Psychology

On August 16th, 2023, at least seventeen churches were vandalized in Pakistan's province of Punjab. Crowds of hundreds gathered to mob and set fire to these religious establishments. These attacks raised concern for the discrimination that religious minorities are facing in Pakistan. Muslims comprise 96.2% of the country (Ali & Ahmad, 2022). The remaining four percent of the country comprises Hindus, Christians, and Qadiyanis (Ali & Ahmad, 2022). These religious minorities are often victims of violence. They lack access to education, transportation, and health care, and face occupation discrimination as well (Ali & Ahmad, 2022).

The Pakistan prime minister is well aware of the violent acts of these churches. He comments that these attacks are, "illegal and unconstitutional" (Saifi & Haq, 2023). He explains that all members of religious minorities are equal citizens of the state. Pakistan's goal is to promote freedom and social harmony (Saifi & Haq, 2023).

Hocker's third element of principled negotiation highlights focusing on interests instead of positions (Hocker et al., 2022). The prime minister discusses his interests in keeping Pakistan a place of harmony and peace. This increases the likelihood of the country coming to a mutual agreement (Hocker et al., 2022). He avoids discussing his own religious position. As far as the individuals vandalizing the churches, there have not been any elements of negotiation seen. In my opinion, the best place to start would be to attend to all elements of communication. If all the members of differing religious backgrounds were able to work together to create positive and mutually influencing communication, this would drastically change the negative perspective of religious minorities. In addition, building a good relationship with each other and separating individuals from the conflict would help resolve the issue of violence. Principle five: Find legitimate criteria, may be violated if members of the community only have an interest in winning or getting what they want. Seeking fair standards will aid in what the prime minister is already encouraging for the people.

Ali, F., & Ahmad, G. (2022). Social Discrimination, Need to Belong, and Psychological Wellbeing Among Religious Minorities in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 37(2), 311–330. https://doi.org/10.33824/pjpr.2022.37.2.19

Links to an external site.

Hocker, J., Berry, K., & Wilmot, W. (2022). Interpersonal conflict (11th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Saifi, S., & Haq, S. N. (2023). Pakistani authorities arrest more than 100 people in Punjab after church attacks. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/17/asia/pakistan-punjab-church-attacks-arrests-intl/index.html