Pakistan's 'Instrumentalisation of Religion' Fuels Conflict, Says Report

Writing for 'Pressenza - International Press Agency', Dimitra Staikou, a Greek journalist and writer, stated that this dynamic came into sharp focus on March 22, when rhetoric started circulating on the social media platform X, associated with groups in Pakistan, used the occasion of Eid to promote hostile narratives against India and other regional actors.

"This messaging went beyond the expression of political positions; it sought to embed tensions within a broader ideological framework of confrontation, instrumentalising a moment of high religious symbolism to intensify division and mobilise sentiment. From the dawn of time, religion and the human sense of belief in something greater than oneself have constituted the most fertile ground upon which seeds of political manipulation can be sown," Staikou detailed.

"In this way, a broader and deeply concerning trend emerges: the transformation of religious and communal celebrations into arenas for the dissemination of radical narratives, where identity, belief, and conflict are deliberately intertwined," she added.

According to the expert, Pakistan's blasphemy laws and related narratives are a striking example of the "institutionalised instrumentalisation" of religion.

"In recent years, particularly between 2022 and 2024, there has been a sharp increase in blasphemy cases, with hundreds of new prosecutions linked not only to genuine incidents but also to personal disputes, economic conflicts, and the targeting of minorities. Notable are the mass arrests of young digital users in 2023-2024 for allegedly 'blasphemous content', as well as mob violence incidents leading to lynchings and destruction of property, particularly in Punjab," she mentioned.

Staikou stressed that the dynamic goes beyond the domestic sphere, noting that the notion of "insult to faith" is often invoked to spark waves of outrage that "transcend borders, reinforcing narratives of threat against Islam and legitimising confrontational rhetoric".

In this way, she said, blasphemy laws in Pakistan transform from a legal category into a weapon of "mass mobilisation and ideological discipline", driven by fear and moral polarisation that reinforces control and dominant narrative.

The report stated that Pakistan's ties with Afghanistan following the Taliban's return to power in 2021 highlight another dimension of this dynamic, where the rhetoric of "Islamic brotherhood" was initially used by Islamabad to legitimise regime change and reinforce shared religious identity.

However, the "reality unfolded differently" amid repeated border clashes, armed exchanges, and military operations recorded from 2022 and intensifying between 2023 and 2026.

"In 2026 in particular, Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, which resulted in significant civilian casualties, exposed the depth of the crisis and highlighted the contradiction between rhetoric and practice. The invocation of religious unity coexists with hard geopolitical calculations, underscoring that religion functions less as a genuine unifying force and more as a flexible instrument of strategic narrative," the report noted.

- IANS