Sunday, December 30, 2012
A story of the ‘others’: Hazara Shias lose all hope in Pakistan
By Farahnaz Zahidi
Published: December 31, 2012
Muslim groups demonstrate against the Taliban killings of Shias in Pakistan December 7, 2012 during the "10,000 Souls March" in New York. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
Shabana Khan* speaks from behind a screen put up to protect her identity at a recent women’s assembly. I cannot see her. I do not know what her age is. I have no way of observing her non-verbal communication. But what I do know is that this is a person in pain. Intense pain has resulted in eloquence as well as a defiant, almost rebellious fearlessness. She is a young woman from the Shia Hazara community and lives in Quetta. This is an excerpt of the story she tells of herself and her community:
“Death is waiting around the corner. Before that, I must share what it means to be a Shia Hazara. Today, I am going to share a bit of my story – the story of me and my people. When one of us comes in front of you, you mostly label us Chinese or Korean. Our complexions are not like yours, neither is our race or genetic composition. We are the ‘others’. And our pain is that of the others. We are Pakistanis but not considered a part of you. Very few will raise their voice for us, even when 27 of us are taken off a bus and are shot and killed just because we are Shias. Just because we have Mongol-like features. Just because we migrated here from Afghanistan.
What is our crime, I still don’t understand. We pay taxes. We make useful things out of spare parts. We want to be peaceful contributors towards the progress of our country, Pakistan. We dream of a beautiful Pakistan where all sects and ethnicities work together towards a common goal.
But what is the reality? How many of you can relate to 5 dead bodies being taken out of a house – father, brothers, sons. What do the women of that house go through? What is the future of these women? Of the Shia Hazara women? When they step outside the four walls of their homes once the men have been slaughtered, to earn a living because they have no other choice, vultures start circling. These are men who have been directly or indirectly responsible for lifting the roof off their heads. Responsible for killing the men in their lives. They offer help to these women in exchange for not cash but kind. I am one of those women.
As a girl from the Shia Hazara community, I know my life is forever at risk which is why I am hidden behind a screen for my safety as I speak to you. But trust me when I say that if tomorrow I am killed, my death will not make newspaper news unless a mass massacre happens. Most killings of my community don’t make it to national news.
Why do you take each other’s pictures? Mementos? We, the Hazaras, now photograph each other knowing that probably these photographs, especially of our men, will be placed on their dead bodies during their funeral. The area of the Ganj-e-Shuhada graveyard for the Hazara community is being extended. More dead than alive. And the rest a community of the living dead…constantly living in a state of fear.... Continue Reading....
Published: December 31, 2012
Muslim groups demonstrate against the Taliban killings of Shias in Pakistan December 7, 2012 during the "10,000 Souls March" in New York. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
Shabana Khan* speaks from behind a screen put up to protect her identity at a recent women’s assembly. I cannot see her. I do not know what her age is. I have no way of observing her non-verbal communication. But what I do know is that this is a person in pain. Intense pain has resulted in eloquence as well as a defiant, almost rebellious fearlessness. She is a young woman from the Shia Hazara community and lives in Quetta. This is an excerpt of the story she tells of herself and her community:
“Death is waiting around the corner. Before that, I must share what it means to be a Shia Hazara. Today, I am going to share a bit of my story – the story of me and my people. When one of us comes in front of you, you mostly label us Chinese or Korean. Our complexions are not like yours, neither is our race or genetic composition. We are the ‘others’. And our pain is that of the others. We are Pakistanis but not considered a part of you. Very few will raise their voice for us, even when 27 of us are taken off a bus and are shot and killed just because we are Shias. Just because we have Mongol-like features. Just because we migrated here from Afghanistan.
What is our crime, I still don’t understand. We pay taxes. We make useful things out of spare parts. We want to be peaceful contributors towards the progress of our country, Pakistan. We dream of a beautiful Pakistan where all sects and ethnicities work together towards a common goal.
But what is the reality? How many of you can relate to 5 dead bodies being taken out of a house – father, brothers, sons. What do the women of that house go through? What is the future of these women? Of the Shia Hazara women? When they step outside the four walls of their homes once the men have been slaughtered, to earn a living because they have no other choice, vultures start circling. These are men who have been directly or indirectly responsible for lifting the roof off their heads. Responsible for killing the men in their lives. They offer help to these women in exchange for not cash but kind. I am one of those women.
