Original version

BBC World Service Online

Heart and Soul

Documentaries

Religion & Ethics

Personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Heart and Soul: The Trouble with Pakistan's White Stripe: Episode 2

Episode 2

The Trouble with Pakistan's White Stripe

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, The Trouble with Pakistan's White Stripe, Episode 2

Mobeen Azhar looks at the plight of Pakistan’s minorities.

Part two of Mobeen Azhars investigation into the treatment of minorities in Pakistan.

In the second part of his investigation into what it is to be non-Muslim in Pakistan, Mobeen investigates the role of scholars and imams who preach their strict religious teaching into the homes of millions of Pakistanis via the dozens of cable TV stations, and the role they play in the growing religious intolerance that has led to violence against minorities in the country.

He meets the son of an Ahmedi Muslim, a part of the religion ostracised by the mainstream, whom was shot, after a TV Mullah said they should be punished. He asks the programme host, Dr Amir Liaqat, a household name in Pakistan, how comments on his show led to the killing of two Pakistanis.

Mobeen will hear how these spiritual TV agony uncles field calls from parents worried their daughters are not wearing the right headwear, or that their son’s beard is not the right length, before pronouncing punishments, and he speaks to Pakistani Bollywood superstar Veena Malik, criticised by one TV Mullah for her ‘western’ appearance, and how her TV appearance where she argued with the Mullah, became a huge YouTube hit. 

She tells ‘Heart and Soul’ about her fears for the increasing power and influence the TV stations have over her countrymen and women

(Image: Pakistan flag. Credit: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Heart and Soul: The Trouble with Pakistan's White Stripe

BBC World Service

The growing persecution of minorities and the power of fundamental Islamists in Pakistan.

Mobeen Azhar looks at the growing persecution of minorities and the power of fundamental Islamists in Pakistan.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Heart and Soul

The Trouble with Pakistan's White Stripe

Episode 2

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service