Saturday, April 21, 2012
Racial hatred, Sectarian Divide and Genocide of Hazaras (Urdu)
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Minority report
From the Newspaper | Irfan Husain |
A FEW months ago, somebody emailed me a chilling audio clip of a conversation between a journalist and a Pakistani Taliban.
When the interviewer reminded the terrorist that he was a Muslim too, and recited the kalima to prove it, he was told bluntly that the Taliban did not view anybody who did not subscribe to their extreme vision as believers.
When the Taliban was reminded that the founder of Pakistan was a peaceful, tolerant man, he replied that Jinnah had ‘Ali’ in his name, and so must be a Shia. “We do not accept the Shia as Muslims,” he insisted.
From considering the Shia to be non-Muslims, it seems there is only a short step to declaring them wajib-ul-qatal, or deserving of death, preferably by violent means.
Indeed, this extreme view has been around for three decades in Pakistan. The emergence of the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan in the 1980s and later the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) saw the beginnings of sectarian bloodshed.
Of course, Shia-Sunni strife is nothing new in Muslim history. From virtually the earliest period of Islam, conflicting claims over the Caliphate have led to the bitter divide that persists to this day. Many of the current conflicts within the Islamic world have their roots in this ancient schism.
The ongoing slaughter of Hazara Shias in Pakistan is yet another reminder of the inhuman nature of extremism. While individual Shias have been targeted for years, the recent mass killings of ethnic Hazaras is probably happening because they can be so easily identified. According to a Hazara website, 700 of the community have been killed in recent years without a single terrorist being brought to justice.
An article ‘Who kills Hazaras in Pakistan and why’ on the webzine Outlookafghanistan.net states:
“Since the declaration of religious extremists as ‘strategic assets’ by the ruling elites of Pakistan, the religious militant groups like Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and the Taliban have been given free hands [sic] to do anything they like.”
The cold-blooded massacres of Shias in Kohistan and Chilas seem to indicate that either the local law-enforcement agencies were asleep or complicit. Gilgit’s lockdown and the evacuation of foreign tourists showed the world yet again what an anarchic and violent place Pakistan has become.
In a recent army-led operation, several of the alleged extremist killers have been arrested, and Shia and Sunni mosques in Gilgit sealed to forestall further tension. But the real test will come when these terrorists are brought to trial: thus far, the record of our judiciary in sentencing such criminals has not been very reassuring.
More often than not, they have been released on bail, or let off on grounds of insufficient evidence. Judges have been reluctant to grasp that witnesses are too scared to come forward. Repeated postponement of hearings also deters people from giving evidence.
Apart from the LJ and the SSP’s anti-Shia violence, the Jundullah is a latecomer to Pakistan’s sectarian slaughter.
Understandably, hundreds of Hazaras have fled, many to Australia. They are only the latest wave of persecuted Pakistanis seeking sanctuary in safer places. Those Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis who could have already left the country Jinnah saw as one where they would have equal rights.
Steadily, the space for anybody not hewing to the mainstream school of Islam is shrinking. Indeed, the Taliban spokesman I quoted earlier was clear that all those who did not actively oppose the state were non-Muslim and therefore wajib-ul-qatal. This is the inexorable logic of the takfiri philosophy that underpins the global jihad: anybody can be dubbed a non-Muslim and thus a target.
Sadly, the response to all this violence among the Pakistani ruling elites remains muted. There is little of the anger directed towards the Americans for the drone attacks that have killed far fewer innocent people than sectarian terror has. And yet, the media, the political class, and civil society seem oddly disconnected with the fate of our unfortunate minorities.
Those Pakistanis who are worried about where their country is headed would do well to check out Minorities Concerns of Pakistan, a web-based newsletter that voices the fears and woes of Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis. Each time I do, I feel ashamed of what we are doing to our fellow citizens.
But Pakistan is not alone in this sectarian madness. Across large swathes of the Islamic world, non-Muslims are being targeted with increasing frequency and ferocity. More than half of Iraq’s Christian population of around 1.4 million has fled in the face of extremist violence.
The ancient Egyptian Coptic community are regularly targeted by the country’s Salafi fundamentalists. Nigeria has witnessed a wave of church bombings from the Boko Haram anti-education Islamist movement.
