This paper sets out to analyse religious freedom and its limits in a postcolonial Muslim society, and to examine the sinister connection between terror and fundamentalism at the dawn of the twenty-first century. After 9/11, Pakistan has emerged as one of the strongest allies of the US war on terror. In this new role, Pakistan has a new enemy to face in the process of restoring religious freedom at home, i.e. “terrorists, suicide bombers and Islamic fundamentalists.” However, with more than 2 million Afghan refugees in the country dominating the Northwest province, and a huge number of Taliban warlords hidden in the tribal areas of Waziristan, Pakistan has been fighting against the internal enemy since 2000 without much success.
In light of the Red Mosque incident in Pakistan (July 2007), this paper attempts to argue how religious freedom and liberty could be ensured in a society where terror and religious fundamentalism have been playing havoc with the civil society for years, how far respect for sacred rights ironically leads to violence and destruction. In the development of the argument, I discuss the role of human rights and liberal democracy in a postcolonial Islamic society like Pakistan with a special emphasis on the challenge of combating terror. In conclusion, I focus on the issue of dealing with violence and terror in present-day Pakistani society, torn between liberals and Islamists.