As a girl from the Shia Hazara community, I know my life is forever at risk which is why I am hidden behind a screen for my safety as I speak to you. But trust me when I say that if tomorrow I am killed, my death will not make newspaper news unless a mass massacre happens. Most killings of my community don’t make it to national news.
Why do you take each other’s pictures? Mementos? We, the Hazaras, now photograph each other knowing that probably these photographs, especially of our men, will be placed on their dead bodies during their funeral. The area of the Ganj-e-Shuhada graveyard for the Hazara community is being extended. More dead than alive. And the rest a community of the living dead…constantly living in a state of fear.... Continue Reading....
Pakistan militants kill 41 in mass execution, attack on Shiites
BY JIBRAN AHMAD, DECEMBER 30 2012
Emergency personnel remove burnt human remains from the scene on a stretcher, after a car bomb targeting buses carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims, exploded in Quetta on Sunday. Picture: REUTERS
PESHWAR — Pakistani militants, who have escalated attacks in recent weeks, killed at least 41 people in two separate incidents, officials said on Sunday, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.
The US has long pressured nuclear-armed ally Pakistan to crack down harder on both homegrown militants groups such as the Taliban and others which are based on its soil and attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
In the north, 21 men working for a government-backed paramilitary force were executed overnight after they were kidnapped last week, a provincial official said.
Twenty Shiite pilgrims died and 24 were wounded, meanwhile, when a car bomb targeted their bus convoy as it headed toward the Iranian border in the southwest, a doctor said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has noted more than 320 Shias killed this year in Pakistan and said attacks were on the rise. It said the government’s failure to catch or prosecute attackers suggested it was "indifferent" to the killings.
Pakistan, seen as critical to US efforts to stabilise the region before Nato forces withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, denies allegations that it supports militant groups like the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network.
Afghan officials say Pakistan seems more genuine than ever about promoting peace in Afghanistan.
At home, it faces a variety of highly lethal militant groups that carry out suicide bombings, attack police and military facilities and launch sectarian attacks like the one on the bus in the southwest.
Witnesses said a blast targeted their three buses as they were overtaking a car about 60km west of Quetta, capital of sparsely populated Baluchistan province.
"The bus next to us caught on fire immediately," said pilgrim Hussein Ali, 60. "We tried to save our companions, but were driven back by the intensity of the heat." Twenty people had been killed and 24 wounded, said an official at Mastung district hospital.
Pakistan’s Taliban have carried out a series of recent bold attacks, as military officials point to what they say is a power struggle in the group’s leadership revolving around whether it should ease attacks on the Pakistani state and join groups fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies a rift exists among its leaders.
In the attack in the northwest, officials said they had found the bodies of 21 men kidnapped from their checkpoints outside the provincial capital of Peshawar on Thursday. The men were executed one by one.
"They were tied up and blindfolded," Naveed Anwar, a senior administration official, said by telephone.
"They were lined up and shot in the head," said Habibullah Arif, another local official, also by telephone.
One man was shot and seriously wounded but survived, the officials said. He was in critical condition and being treated at a local hospital. Another had escaped before the shootings.
Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed responsibility for the attacks.
"We killed all the kidnapped men after a council of senior clerics gave a verdict for their execution. We didn’t make any demand for their release because we don’t spare any prisoners who are caught during fighting," he said.
The powerful military has clawed back territory from the Taliban, but the kidnap and executions underline the insurgents’ ability to mount high-profile, deadly attacks in major cities.
This month, suicide bombers attacked Peshawar’s airport on Dec 15 and a bomb killed a senior Pashtun nationalist politician and eight other people at a rally on Dec 22.
Reuters
Emergency personnel remove burnt human remains from the scene on a stretcher, after a car bomb targeting buses carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims, exploded in Quetta on Sunday. Picture: REUTERS
PESHWAR — Pakistani militants, who have escalated attacks in recent weeks, killed at least 41 people in two separate incidents, officials said on Sunday, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.
The US has long pressured nuclear-armed ally Pakistan to crack down harder on both homegrown militants groups such as the Taliban and others which are based on its soil and attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
In the north, 21 men working for a government-backed paramilitary force were executed overnight after they were kidnapped last week, a provincial official said.
Twenty Shiite pilgrims died and 24 were wounded, meanwhile, when a car bomb targeted their bus convoy as it headed toward the Iranian border in the southwest, a doctor said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has noted more than 320 Shias killed this year in Pakistan and said attacks were on the rise. It said the government’s failure to catch or prosecute attackers suggested it was "indifferent" to the killings.
Pakistan, seen as critical to US efforts to stabilise the region before Nato forces withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, denies allegations that it supports militant groups like the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network.
Afghan officials say Pakistan seems more genuine than ever about promoting peace in Afghanistan.
At home, it faces a variety of highly lethal militant groups that carry out suicide bombings, attack police and military facilities and launch sectarian attacks like the one on the bus in the southwest.
Witnesses said a blast targeted their three buses as they were overtaking a car about 60km west of Quetta, capital of sparsely populated Baluchistan province.
"The bus next to us caught on fire immediately," said pilgrim Hussein Ali, 60. "We tried to save our companions, but were driven back by the intensity of the heat." Twenty people had been killed and 24 wounded, said an official at Mastung district hospital.
Pakistan’s Taliban have carried out a series of recent bold attacks, as military officials point to what they say is a power struggle in the group’s leadership revolving around whether it should ease attacks on the Pakistani state and join groups fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies a rift exists among its leaders.
In the attack in the northwest, officials said they had found the bodies of 21 men kidnapped from their checkpoints outside the provincial capital of Peshawar on Thursday. The men were executed one by one.
"They were tied up and blindfolded," Naveed Anwar, a senior administration official, said by telephone.
"They were lined up and shot in the head," said Habibullah Arif, another local official, also by telephone.
One man was shot and seriously wounded but survived, the officials said. He was in critical condition and being treated at a local hospital. Another had escaped before the shootings.
Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed responsibility for the attacks.
"We killed all the kidnapped men after a council of senior clerics gave a verdict for their execution. We didn’t make any demand for their release because we don’t spare any prisoners who are caught during fighting," he said.
The powerful military has clawed back territory from the Taliban, but the kidnap and executions underline the insurgents’ ability to mount high-profile, deadly attacks in major cities.
This month, suicide bombers attacked Peshawar’s airport on Dec 15 and a bomb killed a senior Pashtun nationalist politician and eight other people at a rally on Dec 22.
Reuters
کچھ نہیں ہوگا
Saturday 29 December 2012
ہزارہ کا ایک نوجوان اپنے رشتے دار کی ہلاکت پر رورہا ہے — رایئٹرز فوٹو