And yet Muslims demand ever-increasing freedom to pray and spread their faith in the West. Whenever permission to build yet another mosque is denied, authorities are blamed of Islamophobia. Any real or imagined slur against symbols of Islam results in demonstrations across the Islamic world. Yet there is silence in the West over the treatment of minorities in Muslim countries.
The recent edition of Minorities Concerns of Pakistan carried a moving article about the difficulties Christians face every day in dealing with Muslims. Apparently, they are forever being asked to convert to Islam, and made conscious they are living in Pakistan on sufferance. If Muslims in the West were subjected to this kind of rudeness, there would be protest demonstrations that would include western liberals.
But we in Pakistan have become so hardened to the plight of Shias and non-Muslims that we take their daily suffering for granted. However, we should remember that for the Taliban, we are all wajib-ul-qatal.
The writer is the author of Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West.
irfan.husain@gmail.com
Two killed in Quetta firing
DAWN.COM |
QUETTA: Two people were killed in a firing incident on Quetta’s Barori road, DawnNews reported on Saturday.
According to police, unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire on two pedestrians.
One pedestrian died on the spot, whereas, the other was severely wounded and succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to a hospital, police said.
Moreover, two bodies were discovered from Quetta’s area of Kuchlak.
Friday, April 20, 2012
‘Rulers helpless in Balochistan’
By: Bari Baloch | April 20, 2012 |
QUETTA - Strongly condemning the recent wave of sectarian target killings in Quetta, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif said that under a well-knit conspiracy law and order was being deteriorated in Balochistan.
He said the incidents of sectarian targeted killings were stoking hatred amongst people while the government seemed helpless to curb these incidents. ‘We should not be late even a single moment to wipe out terrorism,’ he added.
He expressed these views while talking to Shia Conference leaders – Ashraf Zaidi and Haji Abdul Qayyum of Hazara Qaumi Jirga via telephone on Thursday. People of Shia community and General Secretary of PPP Women Wing Rukhsana Ahmed Ali were also present on the occasion.
PML-N leader and former MNA Marvi Memon visited Nichari Imam Bargah on the special directives of Nawaz Sharif to condole the recent killings of members of Hazara community.
Expressing serious concern over the mounting incidents of targeted killings in Quetta, he said the helplessness of both provincial and Federal governments was quite surprising.
‘If such incidents were not curbed immediately their results would be horrible. Thus provincial and Federal governments should take prompt steps to end targeted killings,’ he pointed out during conversation with Shia leaders.
He said that incidents of targeted killing were aimed at fuelling hatred amongst people belonging to different nationalities and pushing them towards further divisions.
‘All people, including political leaders and members of civil society will have to play their responsibility to frustrate these nefarious designs’, he stressed.
On the occasion, Marvi Mehmon said that everybody knew who was backing extremist forces but despite it neither action was being taken against them nor Hazara community was being provided security.
Like Hindu community now Hazara community had also compelled to move other safer places, she regretted.
Marvi said that PML-N had always voiced against targeted killings in Balochistan and would continue its effort to end killings of innocent people.
The heads of different Shia organisations told PML-N leader that more than 600 Shia Muslims had been killed in different targeted killing incidents but the government miserably failed to arrest the culprits, therefore, Hazara community demands imposition of Governor’s rule in the province.
This news was published in print paper. Access complete paper of this day.
Atrocities in Balochistan have exceeded all limits: Nawaz
20 April, 2012
QUETTA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday federal and provincial governments had completely failed to address Balochistan issues, particularly the law and order situation in the province.
Addressing a meeting at Imambargah Nechari in Quetta via telephone, the PML-N chief said, "Atrocities in Balochistan have exceeded all limits."
"The government has become apathetic and unresponsive to the situation in Balochistan," he said, adding that there should not be any delay in acting against a "handful" of extremists.
The former prime minister expressed his resentment to the unabated sectarian killing of members of the Hazara community.
"The government should have taken action against terrorists disturbing peace in Quetta," he said, adding that it was a conspiracy to divide people on ethnic and sectarian grounds. He said responsibility lied on all people and political parties to play their role and frustrate this conspiracy.
