bigot to grow a brain but that is hardly a possibility. On this side of the border, where most religious lunatics reign supreme on any given day, at least something positive happened and that too after a long, long time. The apex court of the country declared in a high profile murder case that criticising the negative effects of a parliamentary law often misused to settle personal scores certainly does not amount to blasphemy. Worthy of attention is the commentary that one of the judges provided, which hinted towards an unchecked society where anarchy reigns supreme, when people become the judge, jury and executioner all onto themselves. If you think that this issue is limited to the developing world, then you are perhaps mistaken. Here, in the land of the free, the right wing is having a field day fanning Islamophobic sentiments in the general public. Most Americans who are entangled in their daily battles do not have adequate time to understand the complexities of the issue and often get their daily dose of this fear mongering. The recent debates by Republican Party contenders for the US presidency have exposed the rather bizarre mentality of such characters. Some of these idiots have voiced their strong reservations when it comes to a Muslim becoming a US president. These are not your average street peddlers but accomplished people in every sense of the word, who are trying to display their true colours. Regardless of the country, society or community singling out a group of citizens and casting doubt over their citizenship, patriotism or affiliations with the land solely based on their belief system is dead wrong. Muslims, whether Indian, British, Canadian or American, love their respective lands and are extremely loyal to their host countries. As these lines were being written, there came an email informing American Muslims that October 10 is slated as a day for anti-Islamic rallies across the US. I smile at such happenings, as these people must have hatched from their eggs very recently. The history of American Muslims dates back almost 400 years by some accounts. But bigots will be bigots no matter where and no matter what. The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar