Quetta horrors

Editorial

Thursday, June 21, 2012
From Print Edition

Quetta’s descent into a hell zone where there is no peace continues. Will the city ever find the calm that once existed there and which its people yearn for? We simply do not know. Certainly, there is no sign that this is going to happen any time soon. In yet another sectarian attack on Monday, claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a bomber targeted a bus carrying students of an IT institute of the city. Five were killed and at least 70 injured. Many of the students were Hazarwals. A large number of the injured are still in a critical condition. Tuesday saw protests in Quetta after a teacher said to be close to veteran Baloch politician Nawab Khair Bukhsh Marri was target-killed by ‘unknown’ persons. The blame and suspicions in this case have been directed towards the security agencies. Over the last few weeks we have had many meetings and conferences on the Balochistan issue and the collapse of law and order in the province. The matter also lies before the Supreme Court. There were talks of a conference involving all stakeholders in Balochistan. But nothing concrete has been done so far in this regard. The killings continue; blood spills again and again.

The police appear unsure if the bus was hit by a suicide bomber or by explosives planted along the road. In many ways this is irrelevant. The fact is that the groups behind the various kinds of violence need to be tracked down and their leaders brought to justice. There is no evidence at all that this is being done. Because of this negligence feelings of anger among the Baloch have risen to the extreme. Hazara and other nationalist parties in Balochistan have staged — understandably so — angry protests in the city. The Hazara community, targeted on both sectarian and ethnic bases, has strong grounds for complaint. Can anyone solve the maze that is leading Balochistan towards greater and greater chaos? Once more we have heard the usual words of regret from key officials. But such expressions will not bring back lives or halt the terrorists in their tracks. We keep hearing from the government that a plan for Balochistan has been worked out. We wonder why this is being kept a secret. Each day a new terror hits the province and makes matters even more difficult to manage while the government appears unmoved. This is the most frightening element of all.

The News 

Afghan academics fired for ‘offensive’ ethnic book

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday sacked four academics from a leading research centre over a book that sparked fury for reportedly insulting the Hazara ethnic group.

The head of the Afghanistan Academy of Science and three other scholars were dismissed and referred to the attorney general’s office for questioning, Karzai’s office said in a statement. The “Ethnographic Atlas of the Tribes of Afghanistan”, published recently, reportedly described Hazaras as liars, stubborn, violent and anti-Islamic, prompting outrage from Hazara politicians.

“The content of the book is grossly offensive and considered an insult to all the resident ethnicities and thus the entire Afghan population,” the statement quoted Karzai as saying. Hazaras make up an estimated 15 to 20 percent of the war-torn nation’s ethnically diverse population, and Hazara Shiite Muslims suffered brutal persecution under Taliban rule in the 1990s.

Karzai’s government is a delicate mix of the three main ethnic groups — Pashtun, Tajik and Hazara — and has ordered the book withdrawn from circulation. The publication led to fierce debates on television chat shows, and was condemned by Hazara lawmakers in parliament.

Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, leader of the Afghanistan People’s Unity Party, one of the main Hazara political factions, condemned the book and called for the authors to be punished. Asadullah Sahdati, an MP from the Hazara-majority central province of Deh Kondi, condemned the book. “The book contains non-scientific contents, and in some parts is childish. We welcome the move by the president sacking those behind it,” he said.

However, he said he did not want to see the book banned. “I want this book to be circulated, distributed to all Afghans, especially to every Hazara, so they understand the situation and the (hostile) feeling towards them,” he said. “We’re proud of our ethnic group and welcome any academic research into it.”

Ethnic divisions have led to some of the most brutal conflicts in Afghanistan’s bloody history. The mountainous country’s total population is estimated to be between 24 to 35 million, but no census has been held since the 1970s due to three decades of war. afp

Daily Times

The colour of my blood

Mubashir AkramThursday, June 21, 2012
From Print Edition

The definition 2(b) of the word Callousness in Merriam-Webster dictionary reads: “feeling or showing no sympathy for others.” And this precisely is what describes the state of the majority in Pakistan toward the Hazara community in Balochistan.

They are more interested in “bigger issues” such as the Malik Riaz case, the disqualification of Yousuf Raza Gilani, NRO and loadshedding etc, as the patriotic and peaceful Hazaras are targeted systematically.

According to the leaders of the Hazaras residing in Quetta, there are a little over million ethnic Hazaras residing in Pakistan. Majority of them is concentrated in Quetta where their estimated population is around 450,000.

A vast majority of Pakistanis, and particularly Punjabis, do not know much about them. For them, they are population from some other planet and hence, perfectly ignorable - even if they are brutally killed.

Hazara as a community hovers around the middle and lower-middle class stratum and claim to have nearly 90 percent literacy rate. Though ancestrally peasants, hardly any Hazara in Pakistan is in agriculture. They choose becoming small traders, businessmen or prefer joining government jobs.

I have this very strong feeling that probably 90 percent of the Punjabi population would not know that General (r) Muhammad Musa, the commander in chief of the Pakistan Army from 1958 to 1966 was a Hazara.

He also governed West Pakistan from 1966-69 and Balochistan from 1985-91. A true son of the soil, he served his country with pride and left a legacy for his community, and Pakistan, to take pride even after 21 years of his death.

Hazaras’ plight is nerve-racking, really, and as these lines are being written, 783 Hazaras have been killed with thousands injured in Balochistan. Ninety-nine percent of the violence has been committed only in Quetta district. Their crime is that they belong to the Shiite sect of Islam and hence are direct targets of the sectarian terrorists operating with impunity in Balochistan.

They have been attacked in more ways than one could count: indiscriminate firing on the Moharram processions/imam bargahs, kidnapping and decapitation, random firing on their vehicles, targeted killed, identify-and-kill incidents in passenger buses, raids at their homes, storming their shops and burning them subsequently.

The degree-fame chief minister of Islamabad, err, Balochistan, Mir Aslam Khan Raisani, has essentially worked merely as an extension of what his party’s government has been: poor governance and political and administrative failure.

His critics and friends alike say that he prefers to spend most of his time in Islamabad, “shopping for shoes,” as Amir Mateen eloquently put on May 27, 2012 in The News.

He could be full of humor but he is empty of many things including political wisdom, administrative vision, the will to govern, creative thinking and most particularly working hard while considering Baloch “his people” beyond statements.

When would and how could this end? Governing Balochistan, 44 percent of Pakistan’s geographical mass, could be a problem but what about Quetta alone? Quetta has a population of 1.5 million and once was a sleepy little cantonment. No one truly pondered over the unruly and disorganised growth of this martial-town in all irregular directions possible. Now, it is a melting pot of all kinds of intrigues and forms of violence from local to international.

On June 9, 2012, Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, head of the judicial commission on missing persons, blamed “foreign agencies” for deterioration of law and order in Balochistan. My question is very simple: should we, the Pakistanis, ask the Martians to come and police Balochistan?

Quetta has a corps headquarter. The FC is omnipresent. Police is ruthless, and with full authority. Every other day we hear stories of the intelligence operators running amok, at will. We hear that the inspector general of FC, Maj-Gen. Ubaidullah Khan Khattak refuses to appear before the court and then getting away with it until now. A small-sized, restless capital city slipping out of the hands of the Pakistani state is shameful. More shameful is the absence of any coherent strategy to bring peace to the people living there.

Seeing the “performance” of the incumbent federal and provincial governments, I am tempted to say that they have failed themselves - and the people of Balochistan.

There could be any number of reasons, and conspiracy theories, but the fact remains: the PPP’s federal and provincial governments lacked the political wisdom and administrative will to control situation in Balochistan.

I fear the day when an otherwise peaceful Hazara community decides to shun peace and respond to violence. I fear the day when their youth would refuse listening to their community leaders and take things in their hands.

“I am tired of this violence and have lost many relatives. I do not have much reason to believe that the government would ever catch these terrorist. How do you want me to react and respond if the violence knocks at my door? What do you think the colour of my blood is?” an enraged Hazara friend said in a wounded voice.

I know, but do the government and the state apparatus know the colour of the Hazara blood? I doubt that they do!

The News

Ary urdu khabrain 18 june 2012 Quetta: Blast hits University bus, 5 kill...

Forum for Secular Pakistan launched

Ammar ShahbaziMonday, June 18, 2012
From Print Edition

Karachi

Amid relentless chants of Allah-hu-Akbar coming from just yards away, a group of progressive lawyers and social activists launched ‘The Forum for Secular Pakistan’ (TFSP) at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) here on Sunday.

The TFSP is a group of like-minded people committed to fighting growing religious fanaticism and obscurantism and promoting the ideals of secularism. Senior politician Sherbaz Khan Mazari presided over the occasion.

Former law minister Iqbal Haider, read out a declaration signed by civil rights activists, lawyers and intellectuals from across Pakistan. In the statement, Iqbal said that the ideals of secularism were not alien to Pakistan. “The founding fathers of Pakistan were dedicated to the idea and wanted Pakistan to be a secular.”

Haider quoted Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s famous inaugural speech to the constituent assembly of Pakistan, where the founding father said “in the course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense… but in the political sense as citizens of the state.”

“When we started this initiated, we felt that someone has to come forward and speak against the unchecked fanaticism that is gripping Pakistan,” said Hasil Bizenjio, a senior Baloch politician and vice president of the TFSP.

“Today, whereever we go, we find Taliban. We are too scared to speak in front of the Mullah’s gun, but somebody has to speak,” he said.“The basic principle on which Pakistan was created, that is, the right of the federating units to self determination, is essentially a secular idea,” read Iqbal Haider, as he nudged Bizenjo, who was sitting beside him.

Iqbal argued that when a nation tries to bind itself to a single idea or ideology, the remaining segments of the society become secondary. “Hence, those who associate themselves with the state’s ideology attain an unwarranted position in the society, which is unfair to the rest.”

“The preference,” he explained, “could be a religion or an ethnic group, or whatever dividing line one may chose”. Earlier, while welcoming the guests, Iqbal chose not to address the non-Muslim guests as minorities, saying that he believes the non-Muslims of the country are as much a part of the mainstream and have equal rights and are equal citizens of Pakistan.

“Today, wherever we look, we find people being massacred in the name of religion and ethnicity. The Hindus are being persecuted. The Hazaras are being killed. The Baloch are being massacred. This nation should have a heart,” said, Sherbaz Mazari. Mazari insisted to the host that he not be introduced to the audience as a ‘Sardar’.

As the conscientious citizens set out their alternative vision for Pakistan in the front-yard of the Karachi Press Club, just outside, a group of protestors had gathered holding posters of Aafia Siddiqui and chanting religious slogans.

The irony of the situation was not lost on the journalists, who later discussed it in hush-hush tones over tea.

The News

Geo Reports-Quetta IT University Bus Blast-18 Jun 2012

Primary images (RT): Bomb Attack on IT University Bus, carrying Students