Nawaz Sharif said the PML-N would make all possible efforts to resolve issues facing Balochistan.
Separately, PML-N leader Marvi Memon held a meeting with members of the Hazara community and expressed her grief and sorrow over the recent killings of Shias.
Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen General Secretary Maqsood Domki and leaders of the Shia Conference told Memon that more than 800 Hazaras had so far fallen victims to sectarian killings.
"The provincial government has completely failed to counter these senseless killings," they told the PML-N leader. They also called for the Governor's Rule in the province "since the administration has failed to overcome the menace of target killings".
Shia leader Ashraf Zaidi said it was failure of the government that terrorists from banned outfits escaped from prisons and not arrested again. "The Hazara community has raised its concern against target killings in Islamabad but it received a lukewarm response from rulers."
PML-N tables motion against Balochistan killings
ISLAMABAD: Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday submitted an adjournment motion in the National Assembly over the unabated spree of target killings, especially of the Hazara community, in Balochistan.
The PML-N, expressing serious concern over the killings, called for adjourning of the proceedings of the House when it meets, to take into consideration the violence in Balochistan as a matter of urgent public importance.
The National Assembly is expected to hold next week its first session of the new parliamentary year, where the PML-N is likely to raise the issue strongly. The adjournment motion of the party said that killings of innocent people, particularly the Hazara community, and the complete failure of the government to protect the life and property of the people of the province had sent a wave of concern across the country.
"This act of killing innocent people has caused a wave of resentment among the public," the motion pointed out, demanding the issue be discussed in the House. The adjournment motion was moved jointly by 20 lawmakers in the Lower House.
However, the main movers were PML-N lawmakers from Balochistn Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir. Both the parliamentarians have raised the issue of deteriorating situation in Balochistan time and again in the assembly.
QUETTA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday federal and provincial governments had completely failed to address Balochistan issues, particularly the law and order situation in the province.
Addressing a meeting at Imambargah Nechari in Quetta via telephone, the PML-N chief said, "Atrocities in Balochistan have exceeded all limits."
"The government has become apathetic and unresponsive to the situation in Balochistan," he said, adding that there should not be any delay in acting against a "handful" of extremists.
The former prime minister expressed his resentment to the unabated sectarian killing of members of the Hazara community.
"The government should have taken action against terrorists disturbing peace in Quetta," he said, adding that it was a conspiracy to divide people on ethnic and sectarian grounds. He said responsibility lied on all people and political parties to play their role and frustrate this conspiracy.
Nawaz Sharif said the PML-N would make all possible efforts to resolve issues facing Balochistan.
Separately, PML-N leader Marvi Memon held a meeting with members of the Hazara community and expressed her grief and sorrow over the recent killings of Shias.
Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen General Secretary Maqsood Domki and leaders of the Shia Conference told Memon that more than 800 Hazaras had so far fallen victims to sectarian killings.
"The provincial government has completely failed to counter these senseless killings," they told the PML-N leader. They also called for the Governor's Rule in the province "since the administration has failed to overcome the menace of target killings".
Shia leader Ashraf Zaidi said it was failure of the government that terrorists from banned outfits escaped from prisons and not arrested again. "The Hazara community has raised its concern against target killings in Islamabad but it received a lukewarm response from rulers."
PML-N tables motion against Balochistan killings
ISLAMABAD: Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday submitted an adjournment motion in the National Assembly over the unabated spree of target killings, especially of the Hazara community, in Balochistan.
The PML-N, expressing serious concern over the killings, called for adjourning of the proceedings of the House when it meets, to take into consideration the violence in Balochistan as a matter of urgent public importance.
The National Assembly is expected to hold next week its first session of the new parliamentary year, where the PML-N is likely to raise the issue strongly. The adjournment motion of the party said that killings of innocent people, particularly the Hazara community, and the complete failure of the government to protect the life and property of the people of the province had sent a wave of concern across the country.
"This act of killing innocent people has caused a wave of resentment among the public," the motion pointed out, demanding the issue be discussed in the House. The adjournment motion was moved jointly by 20 lawmakers in the Lower House.
However, the main movers were PML-N lawmakers from Balochistn Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir. Both the parliamentarians have raised the issue of deteriorating situation in Balochistan time and again in the assembly.
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