علمدار روڈ سے پورا شہر پار کرنے کے بعد ہم ہزارہ ٹاؤن پہنچے۔ یہ قصبہ باقی ماندہ شہر سے جیسے کٹا ہوا ہے۔ راستے میں ایک پل، ایک لمبی سڑک اور بے تحاشا خشمگین نگاہیں تھیں۔ کوئٹہ میں ہزارہ قوم دو جگہ آ باد ہے۔ ایک آبادی چھاؤنی کے پاس ہے اور دوسری شہر کے پار۔ ہزارہ ٹاؤن ہر حال سے پسماندگی کی ایک داستان ہے۔ اکھڑی ہوئی سڑکیں، ٹوٹے پھوٹے گھر، ٹاٹ کے پردے اور اندر مسافر خانوں جیسی زندگی، جسے یہ لوگ چند کپڑوں اور چند برتنوں کے ساتھ گزار رہے ہیں۔
ہم ہزارہ کے بارے میں کھوجتے کھوجتے فریدون تک پہنچے تھے۔ روز زندگی کی بازی کھیلنے اور تقریبا ہر روز ہی ہار جانے والے یہ لوگ بقا کی بڑی مستقل مزاج خواہش رکھتے ہیں۔ جس طرح لاکھ کوشش کے باوجود پکی اینٹوں کے بیچ کوئی نہ کوئی بوٹی سر اٹھا ہی لیتی ہے، بالکل ویسے ہی بم دھماکوں،اغوا اور قتل و غارت گری کے باوجود یہ لوگ خوشی کا سامان کر ہی لیتے ہیں۔ کسی نے بتایا کہ یہ بچہ موسیقی کی خاصی شدھ بدھ رکھتا ہے اور بہت عمدہ کی بورڈ بجاتا ہے۔
ڈھونڈھتے ڈھونڈھتے ننھے فنکار کے گھر پہنچے تو پتہ چلا کہ ہمارے مقدر میں صرف اس کا فن نہیں بلکہ ان لوگوں کی مہمان نوازی بھی ہو گی۔ یہ شاید یہاں کا آخری گھر تھا اور گھر کیا تھا، غربت کی ایک تصویر تھی۔ صاف ستھرا آنگن، کونے میں چند بالٹیاں، جن میں شاید پانی تک کہیں سے لایا گیا تھا اور ایک تیتر کا پنجرہ۔ کچی اینٹوں کے فرش سے دائیں مڑیں تو مہمان خانہ تھا۔
کچھ ہی دیر میں چھوٹا سا کمرہ دس کے قریب لوگوں سے بھر گیا۔ کھانا چننے کا منظر بالکل قصے کہانیوں ایسا تھا۔ پہلے چاندنی بچھی، پھر برتن چنے گئے۔ اس کے بعد ایک برتن میں گرم پانی اور ایک چلمچی میں ہاتھ دھلوائے گئے۔ پہلی بار اندازہ ہوا کہ ایرانی تہذیب میں نفاست کا کیا لطف ہے۔ کھانے کے بعد قہوے کا دور چلا اور اس دوران فریدون نے اپنا کی بورڈ لگا لیا۔
کمرے میں شوخ پردوں کے علاوہ، اس کے بھائی کی تصویر بھی لگی تھی۔ ایک طرف فارسی میں صبر کی تاکید تھی اور ایک دیوار پہ افغانستان کا مقتول صدر نجیب مسکرا رہا تھا۔ یہ خاندان اس وقت افغانستان سے اٹھ آیا جب طالبان نے ان پہ زندگی تنگ کر دی۔ جو بال تک نہیں کاٹنے دیتے وہ بھلا خوش رہنے کی اجازت کیونکر دیتے۔ سو سب مال اسباب بیچ کر یہ لوگ پاکستان آ گئے اور کوئٹہ میں از سر نو زندگی کا آغاز کیا۔ فریدون کے باپ نے ایک سی ڈی اور کیسٹ کی دوکان کھول لی۔ کمرے میں پھیلی سرخوشی اس بات کی غماز تھی کہ یہاں رہنے والوں نے اچھا وقت دیکھا ہے۔
بچے نے گانا شروع کیا تو وقت واقعی رک گیا۔ اس کی مشتاق انگلیاں سر کا سفر طے کر رہی تھیں اور سننے والے دم بخود تھے۔ کومل تیور کی تانیں اور فارسی کے الفاظ اپنا جادو جگا رہے تھے اور اپنی بچی کھچی متاع جاں لپیٹنے کے بارے میں فریدوں گا رہا تھا
عزیزم قدر ے یک دیگر می داند
اجل سنگ است و آدم مثل شیشہ است ۔۔۔۔۔ جدائی مستقل غم است
دوستو ایک دوسرے کی قدر کرو،
موت ایک پتھر ہے اور آدمی بس ایک شیشے کی مانند ہے، جدائی مستقل غم ہے
ہم نے ساری یادیں اپنے کیمرے میں قید کیں اور واپس آ گئے۔ زندگی چونکہ ہر دم اپنی مصروفیات بکھیرتی رہتی ہے سو فریدون بھی آہستہ آہستہ ہمارے ذہنوں سے محو ہو گیا۔ کچھ دن تک وہ آخری منظر ہمارے زہنوں میں رہا جس میں دروازے سے نکلتے وقت اس کے چچا کے منت زدہ الفاظ سنائی دئیے۔ صاحب ۔وہ فریدون کے بابا کی دکان بہت دنوں سے بند ہے۔ ان لوگوں نے دھمکی دیا ہے کہ دوکان کھولا تو جان سے مار دیں گے۔ آپ دیکھو نا کہیں کوئی شو مل جائے۔۔ فریدون کو پڑھنے کا بہت شوق ہے صاحب۔
جس دن کوئٹہ میں پہلی بار برف گری اس رات اس کے چچا کا فون آیا اور انہوں نے بتایا کہ صحابہ کے سپاہیوں نے فریدون پے حملہ کیا ہے۔ ہو سکتا ہے وہ ایرانیوں سے قادسیہ کی جنگ کا بدلہ لے رہے ہوں مگر یہ لوگ تو حضرت علی کی ایک چٹھی پہ مسلمان ہو گئے تھے، عین ممکن ہے کہ حملہ آور جھنگ کے کسی لشکر کے لوگ ہوں جو اسلام کی خاطر فریدون کو مارنے آئے تھے اور جنہیں جھنگ سے کوئٹہ کے اس سات سو اکسٹھ کلومیٹر لمبے راستے میں کوئی غیر شرعی چیز نظر نہیں آئی۔
