Impacts of the ‘War on Terror’ on the (De-)Humanization of Christians in Pakistan: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Reporting

ABSTRACT

Religious minorities have been persecuted in Pakistan since the country’s creation in 1947. However, the rise of Islamization in the 1970s and 1980s added to the intensity of discrimination, prejudice and violence against religious minorities. Widespread structural violence meant that religious minorities experience marginalization and violation of their civil rights. As witnessed around the world, the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed global dynamics, with negative effects on Muslim–Christian relations. Since the onset of the US-led war in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, there has been a rise in anti-American/anti-Western sentiment among Pakistani Muslims. Consequently, some extremist groups view local Christians with suspicion, labelling them Western agents. While the backlash against the US-led war in Afghanistan is seen as a major factor behind violence against Christians, deep-rooted socio-economic dynamics also contribute to the vulnerability of Christians and other religious minorities. Drawing on statements from two prominent Pakistani newspapers, this research employed critical discourse analysis and the framework of (de-)humanization to examine changes in newspaper reporting about Christians before and after 9/11, finding that there was a decrease rather than an increase in the level of dehumanization of Christians after 9/11, and an increase in humanization compared to pre-9/11 reporting.

KEYWORDS:

• 9/11
• War on Terror
• newspapers
• (de-)humanization
• Christians
• Pakistan

Acknowledgements

For this research, we are thankful to Ahmed Salim, a renowned writer, archivist and co-founder of the South Asian Research and Resource Centre, for his valuable inputs and time. We are also thankful to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and the National Achieves of Pakistan for providing us access to a rich collection of newspapers. We are also indebted to Naumana Suleman of the Centre for Social Justice for her valuable contribution to this research. We are also immensely grateful to Prof. Ihsan Yilmaz, Prof. Dan Christie, and Prof. Noraini Noor for their comments of earlier versions of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Zahid Shahab Ahmed http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2084-0253

Notes

1 The law is clear on this issue, allowing non-Muslim Pakistanis the consumption of alcohol,

Provided that nothing contained in this Article shall apply to a non-Muslim foreigner or to a non-Muslim citizen of Pakistan who keeps in his custody at or about the time of a ceremony prescribed by his religion a reasonable quantity of intoxicating liquor for the purpose it as a part of such ceremony. (GOP 1979)

2 Lashkar Jihad was blamed for triggering the Muslim–Christian clashes in Poso.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to acknowledge funding from the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD, Contract No: FA2386-15-1-4021), Tokyo, for making this research possible.