ABSTRACT
The founders of Pakistan, Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan and Allama Iqbal also realised that this was the way forward; they termed it secularism, though that was not quite the appropriate word for their aspirations. However, the fact that Pakistan was created on the basis of religious identity, in this case Islam, very much complicates the nature of the new state formed. Pakistan is a hotbed of Islamist politics, augmented by the Afghan war on its borders, and the Kashmir issue against India, and the perennial victimisation of Palestinians by Israel. Christian villages are an interesting phenomenon in Pakistan and point to some kind of ghettoisation of Christians in rural areas. The judiciary of Pakistan is thus seen to be pragmatic and politicised rather than impartial and principled. The rise of Wahabist ideology in Pakistan as all over the Islamic world may be a factor in the hostility to the practice and profession of Christianity.