جب تک ہم اس کے گھر پہنچے، فریدون کی آنکھ سوج کے ایک طرف ڈھلک چکی تھی۔ ساری رات باہر برف گرتی رہی اور اندر فریدون کی ماں اس کی آنکھ پہ پٹیاں کرتی رہی۔ اگلے دن میں نے فریدون کے چچا کو فون کیا تو اس کے موبائل پہ مجھے پنجابی کی نعت سنائی دی۔ مجھے مٹھی، تھرپارکر میں ملنے والا انیل کمار یاد آ گیا جو ہندو ہونے کے با وجود ہر جملے میں دو بار الحمدللہ کہتا اور اپنی کالونی کے خاکروب کی آوازیں بھی پڑیں. جس نے بچوں کے نام اسلم اور اکرم رکھ چھوڑے تھے۔
فریدون کے بارے میں لکھنے سے پہلے میں نے بہت سوچا۔۔ کیا اس طرح اس کی جان خطرے میں تو نہیں پڑ جائے گی۔ کیا ملالہ کی طرح فریدون بھی ایجنٹ تو نہیں ٹھیرے گا یا جو تھوڑی بہت زندگی کی رمق فریدون کے گھر میں باقی ہے وہ کیا وہ رہ پائے گی۔ مگر خاموش لوگوں کے اس ہجوم میں مجھے اس کی پر عزم آ واز سنائی دی۔ اپنی ٹوٹی پھوٹی فارسی نما اردو میں فریدون بولا صاحب لکھو، کچھ نہیں ہوگا۔
مصنف وفاقی ملازم ہیں۔Saturday, December 29, 2012
Bomb attack on pilgrim buses kills 20, injures several in Mastung
By Web Desk
Published: December 30, 2012
Witnesses claim it was a suicide blast.
MASTUNG: At least 20 people were killed while several others were injured in a blast near three buses carrying pilgrims in Mastung, Express News reported on Sunday.
Witnesses claim it was a suicide blast.
Three pilgrims’ buses were en route to Quetta from Taftan when the explosion took place, destroying one bus and damaging the other.
Witnesses said that a car slammed into the bus in the middle, which was carrying 45 passengers, blowing it up and destroying it.
The injured were shifted to hospitals in Mastung and Quetta.
Levies personnel cordoned off the area.
A day earlier, six people were killed while at least 50 people, including three women and two children were injured when a bus blew up near Cantonment Railway Station in Karachi.
Earlier this year, a blast in the Hazarganji area of Quetta targeted a bus carrying pilgrims from Taftan to the provincial capital, killing 14 people and injuring 30.
Note: This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.
Published: December 30, 2012
Witnesses claim it was a suicide blast.
MASTUNG: At least 20 people were killed while several others were injured in a blast near three buses carrying pilgrims in Mastung, Express News reported on Sunday.
Witnesses claim it was a suicide blast.
Three pilgrims’ buses were en route to Quetta from Taftan when the explosion took place, destroying one bus and damaging the other.
Witnesses said that a car slammed into the bus in the middle, which was carrying 45 passengers, blowing it up and destroying it.
The injured were shifted to hospitals in Mastung and Quetta.
Levies personnel cordoned off the area.
A day earlier, six people were killed while at least 50 people, including three women and two children were injured when a bus blew up near Cantonment Railway Station in Karachi.
Earlier this year, a blast in the Hazarganji area of Quetta targeted a bus carrying pilgrims from Taftan to the provincial capital, killing 14 people and injuring 30.
Note: This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.
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