The Sindh Assembly last Monday condemned the Badami Bagh incident in Lahore in strong words. Some 170 Christian families fled when angry mobs set fire to their homes over a trumped-up blasphemy allegation against a Christian identified as Sawan Masih. This was not a Punjab-specific atrocity; it is a shame to be acknowledged by all of us Pakistanis. But a question always asked when something like this happens is: What will rid the country of fanatics, bigots and merchants of terror exploiting the fair name of Islam?

Books are a constant companion of the educated in loneliness. They give knowledge on every mundane subject in this world. About books, the celebrated English politician Francis Bacon said, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, some few be chewed and digested". The English writer Edward Bulwer Lytton said "Laws die Books never." Reading, writing and arithmetic, said Milton are the basis of elementary education. These are the great compliments given to the books and reading.

Nelson Mandela famously said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nowhere is this truer than in Pakistan. We are currently witnessing a social paradigm shift in Pakistan; one that has come about due to the increased knowledge brought by the communications and media revolution. This monumental rise in social awareness has been facilitated almost entirely by technology - it started with the mobile boom, and continues with the Internet revolution.