I wish I could agree. It really feels particularly bad here (though our neighbors in India have caught up in recent years). Have lost count of how many public lynchings/murders/breakouts of mob violence have happened in recent memory. I even personally know someone who was shot and murdered by a religious extremist. A year later, when the killer was arrested, I found I knew him too - he was my brother’s batchmate in uni (a very expensive and popular business school) and had even been to my house.

I also have another friend, a feminist organiser, who got accused of blasphemy because she was standing next to an LGBT flag on stage during a women’s march. She had to go into hiding for a few months for her own safety. I know other feminist organisers who have been accused of blaphemy too, from a different city. Their march was pelted with stones by counter-protestors from an extremist madrassah.

Beyond these personal anecdotes, I recommend reading about the cases of Salman Taseer, Junaid Hafeez, and Mashal Khan.

Don’t get me wrong - conservative religious fascism is ubiquitous and bad everywhere. but dude it is straight up murderous here (and I feel much of the muslim world generally) in a way that is difficult to convey to outsiders.