May 6 is etched in my memory – not because it ended in tragedy, but because it nearly did. That afternoon in 2018, as I stepped out from a routine community gathering in Narowal, a young man in the crowd pulled out a gun and shot at me. The bullet tore through me, but that day, something else was wounded more deeply than flesh – our collective spirit as a nation. That bullet, driven by hate and false religiosity, was not just aimed at me. It was aimed at the very dream of a peaceful, pluralistic and united Pakistan. As I reflect on that harrowing moment, what grieves me most is not personal pain, but the reminder of how deeply we are drifting apart, poisoned by division, and misled by the voices of intolerance.

The young man who shot me was not a foreign agent, a hardened criminal, or a militant with years in the mountains. He was one of our own – driven by a warped understanding of religion and intoxicated by a culture of political hate. That realisation shook me more than the bullet itself. He emerged from an environment where, despite our society’s strong values of tolerance and unity, a few have sought to exploit religion for political purposes and suppress dialogue with discord. His action, though condemned by the vast majority, is a symptom of a more profound crisis: the polarisation of our people and the presence of certain elements who seek to hijack our faith by preaching division.

My survival was a miracle, but the sickness in the section of our society remains. While I received overwhelming support and adoration in the months that followed, what I also saw were social media campaigns justifying violence, the silence of those who should have condemned it, and the troubling glorification of intolerance by certain elements. This left me feeling more wounded than any bullet could. When hate is nurtured in the garb of faith, when slogans replace arguments and when dissent becomes a crime, we are tearing apart the fabric of our beloved Pakistan.

The experience became a defining moment in my life. Rather than responding with fear, I chose hope. Rather than retreating, I........

© The News International