NWDP
Photo: Amirul Rajiv
The insurrection of the radical Islamists to protest the new Women's Development Policy has disappointed me extremely as I viewed the violent agitation as an impediment to the general progression of our society. It's regrettable to see that when the entire civilized world is prepared to uphold the principles of equal rights for women by giving up the egregious practices of gender discrimination, a few mullahs are raising voices against it in a country where the establishment of women's rights is absolutely imperative for the general socio-economic development. They won't ever forsake their fundamentalist ideologies and narrow outlooks for the greater welfare of all. These people are apparently incapable of understanding the fact that Religion should be viewed as a general 'theoretical guideline' that can entitle us to a moral lifestyle. It's better to regard Religion as an epitome of enlightenment, which encourages us to adopt ethical practices in our personal lives through worthwhile sacrifices, edifications and meditations. If we expect all of our modern-day national policies to be literally approved by religious zealots, then we might become inflexible as a sovereign nation. As a consequence, we'll never be able to keep up with a continuously changing world. Hence, we will fail to recognize the universal need for adaptation, which's essentially a process that systematically makes us more and more civilized. It's undeniable that religion is an integral part of our civilization, but we need to be guided by logic as well.
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