Once, when a teacher suggested no book can be perfect, the boy asked if that included Islam's holy book, the Quran.
That sparked a candid class discussion about religion. But in today's Pakistan, Mr Muqtida Mansoor said, he would never dare to ask that question in public. After all, 'anyone could shoot you'.
On Tuesday, President Asif Ali Zardari appointed Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, a party loyalist, to replace the assassinated governor of Punjab, Mr Salman Taseer, one of the few politicians openly challenging the onslaught of religious extremism.
Days after the killing, moderates are facing a new and troubling reality: Pakistan is a country where fundamentalism is becoming mainstream, leaving even less room for dissent, difference and once-prevalent leisures such as public music, dance parties or other social contact between the sexes.
The more liberal-minded are left with a profound sense of loss, alienation and fear for the future.
One rights activist has forecast that at the rate Islamist groups are rising, a religious party could be ruling the country in 10 to 15 years. The transformation is particularly disheartening for many younger Pakistanis.
'There is no concept of freedom of speech in this country,' said Ms Aaisha Aslam, 25, who works for a non- governmental organisation. People with fanatic mindsets are 'out to snatch this country from us'.
Islamists have flourished in part because governments have failed to provide for people's needs, such as in education and health care. Islamists fill the gap through their welfare organisations, clinics, mosques, religious seminaries and other networks.
It does not help that those in Pakistan's small, liberal, secular wing tend to be wealthier and more educated than most Pakistanis, a cultural divide that is hard to bridge, said Mr Burzine Waghmar, who teaches about Pakistan at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
And so liberals are increasingly nostalgic for the past, before the 1980s rule of army General Zia ul-Haq. Gen Zia, a fundamentalist Muslim, infused Islam into everything from school texts to the legal code - including pushing through harsh blasphemy laws and statutes that treated rape victims as adulterers.
Mr Javed Ali, 70, remembers how bars and cinemas once flourished, and dance parties were advertised in newspapers - admission price, one rupee. While visiting Karachi, Mr Ali would go to The Moonlight Club, where dancers would entertain the masses. 'Now, that's a dream,' he said.
Mr Mansoor remembers a more live and let-live society. 'I was a handsome man and had good taste as well,' he said.'I had many girlfriends and I would liberally take them to my home and nobody would mind. I would take my girlfriend to the beach and no police would harass us. But later on, the police would ask for marriage papers even if you were with your wife.'
Photographer Nazir Khan, 50, of Karachi, recalls how relations between majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite Muslims were far more cordial.
'I used to offer my Friday prayers in any mosque without consideration to which sect it belonged,' Mr Khan said.
The Islamisation has accelerated since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, with the US-led invasion of Afghanistan viewed by many as an attack on the Muslim world. Thousands now routinely show up for anti-US rallies.
In cosmopolitan centres such as Karachi, far more women now wear face veils than in years past. Girls as young as six or seven are wearing headscarves, said Mr Roland DeSouza, a Christian, who is a partner in an engineering firm. 'That sort of thing you didn't see 10 years ago,' he said.
Even in the north-west, which is dominated by ethnic Pashtuns and their conservative culture, life used to be more free. Men would take their wives to the movies, and musicians were routinely hired to perform at weddings. Pakistani Taleban threats and attacks have changed that.
Columnist Mosharraf Zaidi said Pakistanis have to be willing to stand up publicly for tolerance - even if it means risking their own lives.
'There will be casualties,' he said, 'but you will have a civil discourse.'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
