Pakistan is being or is about to be, pretty badly hit by the Chinese Coronavirus. The figures that have been put out by the Pakistani government that 7500 Pakistani citizens have been diagnosed with Covid19 could well be an under-counting as the Pakistani government is not exactly known for either honesty or good governance. It could well be the case that 7500 cases may be the tip of a very nasty iceberg.

Pakistan is also home to some of the nastiest Islamic extremists on the planet along with their deluded and violent followers. Pakistan’s religious nutcases are not just a problem for Pakistan but for the world because when they these nutcases travel overseas and settle in the Pakistani diaspora, they bring with them their violent Islamic knobwittery.

Within Pakistan, the country’s religious extremists are playing their part in hampering the Pakistani government’s half-hearted attempt to stop the spread of Covid19. They’ve rioted and attacked police when the authorities are trying to shut down mosques for health reasons and are using their influence over the Pakistani government to try to get mosques reopened for Ramadan.

As many of us expected, because of the power and influence that Pakistan’s religious extremists have over the national government, the Pakistani government has caved into the demands of the extremists and are going to allow mosques to reopen. They will reopen with certain conditions such as a six foot gap between worshipers, the removal of carpets and regular disinfectant spraying of mosques, but I will be interested to see just how many mosques will bother abiding to all or any of the restrictions imposed by the government.

According to an Indian media source named ‘The Republic’ (h/t ROP), the Pakistani government has come to an agreement to allow Ramadan prayers in mosques subject to the conditions that are listed above. The mosques will open for Ramadan despite the death of the leader of the Pakistani branch of TJ, an extreme Islamic group, from Coronavirus recently.

Pakistan has been plagued by clerics refusing to close their mosques despite the medical emergency in the country. Islamic religious leaders are aware that the government is scared of them and the riots and disorder that they can cause and have been openly flouting Government instructions to scale back religious activities in the country.

The Republic said:

In stark violation of the government orders, a cleric of Red Mosque had been holding regular Friday congregation in the heart of capital Islamabad. Maulana Abdul Aziz refused to cooperate and the government was unable to remove him from the pulpit of a mosque which is owned by government’s religious affairs ministry. The government has said that only five worshippers including those who are associated with the affairs of the mosques are allowed to offer congregational prayers.

If a mosque in Pakistan’s capital can openly stick two fingers up at the government then you can be damned sure that mosques in less urban parts of Pakistan are doing the same. It’s unlikely that Pakistan’s mosques will obey any conditions that the government has imposed to stop or slow the spread of the virus, they are likely to continue as they always have, especially at Ramadan. I suspect that many mosques in Pakistan will continue to be packed to the rafters with Ramadan worshipers and that the fatalistic and medieval view that ‘Allah will protect me’ will take precedence over medical science.

It’s quite possible that Chinese Coronavirus could explode in Pakistan, killing many and infecting many more. Because of the situation in Pakistan and the potential danger that could come from there, maybe other governments across the world should think about restricting entry from Pakistan in order to protect the health of their own citizens?

Islam has created in Pakistan a nation that can quite properly be described as a shithole. Add in the problems of an infectious disease and Pakistan could end up as one of the world’s most dangerous, plague riddled shitholes, something that should concern not just Pakistanis, but concern all of us no matter where we are.